So I took the valve cover off my 240d today so I could check the valve clearances trying to resolve a ticking or clanking noise I have been having. Aside from discovering that the the clearances were extremely tight, I found this horrible mess. Looks like the PO never changed the oil. YIKES How do I even start to clean this gunk up?

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Hmmm. The other pics did not upload for some reason but believe me, they are just as bad.

A few short oil changes (1000miles) with the engine getting nice and hot should kill that sludge.

Here is another.

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Believe that I would manually remove all sludge that is possible. Clean everything that is reachable. Brake clean and lintless paper towels would be the preferred method as opposed to just letting junk circulate through engine and being possibly trapped in bearing shell or some such. The more you get out, the less chance of something being oil starved. Might try a hot flush (without engine running) with some solvent or kero until it comes out the drain clear. Don't know if this is the preferred method of de-sludging an engine, but lacking other info, it is what I would try.

Run-Em

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RUN-EM,
Thats exactly what I was thinking.
Now lets just hope that after de-sludging and adjusting the valves, the ticking noise will be gone. I doubt that with all that sludge and build up that the oil was flowing efficiently.

Jebus. My friend and I took apart a junked Oldsmobile 403 after we pulled it out of the firebird it was in and the oil looked like that. I pulled the drainplug and all that came out for 30 seconds was water. Then this muddy, sludgy oil start plopping out.

Surprisingly the insides were free of any corrosion.

You could try Auto-RX, some sort of oil additive/ sludge cleaner I have heard good things about.

__________________
1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Wow!

I would make sure the oil holes that lube the camshaft/rocker arm are open.

Did you buy 240Joe's car?



Wow. I'd put some Mobil 1 synthetic truck turbodiesel oil in there and run the hell out of that motor. Should help clean things up.

WOW! I've never seen sludge build up like that. I would think you'd want to clean as much of that out as possible prior to reassembly and running it.

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i agree with getting it as clean as possible before running. and then several short changes.

i have never seen such a mess!

tom w

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..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

well, if you notice in the picture, all moving/oil circulating parts are nice and sludge free. the sludge is built up only on the vapor collection areas. running a motor medic type thing won't help much. you really need to physically scrape the gunk off, like mentioned above, put some lint free towels in the front and rear drains, and scrape the gunk off onto towels when possible.
John

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Wow...I've never seen that before.
I would clean up as much as I could by hand.
I would never put kero or any kind of cleaner in MY oil pan!

I would drop the lower pan though and clean that out too. Then a few short oil changes should do the trick.

Danny

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A guy on the 190OC had the same problem. My advise, which worked, was that he should run diesel in with his oil to loosen it up, then manually clean it with rags soaked in diesel.
Worked for him, but that was a petrol engine. I don't know if diesel in the oil will have any adverse affects on a diesel engine.

For a little manual cleaning, I would put a little kero, or Gas, into a spray bottle, and have some rags handy. Just get what you can, and change the oil after you're done..Then run it, and change the oil once more after about 500 miles. Should clean it up pretty well. I've done it before. You won't hurt the bearings withthe Kero, if you are careful enough, and don't shoot it right into them.