Suggestions for cleaning my high mileage motor

[Willard]

Alright so I think my good old lifter tap is starting to worsen some. It used to mostly go away when warm. But it doesn't anymore. Still sounds like it always has, just doesn't go away. It doesn't sound like the rods are wearing away or anything yet, the sound always changes to the point it might go away for a couple seconds. So to me this seems like stuck lifters.

Anyways, I want to try something to try and free them up some. I really do not feel comfortable putting and solvent (Seafoam, etc...) into the crankcase. It has almost 225k and already leaks a little oil, something like that would only make it worse. But I've toyed around with the idea of putting some transmission fluid or something else that has a high detergent to clean things a little bit.

I know this issue has been hit many times, but a definite answer has never been found. I want to do something that is safe for my old motor yet effective.

I currently run Motorcraft 5w-20 oil and a Motorcraft filter. It runs very good with no problems except for the lifter noise. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[josh93rodeo]

ATF has less detergent than motor oil. That trick is an myth.
You could do several short oil change intervals (1,500-2000k) to let the oil gently clean things up. Or you could try Auto-RX. I've never used it, but it has a pretty good following in some of the oil forums.

http://auto-rx.com/

 

[BrianDye]

Id still give her a shot of SeaFoam, my 92 EB has 242k on it, and it idled alot smoother and shes a TAD bit more responsive now, like it freed her up

 

[jd4242]

if you have that many miles im willing to bet it the pushrods and rockers arms that are worn.pull your driver side valve cover off and take your rocker arm assembly out and look at it for wear,only like a 20min job.your be surprised how much wear is on them.i really dont think running anything really helps for long term might shut them up for a min but it will be back.but i have heard of people running atf or engine flush though it and it helping but also heard that there oil pump ended up getting clogged up shortly after from all the build up going to the bottom of the pan,and thats exactly what happened to me!!!!with that many miles i would pull your covers off first and look at the rockers before you run anything in it because if it aint a lifter than you just broke everything loose in that motor for nothing!!

ATF has less detergent than motor oil. That trick is an myth.
You could do several short oil change intervals (1,500-2000k) to let the oil gently clean things up. Or you could try Auto-RX. I've never used it, but it has a pretty good following in some of the oil forums.

http://auto-rx.com/

i use atf to clean out my lockers and it works great

 

[jd4242]

Id still give her a shot of SeaFoam, my 92 EB has 242k on it, and it idled alot smoother and shes a TAD bit more responsive now, like it freed her up

sea foam is great for the intake and puts on a great smoke show never used it in a crank though

 

[doonze]

Just a little on topic question... I though you had to pull the heads to get to the lifters on these? Haven't been that far in yet, trying to get some other issues under control first before I address my knocking lifter issue. Do you HAVE to pull the heads to get to the lifters? Is it just the rocker arms you can get too without pulling heads? Just thought it was a good moment to ask..

 

[jd4242]

Just a little on topic question... I though you had to pull the heads to get to the lifters on these? Haven't been that far in yet, trying to get some other issues under control first before I address my knocking lifter issue. Do you HAVE to pull the heads to get to the lifters? Is it just the rocker arms you can get too without pulling heads? Just thought it was a good moment to ask..

yep heads got to be off
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[coppe]

once a mechanic in a construcion company i used to work in, told me that you could do one oil change with diesel motor oil, leave it there for like a month (using the truck normally), and then do a normal oil change, and that was supposed to give your engine a little inner wash, ´cause it has lot more detergents in it. I never did it in any car of mine, but this guy had an old chevy pick up truck, and ii saw this worked. After a while and putting in the normal oil, the engine would run smoother. But as said before, if rockers, and stems, etc, have a lot of wear, it won´t help that much.

 

[josh93rodeo]

i use atf to clean out my lockers and it works great

ATF has detergent in it, so it will clean stuff up. It just doesn't have more than motor oil.
People always say "have you ever seen how clean ATF keeps a tranny?
Automatic transmission are clean because they are a closed loop system. Unlike your engine where you have outside air coming in, outside fuel coming in and combustion happening. Your tranny is sealed and not much going on to gum it up.

 

[Willard]

Thanks guys. I'm not pulling the covers off right now, its not worth that much to me. I might see about that other stuff mentioned or something else. The ticking is just getting annoying on this thing, and I want it to try and make it better before things really start wearing bad.

Edit: Just went to bobistheoilguy.com. Didn't think about that place, should have gone there first for this kind of question. Learned some things there I can try. I'll post up when/if I try something.