Any advice on dirty engine internals?

ZacMaster

ZacMaster

Well-Known Member
Pulled off the valve cover last night and found it’s pretty dirty in there.

I have ZERO experience cleaning engines. Any easy ways I can clean some of this stuff up?

Wait till it’s running then cycle a lot of oil through? Brake cleaner and immediate drain?

Won’t do anything without guidance....

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Lonny

Lonny

Administrator
Staff member
If you start cleaning inside the cylinder head there is a good chance you will be loosening up gunk that will eventually start migrating it's way through the engine. If you want the inside of the engine to look clean I would suggest a complete rebuild.
Unless you feel there was a problem with the engine I would not try to fix it.
 
ctuinstra

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
I agree with Lonny. The only good way to clean that is to strip it down completely and take it in to get it professionally done. We have professional machine company around here that has a hot bath that they can clean things like that, but you still have strip it down and might as well rebuild it at that point.

How many miles on it? Curious, ours had 116K and was barely stained. I just wonder if they didn't change the oil in it or used crappy oil.

I don't have a photo of the top. This was after putting a new timing chain/gears on. I didn't clean it at all, you still see oil in the bottom.

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ZacMaster

ZacMaster

Well-Known Member
It was 121k. The oil I drained from it after the auction was DISGUSTING. Maybe I’ll just do some frequent oil changes once running and check again. No indication the engine was running poorly, so I’ll leave well enough alone....

Thank you as always for the guidance.
 
Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Run the engine with something like AMsOil engine & trans flush - don't use the cheap stuff. Run it for a few hundred miles, change your oil/filter and do it again. This should pretty well clean up the crud from poor maintenance and sludge in the engine. I've done this on some past vehicles I've owned, both had right at 100,000 miles on them and then ran them for another 75,000-80,000 miles with the proper maintenance. As long as there is no mechanical issue this should help.
 
lksohm

lksohm

Well-Known Member
My engine is about as dirty as yours ZacMaster. I have watched some tests of running seafoam in the oil with impressive results. this of course means getting the engine up and running.
I was planning on talking to a a professional engine builder before trying anything like that though.

My daily driver has ~240,000 miles and is as clean as Chad's pic above but I am meticulous about maintenance. The previous owners of our Cobalts must not have taken oil changes too seriously.

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C

CMASH

Member
How does your intake manifold look? My oil was pretty gunked up as well. Some of it got into the intake through the vent and clogged some stuff up.
 
Karter2026

Karter2026

Goblin Guru
Personal I would not do anything with it all. Anything you do to clean it other than a complete disassembly is bound to leave stuff behind. If you think you have it all drained out after you use some miracle oil cleaner. you are wrong. Pull a oil pan after it is drained and see how much you get out of it . Also what it does not get loose on the first try may come loose at a later time. I have had plenty of engines apart in my days that does not look that bad. I have seen a lot worse with less miles on them. I feel with trying to clean something you can not see you could open up a can of worms in your future. Some people will disagree with me on this. But that's my 2 cents on it.
 
Brian74

Brian74

Goblin Guru
I’m with Lonny on this. The detergents in good oils will clean some of it up. Quite often its caused by pcv issues, crappy oils, excessive oil change intervals, as well as short drive cycles where the engine is not brought up to full operating temps.

You don’t want to be loosening up this crud in large pieces for it to be making its way into oil galleys. Its doing no harm as it sits.

With excessive blow by, it will cause excessive oil vapor to make its way into the intake manifold. I’m a firm believer in catch cans for this.
 
ZacMaster

ZacMaster

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all your help, everyone.

A guy on the cobalt forums said that running 5 qts of acetone (but "only for 50 miles or so") instead of engine oil would "clean it right up," so I'm going to go ahead and do that. I'll let you know how it goes after I try it tonight.

Here's the link to his instructions.
 
G

G Atsma

Goblin Guru
I would not run straight or almost straight acetone! It does NOT lubricate at all! It'll clean out your engine alright... and your bank account!
 
Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
ZacMaster said:
Thanks for all your help, everyone.

A guy on the cobalt forums said that running 5 qts of acetone (but "only for 50 miles or so") instead of engine oil would "clean it right up," so I'm going to go ahead and do that. I'll let you know how it goes after I try it tonight.

Here's the link to his instructions.
Click to expand...
Zac, please don't run acetone in your engine, would hate to see the results - and you will be doing a total rebuild. April 1st gotcha is intended, but doing this will end with disasterous results. :p
 
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