Oil coking everywhere?

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occupant

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Apr 30, 2005
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Columbus, OH
Coked oil suggests high oil temperatures to me. My engine isn't overheating to my knowledge. Radiator is full and has clean coolant in it. Oil in the pan and on the dipstick is black but not gritty or milky or anything. The only mechanical problem I've discovered thus far other than this flaky black mess is a loose rocker arm on #7.

I mean, seriously. I've got a LOT of coked oil in my 351M. I know you've seen oil coking up in a valve cover before. But this is beyond unreal. The reason I pulled this valve cover today is because my car consumes a LOT of oil and has a noisy clacking sound that seems to come from the driver side valve cover. Well that loose rocker solves the sound problem. The valve cover was tight. The BOLTS were loose. I mean not even finger tight and I could see thread showing on one of the back ones. I had to use a rubber mallet and a rag to pop the valve cover loose from the thick layer of caked oil.

Here's a picture...ignore the 2-year old and the flowers and have a look at that overturned valve cover top and center.

Maketheuglycarprettydaddy.jpg


I scraped all of the coked oil and old cork gasket material off the driver's side valve cover, from in the valvetrain galley, off the rockers, and out from around the springs and whatnot.

I FILLED A 20oz Sonic cup with the stuff!

I have to order up some Auto-RX. Or rent a pressure washer and crank it up. Or something.

This is the weirdest most repugnant thing I've ever seen upon pulling a valve cover. I've seen milkshakes, bent rockers, S-shaped pushrods, broken springs, but never this much coked oil. Especially on a RUNNING engine.
 
Originally Posted By: occupant
I FILLED A 20oz Sonic cup with the stuff!

Can you take more pictures? All we got was a half a valve cover, or don't you want us to see where Sonic gets their malted food product?
 
Originally Posted By: Jonny Z
It is the 1976 right? Could be coked API SE oil from decades ago, or had an overheat event before you owened it.


+1

This wasn't uncommon back in those days. I took apart the engine in a '78 Cutlass years ago to find so much of this same nasty black chunky substance that it was literally piled up and covering the rockers- it was molded into the shape of the bottom of the valve covers. Took off the intake, and the 'valley' was completely full- the only way the oil could drain back to the pan was around whatever clearance the pushrods had kept open.

If that was my vehicle, though, I wouldn't get to ambitious about it. The 351M was not Ford's finest hour... so what's a little crud? Personally, I'd clean out what's easy to get to (at least make sure that the oil can easily drain back to the pan), then run short OCI's with Rotella or something like that.

I mean, you could spend a lot of time and money getting this motor fixed up and sparking clean. But that'd be like polishing a turd.
 
I had a 92 Mazda B2600i. I pulled the valve cover and had baked oil. In my case I had a bad head gasket. The coolant passages at the head gasket were plugged.
 
Originally Posted By: occupant
Coked oil suggests high oil temperatures to me.


A lot of cars from the mid-70s looked like this. The oil, compared to what you buy today, was not quite up to it and the PCV plugged freqeuently. If the engine runs okay, put it back together and don't worry about it. No amount of oil additives will clean it up. If you want it looking like a modern engine, your only choice is to clean it all up by rebuilding it.
 
It's from oils used in the past. If this engine has never been rebuilt, it's got YEARS and YEARS on API SE and SF 10W-40 or even 10W-50 dino oil. The VII's used in these oils just did this, even with regular oil changes.

This would be a great test of the cleaning ability of MMO. I'd run several short OCI's of 15w40 HDEO with 1 quart MMO added in. It will most likely clear a good chunk of this out, and it's cheaper than Auto-RX.
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Tell us how often you changed the oil and what kind of oil, etc. How many total miles?

Is this a gag?


88550 miles, I got the car a year and 3 months ago at 87500. In theory, it could be rolled over but I have no documentation to prove it either way.

I've added 17.5 quarts of oil over 1050 miles of driving. Oil is currently full on the dipstick. The oils that have gone in here since I got the car:

SuperTech 10W40 SM, 2 qt when I got it to top off
Valvoline 50W, 2 qt topping off
Pennzoil 40W 5qt oil change with FL-1A filter, 87850 miles
AutoZone 10W40 Super Tech 10W40, 3.5 qt topping off over time most recently

The car has also had a pint of MMO shortly after the oil change as soon as the dipstick level allowed. I added the other pint of MMO about 200 miles ago.

