Nasty Valve train

I pulled the valve cover off today and it looks pretty bad under there. There are carbon deposits on the underside of the cover and "gunked" up oil all over the rockers. Pushrods look pretty sickly as well. Does this send off any warning bells or is this just normal wear and tear? Is there any special way to clean it? It's an '89 4.0 with 200K+. I posted earlier about a clicking noise coming from the valve cover so I think I might have found the problem.

Thanks,

Justin

You can clean alot of it out with a plastic scraper and a shop vac, use them together. soak the valve cover. The reaon for the shop vac is to keep any small bits from working their way down to the oil pump pickup and clogging it. Been there, done that, bought the crankshaft...
From there you have two alternatives, fast clean with an engine flush and some oil and filter changes or switch to synthetic like Mobil-1 or Castrol Syntec or do a 50/50 mix, either of those oils will slowly clean the sludge out over a few months, keep an eye on the dipstick, when the marks get unreadable because the oil is too dark change the filter and add a quart. Keep an eye out for oil leaks, the synthetics will clean away sludge that has been acting as a barrier between the oil and the gaskets and seals, the cork gaskets will have dried out and the synthetic will pass right thru them.
Another alternative is to take it to a shop and have them put it on a flushing machine for half hour, costs about $70 or so, works OK but you can accomplish the same thing with synthetics, just more slowly.

Thanks, so I can mix my valvoline max life with a synthetic and run that for the time being? I plan on scraping the valve cover clean, but is there a special gasket to use while using a synthetic? Should I double up and use some type of silicone sealant? Also the bolts on the valve cover seam to work themselves loose after a few miles or so. Is there anything I can do about that other than loctite?

Thanks,
Justin

I was experiencing noisy lifters on my XJ and on the advice of members I had it flushed at the mechanics and I can't believe how quiet my engine is. At idle, (which is when my lifters were really noisy) you can't even here it running with the windows rolled up and the stereo and heater blower off. I'm so happy, I really hope it lasts. I'm very pleased and I appreciate the advice. I only have 87K on my engine and I was really worried about it. It never ran bad before, but its noticably smoother now.

sullju said:

Thanks, so I can mix my valvoline max life with a synthetic and run that for the time being? I plan on scraping the valve cover clean, but is there a special gasket to use while using a synthetic? Should I double up and use some type of silicone sealant? Also the bolts on the valve cover seam to work themselves loose after a few miles or so. Is there anything I can do about that other than loctite?

Thanks,
Justin

Click to expand...

dump the valvoline,
sludge buildup while using it has been a common problem in my experience with high mileage engines
i am a firm believer in castol gtx
240,000 hard miles in a mustang and the valve train was very clean and the cyl. walls rxill had the crosshatch pattern frol ho.hng before assembly
i was switched from kendall after i saw this

and don't go too far betweh ohl canges

as far as the Bdlts... yot maH want to shoot a little silicon on the threads before you install them