Badly slugged I-6, How many Auto-Rx treatments?

[RavenTai]

Pics are from a 4.0L I-6 (3FE) in a 1988 Land Cruiser (FJ-62) with at least 100k miles,

I figure this is a good candidate for Arx but that is a lot of carbon, would this one need 2 or 3 treatments?

Should the filter be changed mid cycle? (750 miles?) What else should we know about cleaning such a dirty engine? Kind of worries about that much carbon being free in the engine.

Posting for someone else

 

[Quest]

Try doing 3 runs, with the 1st 2 rinse cycle set to something like 750miles so that you can have a fresh filter to trap dislodged large carbon particles.

Monitor the filter condition after every 70miles filter replacement by cutting it out and post us some photos.

 

[427Z06]

I'm guessing it'll take three runs of AutoRX. Midway filter changes are probably a good idea on the rinse cycles. See what Frank says. May as well clean that valve cover by hand while it's off.

 

[Gary Allan]

Oooohh! Get close-ups of that rocker section there!!! This would be another great before and after thingy!

 

[JohnBrowning]

First, Clean as much out of the top end as you can mechanicly. You will be amazed wat a putty knife and screw driver can do! Then use some solvent and a brush to clean as much off as you can! Then put in fresh oil and a filter and some AUto-Rx. You will probably need more then one bottle per run due to crankcase capacity. I am thinking it is going to take at least 1 1/2 bottles per run. I would imagine that two applications would be enough!

It is a shame that someone neglected this enigne but it is not that bad. I have a 1982 Starlet that my uncle did not change the oil on for four years and it was driven 300 miles a day at 80-100 MPH! They just toped it up. IT was so sludged up when I bought it that you could not see the rockers, push rods or valves. The valve cover was so full of sludge that it looked like someone packed it full of used coffee grounds the way a kid packs a bucket full of sand at the beach!!! I still the car and it does not burn any oil between OCI at all to this day!

So do not get to worried their is plenty of hope for it as it is a sound engine design!

 

[Gary Allan]

JohnBrowning ..I've never scored existing sludge deposits since the first time I did it. I did this on an AMC I6 in a Hornet beater that we bought for me to commute to school in. I scooped out as much as I could by hand/tools .....and never had a clean oil change after that moment. A diesel had cleaner oil in a week than I had in 5 minutes. I found that there were too many nooks and crannies for the stuff to fit in that I couldn't get it out and that once scored ...it leached/bled like crazy.

 

[landtoy80]

Hay, all. Thats my motor!
Thanks Raven for posting my pic.

I removed the crud from the valve cover.
The crud on the valves looks like bat guano.
Its dry and crusty. It crumbles when you remove it from the valve train.

I just bought the "88 Toyota LandCrusier. It say 104,000 on the odmeter but the speedo cable is new so who knows how may miles it has.

I just bought a new better digital camera so I could remove the cover again and take a good close up pic.

I was going to adjust the valves but the crud is built so bad that I would be knocking the crud off and into the motor when I turned the valve adjuster.

I was going to run ATF in the oil before the oil change and run RotellaT 5w40 Syn oil. But I changed my mine when I removed the cover.

Now I am worried about cleanig the motor.
If I use AutoRX, is there a chance that the crud will fall of the valves and plug/block an oil passage?

I have a 94 FZJ80 Toyota LandCrusier with a 1FZ motor. It had 208,000 mi on it when I got it.
I removd the valve cover and it had a golden varnish on it.

 

[Tim]

Glad to see more guys from IH8Mud.com coming over to BITOG.

I ran two cycles at 1.75 bottles each in my '96 FZJ80 with 116,000 at the start. Mine looked like your 1FZ, not like your 3FE. No telling what it will take to clean that puppy!

I agree with the advice regarding mid-cycle filter changes, especially if you are using the smaller filters.

I sure hope that bat quano you are busting loose is not finding its way down through the oil drain holes!

Good luck and keep us posted. Hope your new cruiser is feeling better soon.


Tim

 

[Tim]

Oh, and you gotta wonder what kind of oil and intervals were used to get that much crud built up...and driving conditions.

Was it a WI vehicle all along?

Tim

 

[landtoy80]

I bought it at a used car dealer for $1000. Its my beater but I want it to run good as I beat it.

I think it has been in WI for most of its life. The body is rusted and the interior is great.

The only porblem I will have with AutoRX will be that I don't drive that many miles a year. My last beater was lucky to get 2000 mi in the year and a half I owned it.
I am sure this vehcile will get more miles.

If I don't go with AutoRX, what should I do for oil and additive (if I need one).

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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Originally posted by landtoy80:
If I don't go with AutoRX, what should I do for oil and additive (if I need one).

---

If AutoRX wasn't going to be an option, I'd buy a bunch of inexpensive Xw30 dino oil on sale for less than a buck if possible, some $2 oil filters, and change the oil and filter every 1,000 miles.

I'd also try not to disturb any of the muck unless I was sure I could get all of it out, like the valve cover.

 

[JohnBrowning]

On my 1982 Toyota Starlet I ran Castrol 5W50 and ever time I did an oil change I would run a quart of MMO for 15 minutes or a quart of Kerosine! Two years latter I took the pan and valve cover off just to look at them. Between my initial cleaning with B-12 and the flush's ever oil change the sludge was gone. This car was a better and I really was not too concerned about killing it with solvent flush's! TO be honest though I think the AUto-Rx is the best choice, Nuetra 131 is second choice, Lube Control would be my third choice! For that light varnish on the newer Land Cruiser Lube COntrol would take care of that in no time! Lube Control isin my opion better on varnish then Auto-Rx!

 

[deepsquat]

If you are not going to go the ARX route then make sure that you go with the Rotella T Delvac 1200 or Delo 400 these oil only cost 7.00$ a gallon and do a heck of a job keeping an engine clean ...i would still change the filter every 750 miles or so thought ..you got a lot of crapola in there.

 

[Shaman]

Call me a sadist, but i would like to see some close up shots.

I have never really seen a sludged up head before.

 

[dickwells]

That engine has a rocker shaft so it is probably easy to take off. Loosen the bolts evenly and lift the whole assembly off, then clean it good including pipe cleaners in the passages and a good brushing. With it off the head will be a lot easier to clean up. Be sure to run small brushes down the drain holes or blow down them with an air hose.

 

[Ken2]

quote:

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If I use AutoRX, is there a chance that the crud will fall of the valves and plug/block an oil passage?

---

No. The advantage of AutoRx is that it slowly dissolves the carbon and does not loosen chunks of stuff that clogs things.

Ask your question directly at the AutoRx web site forum. I think they'll tell you to run two cleanings according to their sludged-engine instructions.


Ken

 

[landtoy80]

I can take some good close ups. I just got a new Kodak digital camera. Its not to hard to remove the valve cover.

Should I:
1)Try and remove as much of the crud by hand with the cover off? Where do the oil passages on the head go? To the pan? If so, can I just use pipe cleaner and then blow them out?

2)Run RotellaT 5w40 syn oil? Wouldn't the 5w work its way through the mostly plugged ports better than the 15w40 oil?

3)Go with AutoRX. Will there be a problem with me not driving very many miles?

For the 1FZ. I need to remove the cover and see if the RotellaT syn oil has cleaned it up.
I posted http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=010075#000010
about oil consumption.
Would Lube Control help?