Sludgy 1990 F150 5.0

I have very fond memories of an 86 with the smaller I6, wonderful truck. This one looks in unusually great shape. If the pan isn’t too difficult to remove, I would do so and make sure the oil pickup is clean. I like the idea of running a synthetic for slow cleaning and perhaps checking the filter early a couple of times to get an idea of how quickly it’s moving. In my experience, cleaning-by-oil is measured in years, but by hand in minutes/hours. Don’t be afraid to try to vacuum things out of drain passages.

if it were mine, I’d use the syn oil on a couple of 3k intervals with a half can of sea foam in there, then move to 5k and if all’s well, 7k+ intervals.

wonderful vehicle for you and your son. Congratulations.
 
My 1990 F-150 5.0 was WORSE than that when I first bought it. I tried everything but as someone mentioned when attempting to clean it, particles started blocking the flow of the oil and I had fluctuating oil pressure the entire time I drove it with the old engine. But I did get a year or two of service out of it.

Honestly, just go with regular oil changes and drive it. At the same time put another 5.0 block on the engine stand and start working on it or get a reman engine.
 
This is what we found when we ended up in a similar predicament:
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f150swap03.webp


I didn't mess around, we picked up a used relatively low mileage 302HO long block for a few hundred bucks that looked like this:
f150swap04.webp


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Had a life of AMSOIL. Swapped it in, used the truck intake and it ran great.
 
Ive seen worse, but its not good. If it were mine.

I'd use diesel oil like delvac and run good filters change frequently the first 1-2 and then every 2-3K and spend the time cutting them open to see what you are catching.

A little more controversially is that the sludge contains all kind of particles that have been concentrating for years just waiting to grind what left to pulp.
An "el cheapie" ring of neodymium magnets from home depot (not a 100 dollar filter mag) around the base just above the botton and one on the dome should hold a bunch of crud against the filter can and away from the element giving you a bit more holding capacity and a lot more effectiveness on defending against concentrated small stuff washing loose that would go round and round otherwise.

Good luck boss.

UD
 
So we have been trying to get the lower manifold off but one 1/2 inch stud bolt on the passenger side rear does not want to thread out. It will move some tighten and loosen with a ratchet but stops. We have sprayed everything (PB blaster, liquid wrench, freeze off) on it, tapped on it with a hammer and applied heat from a propane torch for a few minutes. Nothing. Would an air tool be a bad idea?

This has been going on for a few days. Do we just keep spraying and hoping? Son is ready to just snap it off but then we would have to try to pull the head and I am sure those bolts are not going to just spin out with ease out of the block. Please help. 🥺

IMG_20201011_114217553.webp
 
I’d do an engine flush that’s how I got the sludge out of my grandmas car and then put some oil with high rated sludge protection haven’t had any problems since then.
 
You'll probably need to use more heat than you think. The aluminum manifold will soak the heat away from the bolt before the part of the bolt that goes in the head sees much temperature increase. Also, if it's moving, work it back and forth instead of reefing on it. If you use an impact wrench, don't turn it up to 11 to start. A lower setting may shock it loose, but it will break if you go hog wild. Again, work it back and forth with the impact instead of trying to pull it all the way out in one go.
 
cbrf3 said:
So we have been trying to get the lower manifold off but one 1/2 inch stud bolt on the passenger side rear does not want to thread out. It will move some tighten and loosen with a ratchet but stops. We have sprayed everything (PB blaster, liquid wrench, freeze off) on it, tapped on it with a hammer and applied heat from a propane torch for a few minutes. Nothing. Would an air tool be a bad idea?

This has been going on for a few days. Do we just keep spraying and hoping? Son is ready to just snap it off but then we would have to try to pull the head and I am sure those bolts are not going to just spin out with ease out of the block. Please help. 🥺

View attachment 31463
Click to expand...

Those bolts break EASILY. ARP makes a nice stud kit, probably overkill for your stock setup, but you'll probably end up paying more for stock bolts if you can even get them. The bodies on those bolts tend to corrode and thin out. I expect if it does break on you, it's not going to break off flush with or in the head, it'll snap in the centre making it relatively easy to extract and won't require pulling the head.

If the bolts are in bad shape, I'd get this:
https://arp-bolts.com/kits/arpkit-detail.php?RecordID=2000
 
Also, if it does break, you probably won't need to pull the head to remove the broken bolt. With the manifold off you will be able to get at it a lot easier.
 
Applied some Kroil a few hours ago but I suppose there is no magic elixir.

So are you guys saying that waiting, spraying and wiggling is a waste of time and to just snap it off?
 
cbrf3 said:
Applied some Kroil a few hours ago but I suppose there is no magic elixir.

So are you guys saying that waiting, spraying and wiggling is a waste of time and to just snap it off?
Click to expand...

Try and work it out, going back and forth like you are doing, but don't be surprised if it does break. And if it does break, there should be enough of it sticking out of the head that you'll be able to remove it.
 
RDY4WAR said:
He didn't need to remove the rockers and pushrods to check for oil flow. Just put a socket on a drill down the distributor hole to turn the oil pump drive with the valve covers off and see if oil flows to the rockers.

Since the old rockers are off, now would be a good time to replace those old stamped steel rockers with a good set of 1.7 ratio roller rockers. An MSD cap and rotor with a set of Taylor or MSD plug wires helps those old ignition systems quite a bit.

Something I'd do, given how much it has sat and knowing what the heads look like, is probably drop the oil pan and replace the oil pump and pickup. They're cheap and not that difficult to do. If the heads look like that, the lifter valley and oil pan probably do too.
Click to expand...

I’m looking to liven my 94 5.8l E150 a bit what do these 1.7 rockers accomplish?
 
The front bolt on the passengers side near the thermostat house did snap in the head. Screwdriver is point at it, any advice here?
IMG_20201011_155314263.webp
 
Block off the drain holes and get yourself a number of cans of Berryman B-12 Chemtool, hose it down, brush, rinse and repeat. I would then drop the oil pan and do the same on the bottom end and oil pump screen. You will be as clean as possible after that. I would be very skeptical if there was any oil that could clean up that much sludge over any reasonable amount of time.

I had a 1972 351 Cleveland engine that was sludged beyond belief. Thick, gooey crusty crud all under the valley pan and mixed in within the rocker arms under the valve covers. 4 cans on each head and 3 under the valley pan revealed clean cast iron underneath.
 
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