cleaning the inside of an 05 E320 engine
 

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

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

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

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

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.

worst build up of sludge I've ever run accross
 

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.

Wow. That's a lot of sludge.

Opps - spoke too soon.

It smokes like a ***** during initial cold start and then during acceleration. I've started looking for a good used engine.

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.

It smokes like a *****?

What's a ***** ? :D

b*t*c*h is what I tried to spell:).

Spell checker put all the ***.

Before I purchase another engine I'm going to try running some AutoRx through it per their suggestion. I don't have much to lose at this point.

Got a 90k mile engine on the way:).
I'll dissect this one when I pull it out.

Did you get a good deal on the used engine?

Are you gonna rebuild the old engine?

$1750 delivered from LKQ.

I do plan on going through the old engine and building up a spare. I'm interested in figuring out why the oil collecting in the crankcase vent compartment on the valve covers is not draining back into the engine.

I'd give a $100 bill for a hard copy engine manual for this application.

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.

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

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

Who is LKQ?

LKQ

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

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.

car is back in operation
 

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;).

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

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?

The eyesore behind engine is next in line. Seems to be something going on not allowing valves in #2 cylinder not to close. Plans are to pull the head on it. It is a customer's car.

This is normal for the M112. The hydraulic lash adjusters bleed down when the engine sits. They take a second to pump up when started. It's normal, and it's harmless.