what oil to hekp clean out engine

[FrankWest107]

I have a model B 4 cylinder 1933 end that sat dormant for 20 years. Cleans out the oil pan....Not too dirty,,,

I want to use motor oil to clean out the engine.

I plan to change the oil dozens of times to clean out the engine. What do you reccomend?

[cahartley]

When I get an engine that is unknown to me the first thing I do is put in the recommended amount of Marvel Mystery Oil and run it for a while.

It does a great job of cleaning and loosening old crud.

[Rusty_OToole]

You did the right thing cleaning out the crankcase. You could also check the valve chamber. If those areas are clean you should be able to use any good detergent oil with no problems.

Just change the oil at regular intervals and it will be fine. If you really want your engine clean, get a Frantz bypass oil filter. It cleans the oil much more effectively than the typical full flow filter, your oil will never get dirty, and all you have to do is change the filter every 1000 miles and top up the oil.

[FrankWest107]

You did the right thing cleaning out the crankcase. You could also check the valve chamber. If those areas are clean you should be able to use any good detergent oil with no problems.

Just change the oil at regular intervals and it will be fine. If you really want your engine clean, get a Frantz bypass oil filter. It cleans the oil much more effectively than the typical full flow filter, your oil will never get dirty, and all you have to do is change the filter every 1000 miles and top up the oil.

Sounds like great advice!

I don't think my engine has an oil filter.

There is only and oil screen on the oil pump.

[FrankWest107]

When I get an engine that is unknown to me the first thing I do is put in the recommended amount of Marvel Mystery Oil and run it for a while.

It does a great job of cleaning and loosening old crud.

What is the reccommended amount of MMO?

I plan on changing the oil a dozen times fast to get any crude out. I am a worry wort! and would like to protect this 1933 engine.

[cahartley]

Up to 20% of whatever the engine crankcase calls for...in your case somewhat less than a quart.

There are motor flushes too.

I've used both.

Motor flush is VERY fast acting which is why I prefer MMO and give it more time to get where it needs to get.

[Rusty_OToole]

I do not recommend motor flush after I saw what it did to one early Chrysler Hemi. Take off the pan and clean it out, not overlooking the oil pump screen. Or change the oil frequently.

[cahartley]

^ What? If he took it out and beat the snot out of it with motor flush in it no wonder. You let the engine run for 10-15 minutes........not beat it to hell while the flush is in it.

[Guest]

Use a regular detergent motor oil of the viscosity recommended by the engine manufacturer, change it regularly, and you should be fine. Current oils do a good job of keeping the engine clean and removing deposits that were already in the engine.

An example is the 350 CI V-8 in my Impala, it had about four oil changes from new to 134k miles when I got it. I had to pull the oil pan to replace the crank seals, and the pan was so badly sludged up that I took it to a machine shop to have it hot tanked for cleaning. I can only imagine that the top end and valley looked as bad or worse, but I didn't open it up to find out. 42k miles later, after regular oil and filter changes, I pulled the engine to have it rebuilt. The guys at the machine shop commented on how clean the engine internals all looked when they tore it down.

You're taking the right approach, I've seen some engines where they used engine flush and let too much of the sludge, etc., loose all at once and created other, bigger problems inside the engine. If the pan and pickup screen are clean, the rest of the crud will gradually dissolve into suspension in the oil and you'll get it out when you drop the oil at change time.

[jpage]

I think that your best bet is to manually clean as much gunk from the pan, inner block, valve chamber, oil pump and any oil tubes rather than trying to use a solvent that could possibly release particles that could clog up oil passages and ruin your engine. I too would recommend the use of detergent oil after a good cleaning and I would also run the MMO in the oil. I think I used 1 qt. MMO with 3 qts. oil in my Model A . I also put MMO in the gasoline to help with upper end lubrication.

[Rusty_OToole]

I bought a 1951 Chrysler New Yorker with noisy lifters. The previous owner tried to fix it with some kind of motor flush - it didn't work. When I took the pan off and the intake manifold and valley cover off, it looked like someone took 2 or 3 boxes of corn flakes, smushed them all up and mixed them with old dirty oil. It must have been the old caked on sludge loosened by the flushing compound.

I cleaned it out, cleaned the oil pump and screen, removed the lifters, took them apart and cleaned them, and the engine ran like new. Fortunately it had only run for a short time with all that sludge floating around.

Now my policy is never to use anything stronger than detergent motor oil, or to take off the pan and valve covers if I think an engine is sludged up.

[FrankWest107]

When I get an engine that is unknown to me the first thing I do is put in the recommended amount of Marvel Mystery Oil and run it for a while.

It does a great job of cleaning and loosening old crud.

Great info.... You are right ! MMO has been used since 1920's! I needed your comment... I got side tracked into all the new junk that is really not made for a 1933 motor!

Thanks a million!

[FrankWest107]

I bought a 1951 Chrysler New Yorker with noisy lifters. The previous owner tried to fix it with some kind of motor flush - it didn't work. When I took the pan off and the intake manifold and valley cover off, it looked like someone took 2 or 3 boxes of corn flakes, smushed them all up and mixed them with old dirty oil. It must have been the old caked on sludge loosened by the flushing compound.

I cleaned it out, cleaned the oil pump and screen, removed the lifters, took them apart and cleaned them, and the engine ran like new. Fortunately it had only run for a short time with all that sludge floating around.

Now my policy is never to use anything stronger than detergent motor oil, or to take off the pan and valve covers if I think an engine is sludged up.

Rusty,, your comments are always right on. Thanks you for saving me from catastrophy... " i think I spelled it wrong?

I will try to clean this engine slowly with the old faithful MMO.... and very frequent oil changes.

[FrankWest107]

I think that your best bet is to manually clean as much gunk from the pan, inner block, valve chamber, oil pump and any oil tubes rather than trying to use a solvent that could possibly release particles that could clog up oil passages and ruin your engine. I too would recommend the use of detergent oil after a good cleaning and I would also run the MMO in the oil. I think I used 1 qt. MMO with 3 qts. oil in my Model A . I also put MMO in the gasoline to help with upper end lubrication.

Thank you for your insight. You saved me from a real mess.

O will stick with MMO and clean slowly with frequent oil changes... I am in not hurry anyway.Thanks for your help

[Guest windjamer]

Frank back in 1961 I had a car that I dumped the oil and it looked like tar. Took forever for it to run out. I put 4 qts. of regular 30 wt. and 1 qt. transmission oil in it. I started it up and just let it idle for about 15 0r 20 min. Shut it off and dumped it again Added new 10-30 oil a new filter and drove it a couple days. Drained it again replaced oil and filter and the car ran like a bear. Oil stayed clean with regular (1000) miles changes. It had a skip befor and skip was gone after.