Severely sludged 5.0

7birdslater

Registered User
I know its not a Thunderbird, but 5.0's come in them right? :)

My buddy got around to pulling the valve covers off his 69 Stang Fastback to see why its squeeling and tapping. One of the lifters is bone dry and the engine got instantly quiet when we squirted it with oil while running. So its not getting proper oil. The engine is way sludged up, the returns from the heads are all but stopped up. He is aware its rebuild time, (or 5.0 HO EFI swap time) but wants to make it run long enough to get through the body shop and frame rail work it needs done.
To put it simple. What can we do to try to clean out this motor and restore proper oiling without seizing it up? Thanks!
 
7birdslater said:
I know its not a Thunderbird, but 5.0's come in them right? :)

My buddy got around to pulling the valve covers off his 69 Stang Fastback to see why its squeeling and tapping. One of the lifters is bone dry and the engine got instantly quiet when we squirted it with oil while running. So its not getting proper oil. The engine is way sludged up, the returns from the heads are all but stopped up. He is aware its rebuild time, (or 5.0 HO EFI swap time) but wants to make it run long enough to get through the body shop and frame rail work it needs done.
To put it simple. What can we do to try to clean out this motor and restore proper oiling without seizing it up? Thanks!


Tear it apart and take it to a machine shop for a nice bath.
 
He is aware its rebuild time, (or 5.0 HO EFI swap time) but wants to make it run long enough to get through the body shop and frame rail work it needs done.


I dont think he plans on keeping that block, its from a 77 Stang 2. Just looking to extend its life a bit longer to make it easy to move at the body shop and elsewhere. :)
 
As long as the mains and rods have oil pressure one lifter will not kill it. If it dose not pump up the valve will not open all the way but I would say it will run for another 5k that way as long as he dose not beat on it.
 
that sounds like a penzoil or quakersludge motor...try valvoline or mobil 1 synthetic on the new motor..
 
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run a gallon of deisel after you drain off the oil for about a minute or 2, then dreain the deisel and watch the sludge come out,
 
got sludge ?

goo.jpg
 
SCreamin said:
that sounds like a penzoil or quakersludge motor...try valvoline or mobil 1 synthetic on the new motor..

I've had Quaker State go for over 250,000+ miles on my old truck
(from the first oil change)....it would use 2 quarts per oil change.
Not bad, I think.
changed every 3,000 of course.
 
Well after some further looking, the dry pushrod was pretty worn out on the rocker end. we took them out and cleaned everything best we could, and tried to get some cleaner down on the lifter. I changed out the two dry worn pushrods with some leftovers I had from a 90 bronco 302, same size and all. The noise is gone, but those two are still not getting oil up through them at idle. After a 30 minute mixed city/ highway drive, the noise stayed away and it runs nice and smooth. It should live long enough for the engine plan to come together, but only time will tell. Thanks!:)
 
darkstar_one said:
run a gallon of deisel after you drain off the oil for about a minute or 2, then dreain the deisel and watch the sludge come out,


My dad said they used to drain 1 quart out, and replace with out quart of kerosene, run it for 5 minutes, then drain it all out and replace it with fresh to clean out all the sludge. Never personally tried it though.
(when i say "they" i mean him and the peolpe he knew.)
 
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