The PCV valve still rattles and the valve itself was changed at the oil change, along with the air filter.

Spark plugs on the driver's side are:

#1 - ashy deposits
#3 - halfway worn
#5 - ashy deposits
#7 - enlarged dark electrode

I'll take pics tomorrow. Have to go into town today with the wifenkids.

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Working t-stat? PVC ok? Short trips? Lazy previous owner?


T-stat works, no PVC, but a good PCV, LOTS of short trips. Very lazy previous owner, a pawn shop junkie and scary high blood pressure. I bought the car from an OKC pawn shop in the first place, and all his pawn tickets and blood pressure cards were in the trunk.

Originally Posted By: JonnyZ
It is the 1976 right? Could be coked API SE oil from decades ago, or had an overheat event before you owened it.


This is what I'm thinking. I wonder if it's ever had the engine apart before. With the loose valve cover bolts it could go either way. Either someone less than skilled worked on it, or they worked loose over time.

Originally Posted By: severach
Can you take more pictures? All we got was a half a valve cover, or don't you want us to see where Sonic gets their malted food product?


I'll be happy to take pictures, but the cup isn't full anymore, my darling 1-year old knocked it over on the porch. I got about 2/3 of the coke back in there.

Originally Posted By: onion
If that was my vehicle, though, I wouldn't get to ambitious about it. The 351M was not Ford's finest hour... so what's a little crud? Personally, I'd clean out what's easy to get to (at least make sure that the oil can easily drain back to the pan), then run short OCI's with Rotella or something like that. I mean, you could spend a lot of time and money getting this motor fixed up and sparking clean. But that'd be like polishing a turd.


Exactly. This 351M only has to last until I find a suitable 302/AOD powertrain donor and get the time, tools, and equipment needed for the swap. I do like polishing turds. All my intent is here is to figure out why it did this, clean it some, then run it 'til it grenades. I do want it to last as long as possible so I can afford to save up for the nicest 302/AOD I can find. And I'll need 302/351W motor mounts and my driveshaft shortened.

I'm pretty sure this thing doesn't have a blown head gasket. And yeah, old oil would definitely explain it. I'll be putting it back together tomorrow and I'll take as many pictures of the carnage as possible.
 
Mid-70s emission controls, combustion running on the lean side to try to prop up the mid-70s emission controls, mid 70s oil.... throw in a little neglected maintenance in the past, and this is what you get :-/

One thing to check- does this model have an exhaust diverter that restricts one exhaust manifold to push exhaust through the intake under the carb to heat it quickly? If the diverter sticks closed, it can really roast the oil above the crossover passage (very common problem on Mopar smallblocks from that era, not sure about Fords but the big 3 all did things fairly similarly then).
 
I always knew certain things about 351/400Ms. They always ran hot, ate EGR plates, and coked up internals.

As said repeatedly above, old oil specs, old spec emission controls, mediocre PCV and hot running are a recipe for this.
 
It's almost 35 years old, with who knows what oil or maintenance on it!
But loose valve cover bolts would not let the PCV system work right.
 
While the videos upload and process on YouTube, here's a few shots of the driver's side head with some of the coke mess still on it. I wonder how many times I'll refill this cup?

without flash
100_3112.jpg


with flash
100_3110.jpg


closeup of a couple rockers
100_3111.jpg


By the time these pics were taken I had already scraped the mating surface for the valve cover. I will still remove each rocker arm, bolt, keeper, pushrod guideplate, and pushrod, and clean them before reassembly. The one pushrod I did remove was clean inside but was coated on the outside in coked oil. I'm gonna let those bits soak overnight in carb cleaner or something. Which reminds me to go buy a can or twelve of carb cleaner.

First video doesn't really show anything except my toddler putting flowers under the hood. Poor dear...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GMd7PmVjj0

Second video shows the mess on the valve cover (halfway done cleaning this mess) and the now no longer full thanks to toddler mischief Sonic cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMIzsOVp2R4

(second video is still processing but by the time you read this it should be up)
 
Last edited:
I wonder if by spraying undiluted MMO or seafoam might help clean / loosen some of the gunk. Or at least help out in those hard to reach areas.

You may have to give MMO a whole day to work its magic.
 
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