• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Cleaning Sludge

splitz

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Nola
I am replacing my valve cover gasket and I was greeted by this:

tNL1Qo3_d.webp



The sludge is so bad I can wipe it off in chuncks.

What's the best way to clean this up?
 
You'll need to pull the pan too, but I use nothing but diesel.
 
I would remove all the rocker arms and clean them also you can use a brush and clean the head , diesel fuel will work good but it will wash it down to the the oil pan . Then you will have to remove the oil pan and clean it all out and when in the oil pan you can replace the oil pump because it has been pumping all that old oil and I would think it is worn pretty bad . How many miles on your XJ ?
 
5 quarts of Rotella T4 and a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil, Wix 1085 filter.
Monitor the sludge melting away through the oil filler hole. DON"T start scraping it off or disassembling the valve train. Run it at least 1,000 miles before changing. Go longer if you can.
 
Youv'e had this xj for years and your just seeing this?
 
Good catch RCP.
Everyone should shine a flashlight into the oil filler hole when they get a "new to them" vehicle. Maybe before they buy it...

That said, it's easy to remedy with the Rotella and MMO. And, easy to monitor.
 
I would remove all the rocker arms and clean them also you can use a brush and clean the head , diesel fuel will work good but it will wash it down to the the oil pan . Then you will have to remove the oil pan and clean it all out and when in the oil pan you can replace the oil pump because it has been pumping all that old oil and I would think it is worn pretty bad . How many miles on your XJ ?

It's got about 130k.

I started to look at dropping the pan and replacing the oil pump after you and the others mentioned it. The oil pressure drops down to 10 psi at idle, and some have said that replacing the pump also fixed their low oil pressure issue at idle.

DON"T start scraping it off

What are the dangers of getting the big chunks wiped out of the valve train?

Youv'e had this xj for years and your just seeing this?

Yeah, this is the first time I've pulled the valve cover. I rarely drive it. I've put on less than 20k miles in the 13 years I've owned it...wow, I've had this thing a long time.
 
Good catch RCP.
Everyone should shine a flashlight into the oil filler hole when they get a "new to them" vehicle. Maybe before they buy it...

This ^^^^^^^ plus it applies any time your changing the oil!
 
It's been running this long with low oil pressure....
IF the gauge is accurate. If you hadn't pulled the valve cover, you'd be happily driving the crap out of it, right?

Leave the chunks alone. That stuff can drop into the oil pan and get sucked up to the oil pump strainer. If it hasn't blown up by now, which I doubt it would have, what's the harm in doing the Rotella and MMO thing?

I've done it numerous times and it worked like a charm.
 
Back
Top