1988 Ford Escort XR3i valvetrain pics

Status
Not open for further replies.
That's pretty bad. Some people swear shorter OCIs with a good oil are effective in cleaning up a neglected engine. Those pictures prove otherwise. You have your work cut out for you if you want to clean that up. Good luck!
 
Doesn't look great, but I'm sure it looked worse when you first got the car.

Lighting of the first pic isn't the best, but since it's black you know what's not good.

Haave you cut open the oil filters to see what they are catching?

Thanks for the pics.
 
I haven't cut the oil filters open no, might do it at the next oil change.

It is pretty heavily varnished and has a fair amount of hard sludge, it's better than when i bought it though for sure.

At least the engine runs perfectly fine, the hydraulic lifters are a bit noisy but not too much, and the engine doesn't burn any oil and only weeps a little from the sump gasket.

What i'm trying to accomplish is that the HDEO will gently clean it up over time, and it is already working, before the rockers were completely caked and you couldn't see any of the actual metal, now you can.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by FordCapriDriver
I haven't cut the oil filters open no, might do it at the next oil change.

It is pretty heavily varnished and has a fair amount of hard sludge, it's better than when i bought it though for sure.

At least the engine runs perfectly fine, the hydraulic lifters are a bit noisy but not too much, and the engine doesn't burn any oil and only weeps a little from the sump gasket.

What i'm trying to accomplish is that the HDEO will gently clean it up over time, and it is already working, before the rockers were completely caked and you couldn't see any of the actual metal, now you can.



You're on the right path. How often to you open the valve cover and inspect?

Do you get a chance to drive the car hard periodically at high speeds?
 
Originally Posted by FordCapriDriver
I haven't cut the oil filters open no, might do it at the next oil change.

It is pretty heavily varnished and has a fair amount of hard sludge, it's better than when i bought it though for sure.

At least the engine runs perfectly fine, the hydraulic lifters are a bit noisy but not too much, and the engine doesn't burn any oil and only weeps a little from the sump gasket.

What i'm trying to accomplish is that the HDEO will gently clean it up over time, and it is already working, before the rockers were completely caked and you couldn't see any of the actual metal, now you can.


I tried the same thing with a well maintained Buick Century that was a mess from dino oil, but not nearly as bad as that. Quality synthetics including Mobil 1 TDT did very little cleaning, even after tens of thousands of miles. My suggestion would be while you have it apart clean it up. Then get something like Rislone, MMO, or the like and tweak your oil. It will clean it slowly, but a lot faster than short OCIs and quality oils by themselves. Flame suit on.
 
Originally Posted by JC1
Originally Posted by FordCapriDriver
I haven't cut the oil filters open no, might do it at the next oil change.

It is pretty heavily varnished and has a fair amount of hard sludge, it's better than when i bought it though for sure.

At least the engine runs perfectly fine, the hydraulic lifters are a bit noisy but not too much, and the engine doesn't burn any oil and only weeps a little from the sump gasket.

What i'm trying to accomplish is that the HDEO will gently clean it up over time, and it is already working, before the rockers were completely caked and you couldn't see any of the actual metal, now you can.



You're on the right path. How often to you open the valve cover and inspect?

Do you get a chance to drive the car hard periodically at high speeds?


I open it up every 6 months or so.

Yes, i do usually every weekend take it for a long spirited drive up the mountain roads, around 100km ( 60 miles ) round trip
 
110,000 miles in 31 years tells me this engine has been short tripped a lot. I wouldn't expect much more cleanup from what you've done. If she is running good then I would be satisfied. I wouldn't get aggressive on the cleaning and take the chance of loosening up something that would be detrimental.
 
So, the engine runs fine but has sludge that you would prefer to not be there. But is causing no issue.

Auto-Rx?

The real issue is to make sure it does not get worse.

I would continue with current oil routine and enjoy the car.

I would not recommend any drastic action to remove the sludge.
 
We don't have Auto-Rx or MMO here in Spain.

Ofcourse we have your typical oil flush type products from Liqui Moly and such, but i'm a little scared of using them, having read tons of horros stories about these types of products being really aggressive and dislodging tons of sludge at one, leading to blocked oil pickup screens and consequent catastrophic failures.

It seems to be slowly cleaning itself up with the HDEO and oversized oil filter i run.

When i bought it it was in a really sorry state, the PCV system was totally clogged and was leaking oil from everywhere due to the crankcase pressure, now it's much much better.
 
That's nothing to be concerned about after 30 years and is typical of engines run with conventional oil. Looks a lot better than this neglected one year old engine I had.

[Linked Image from fototime.com]
 
Originally Posted by FordCapriDriver
We don't have Auto-Rx or MMO here in Spain.

Ofcourse we have your typical oil flush type products from Liqui Moly and such, but i'm a little scared of using them, having read tons of horros stories about these types of products being really aggressive and dislodging tons of sludge at one, leading to blocked oil pickup screens and consequent catastrophic failures.

It seems to be slowly cleaning itself up with the HDEO and oversized oil filter i run.

When i bought it it was in a really sorry state, the PCV system was totally clogged and was leaking oil from everywhere due to the crankcase pressure, now it's much much better.


What about dumping 500 ml of kerosene into the crank case and let it idle for 10-15 mins (can Rev it up as well for 20-30 seconds to get it flowing) just before you do an oil change? That may help.
 
Originally Posted by JC1
Originally Posted by FordCapriDriver
We don't have Auto-Rx or MMO here in Spain.

Ofcourse we have your typical oil flush type products from Liqui Moly and such, but i'm a little scared of using them, having read tons of horros stories about these types of products being really aggressive and dislodging tons of sludge at one, leading to blocked oil pickup screens and consequent catastrophic failures.

It seems to be slowly cleaning itself up with the HDEO and oversized oil filter i run.

When i bought it it was in a really sorry state, the PCV system was totally clogged and was leaking oil from everywhere due to the crankcase pressure, now it's much much better.


What about dumping 500 ml of kerosene into the crank case and let it idle for 10-15 mins (can Rev it up as well for 20-30 seconds to get it flowing) just before you do an oil change? That may help.


I friend of mine told me to do that but with diesel...
 
You can see some of the rockers have clean spots, any idea how bad it was 2 years ago? It may have been much worse and the HDEO may in fact be cleaning it.
 
Yeah, once that oil is cooked it's hard to get it out.

But you are doing good for that engine with your choice of maintenance. Maybe the only way to really make a difference is to run some type of flush. I think that if you do it carefully you won't have problems, you may have already took lot of things out, but you will need to take the pan off and check the oil pick-up a couple of times. Maybe after the flush the HDEO will have more effect in cleaning.

I would love to the inside of the oil filter to see if the Rimula is doing a good job.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
You can see some of the rockers have clean spots, any idea how bad it was 2 years ago? It may have been much worse and the HDEO may in fact be cleaning it.


2 years ago there were no clean spots.
Also, sometimes i find very small sludge particles on the dipstick, about the size of a grain of sand.
 
This is head of 99 Mercury Tracer at a little over 200,000 miles. OCI every 3,000 miles at Jiffy Lube. Supposedly Castrol non synthetic. You never know what those guys are pumping into you car. Unfortunately the engine lost oil pressure. Looks like whoever had your car first rarely did oil change. Used to see crud like that in the old days when most American cars ran 160F thermostats.
[Linked Image]


I learned my lesson and now do my own oil change and send oil sample in for analysis.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top