cleaning the inside of an 05 E320 engine

[engatwork]

Engine has a good bit of sludge in it that I'm trying to clean up so I'm running Mobil 1 and on the last oil change added some Seafoam. Pulled the passenger side valve cover (and the valve cover, cover) and cleaned everything up. The opening for where the hose from the intake goes was plugged so I cleaned it up. I will get around to the valve cover on the drivers side over the next day or so. Anyway, since cleaning this port this weekend I'm getting alot of smoke upon acceleration after sitting at idle momentarily. Is the fact that I've only done one side so far causing it to suck oil up like it is?

When I pulled the valve cover, cover I noticed that oil is pooling in this area which explains where the oil is coming from and it is quite evident it is going to get sucked into the intake at idle when the vacuum is high. If you remove the excess oil in the area it pools in the area I have shown (circled). Is it supposed to have a level at this area? Should the area circled be letting oil drain back through it? With all the sludge breaking loose it would not surprise me if it has allowed this return port to plug.

thanks

[Hirnbeiss]

I don't think there shouold be that much oil up there. Are the oil return holes clogged?

[engatwork]

Hmmmm, I will look this evening to try to determine where oil return holes are.

[oldsinner111]

try 5w40 Mobil One diesel oil,keep me motor clean,with all the detergents

[engatwork]

Went back in this morning and pulled both valve covers and cleaned everything up. Found another port that was still plugged up on the passenger side that needed cleaning. Buttoned everything up, went for a test drive and no more smoke. Cleaned the throttle butterfly while I was in there. Everything was pretty nasty.

[engatwork]

Inside the valve cover from the drivers side. This is after ~5k miles of Mobil 1 0W40 and 100 with Seafoam in the crankcase. I suspect it will be 20k before everything is cleaned up.

[Hirnbeiss]

Another possibility is stuck or sludged piston rings, which can increase oil consumption and smoking. The desludging may help that too, but it looks like you have a ways to go.

[Hirnbeiss]

You can acces the factory manual and print out the pages you need from the startekinfo site. I think it's $25 for 24 hours, so you can pretty much print out the whole manual.

[engatwork]

Thanks for the reminder. I keep forgetting about startekinfo. I'll do just that.

[suginami]

$1750 seems like a damn good price for an entire good engine.

Who is LKQ?

[engatwork]

LKQ

They have a very nice pull a parts place in Savannah and have always been a good place to do business.

[engatwork]

Over half way there with "new" engine and transmission bolted back in the car. Will probably get it all buttoned up over next few days. Only surprise was realizing the transmission has it's own ground strap.

[engatwork]

Replacement engine seems to be a good one. No smoke, smooth, starts easily and runs out good. The oil level sensor on the old engine was new so I replaced it on the "new" engine. Took a peek inside the engine and it was spotless. Now if I could just get the a/c going - another thread. Oh yea, I found out which of the transmission hoses at the radiator is the line from the transmission - it is the top one.

[Hirnbeiss]

Congrats! Now you can get rid of the eyesore lurking behind the engine in your garage.

[Zulfiqar]

btw - just a q on the M112 engine there, mine starts with a strange rattle, like its dry, then goes quiet after half a second. I had a dealer look at it and also 2 indy mechanics - both say that its good. One even showed me another similar engine vehicle (ML) whose engine sounded exactly like mine.

Do these sound like that?