lots of oil in my intake system, what gives?

[Eastcoastmod]

Morning all

When I finished installing new plugs and ingnition coils, ( I was due), I picked up the intake assembly off the floor and heard a liquid inside. Naturally I turned it over to take a look. When I did, close to half a litre of dirty black oil poored out. I assume I have a pcv issue but am curious what cleaning process I will have to complete. All that oil can't be good for the air sensors etc. I am running down to pick up a new air filter and pvc valve but was hoping someone could clairify whether it needs a complete cleaning. If so, are there any chemicals I need to avoid?

I took some pics but I forget how to insert them.
4.6 limited 03
Colin

 

[waskly]

are you in a very hot area?

what oil are you running and what altitude are you at?

alot of oil will steam into the intake in hot area's, also higher alts speeds this up.

 

[zerodevil]

the ford modulars are well known in the performance industry for sucking oil through the PCV system. Replace the PCV valve and run some seafoam through the brake booster. Its 'probably' not a big deal, but if it bothers you buy some steeda oil/air separater tanks and install them in the line. That will solve your issue entirely. I am doing this as we speak.

 

[Eastcoastmod]

Thanks, I usually run a lighter weight oil since it's cold here. I couldn't get a pcv yesterday but will pick one up on the way home. The old one seems to work fine, moves freely but who knows. It's cheap enough I don't mind doing it.

 

[zerodevil]

Glad to help!

If i were you i would run a whole can of seafoam through it just to clean up what ever gunk there already is. When i was putting my new 78mm TB on i noticed i had a lot of oil, seafoam really cleaned out the manifold, and the separaters are working as i can already see some oil pooling in the bottom of them.

 

[Eastcoastmod]

Seefoam always makes me nervous. I've heard so many horror stories.

 

[Wills05xlt4x4]

seefoam always makes me nervous. I've heard so many horror stories.

x2

 

[blueoval9erlifer]

i use seafoam all the time what kind of horror stories are there????

 

[Eastcoastmod]

When added to fuel, I have heard all kinds of things like damaging catalitic converters, fouling plugs, never running right again. When added to oil, makes the oil viscosity go way down, resulting in spun bearings severe internal wear etc.

 

[zerodevil]

I add to the intake system, i have never had a problem with it and i have used it on literally all of my friends and familys cars (white smoke clouds are da bomb). Bottom line if you want to clean it up you are going to need to run somthing through the intake (ususaly through the brake booster line). Seafoam is just what comes to mind for me. That oil is going to have caked not only your manifold but the intake runners and valves inside of the cylender head too.

To run through the intake system you start the engine, and then disconnect the brake booster line at the brake booster. Pinch the end of the hose or the engine will die out.Take your bottle of seafoam and slowly pour the entire contents of the can into your engine while it is running. After this promptly turn off your engine and allow to sit for 30 minutes to an hour. Go ahead and fire it up and take it for a test drive, be aware that the crazy amount of white smoke you are going to see is normal and should go away in about 5 minutes, run the engine through its RPM range, so get it on an on ramp and give it WOT after its heated up. This will have let the seafoam bind with anything that was caking the inside of the intake system from the top of the manifold downwards, it can actually clean your exhaust system out too. There is near zero chance of oil or fuel contamination, and your engine will be virtually free of built up oil, carbon, and rust inside of the intake system.

 

[blueoval9erlifer]

ZeroD

I agree with what you said The White Smoke is Da BOMB!!!! , and seafoam has always treated me right. back when everything was carbs you could slowly pour tranny fluid or water YEA water! into your carb as long as engine stayed running and clean all the carbon buildup out, but with these F.I. systems not sure how that would work but ive ran seafoam in my gas, oil, and cleaned the same way you describe with never having an issue. SeaFoam makes some other great products also, one of which my friend the "professional" mechanic swears by called DEEP CREEP this you can spray into the T.B. while engine is running then shut it off and wait 30 minutes or so and will do the same thing as a can of the original. and it gives the same smoke effect always a plus!!

i thought maybe there was some real evidence that seafoam had caused problems that i should be aware of not just the "URBAN MYTHS" which every product basically has.

Thanks for input and if anyone has anything to add i would more than appreciate there stories for or against SeaFoam. might have to start a thread to see what everyone thinks of it.

 

[esclamada]

if you tried cleaning your throttle body or opened up your intake manifold you could easily tell that these products are basically snake oil. SeaFoam could clean stuff but it can't clean buildup thoroughly, too much of this could thin your oil and could ruin your engine (spun bearing)

whenever you use this stuff those gunk alway has to go somewhere, they are not dissolved and could ruin your sensor, seals and catalytic converter. Some are lucky that the amount they're putting in are too small that it doesn't ruin anything. There is still that placebo effect that it was working..


nothing beats a manual disassembly and cleanup.



-----------------------------------------------------------
MY MOUNTY
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[Eastcoastmod]

I think I figured out how all that oil got in there....

The pcv didn't seem to be stuck. I've been racking my brain all week. It just didn't make sense to me. How does around a litre of oil get in there if everything else is well maintained.( I like to think I know what I'm doing).

Then it hit me...In 2005, the wife hit black ice and rolled it. It sat on its roof overnight. 20000$ rebuild later, they couldn't have noticed the oil in the intake. This explains how that oil looked so black and just plain old. Since I run full synth and change it often, that just didn't make sense.

I'm much more comfortable doing a tear down and proper cleaning than using seafoam. I just don't trust the stuff.

Thanks for all the tips

 

[D Hook]

I add to the intake system, i have never had a problem with it and i have used it on literally all of my friends and familys cars (white smoke clouds are da bomb). Bottom line if you want to clean it up you are going to need to run somthing through the intake (ususaly through the brake booster line). Seafoam is just what comes to mind for me. That oil is going to have caked not only your manifold but the intake runners and valves inside of the cylender head too.

To run through the intake system you start the engine, and then disconnect the brake booster line at the brake booster. Pinch the end of the hose or the engine will die out.Take your bottle of seafoam and slowly pour the entire contents of the can into your engine while it is running. After this promptly turn off your engine and allow to sit for 30 minutes to an hour. Go ahead and fire it up and take it for a test drive, be aware that the crazy amount of white smoke you are going to see is normal and should go away in about 5 minutes, run the engine through its RPM range, so get it on an on ramp and give it WOT after its heated up. This will have let the seafoam bind with anything that was caking the inside of the intake system from the top of the manifold downwards, it can actually clean your exhaust system out too. There is near zero chance of oil or fuel contamination, and your engine will be virtually free of built up oil, carbon, and rust inside of the intake system.

Just to clarify, after you disconnect the brake booster vacuum hose, do you put the disconnected hoe end into the container of Seafoam and let it suck it up out of the can?

This is the first time I've heard of Seafoam causing problems. I usually just run a can of it through the gas tank when the tank is getting empty, just before fill-up, so it's more concentrated. Never had anything bad happen.