engine sludge

[snowflake]

HI
I have just joined the forum this morning and would welcome any advice
on running a renault 4 gtll 1988 as a daily driver.I live in south west france
and bought Snowflake from an elderley gentleman who had kept the car
in a garage at his holiday home here in France.As a consequence the car
is remarkably rust free .I have cleaned the car inside and out degreased
the engine bay and t cut and polished ,changed plugs and points and fitted
four new tyres and Snowflake has just passed her CT the French equivalent
of an mot.The speedo reading suggests that she has covered 226000 kms
but the previous owner said that he thinks a replacement engine had been
fitted at some time prior to his ownership,the engine runs evenly and pulls
smoothly but inspection of the interior of the rocker box cover has shown
a build up of thick glutinous oily deposit , which brings me finally to my
question - what would be the best method of cleaning the engine without
dismantling it ? the previous owner appears to have changed oil and filter
every two years or 1500 kms,sorry to be so long winded, thanks.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

This can happen if a car isn't used much and also if it's not breathing. If the oil has been changed very regularly as you stated then I would just clean all the sludge from the rocker cover and the plate that obscures the breather pipe. Ensure that the pipe is also clear of sludge as this attached onto the carb. If the engine can breathe then I wouldn't worry.

 

[mike4gtl]

its always so hard to remive all the sludge when its baked on

 

[snowflake]

This can happen if a car isn't used much and also if it's not breathing. If the oil has been changed very regularly as you stated then I would just clean all the sludge from the rocker cover and the plate that obscures the breather pipe. Ensure that the pipe is also clear of sludge as this attached onto the carb. If the engine can breathe then I wouldn't worry.

Thanks for the advice Steve. Will go ahead and clean it. Would you recommend changing the oil and filter, running for 1000 miles and then changing again?

 

[Steve Hennessey]

If the oil is clean there's no point in changing it but if you wanted to be fussy then do so. If there is evidence of sludge all over the rocker gear and the top of the head then try to remove as much of it as you can with a rag and then use a good flushing oil and do follow the instructions on the can! Although the sludge looks awful it only presents a problem if it blocks up any guaze filters such as the one that may be fitted on the oil pump and definitely the one that feed the oil to the timing chain tensioner, and any other oilway.

If you decide to use the flushing oil and it is evident that it has removed lots of sludge then do an oil and filter change, run for 500 miles and repeat the operation again.