How to de-mothball an engine (was: sludge in Silver)

["Dick Benjamin" <DickB@xxxxxxxxx>]

Take the oil pan down and clean it out of all accumulated sludge before you
try to start the car.

 This is always the best practice.  If you take a shortcut or try some magic
potion to dissolve the crud so it will just piddle out the drain hole, you
are taking a chance on the sort of thing that befell Mike's 67.

Instead of a messy chore that will take you an afternoon and cost you a pan
gasket, you'll be faced with a big repair bill if your gamble goes bad.

Dick Benjamin
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy Angove <aa69tbird@xxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 8:33 AM
Subject: RE: IML: sludge in Silver


> This unfortunate situation brings a question to mind. What should a person
> do with a car that has been sitting for many years? I was told to not use
a
> motor flush right away, as this would encourage chunks of sludge to break
> away and possibly clog oil passages.
>
> I was told it's best to use a good quality detergent oil, and change the
oil
> and filter frequently, until the oil stays clean for a longer period of
> time, and to take it easy on the motor for awhile. What specifically
should
> those of us with cars that have sat for 10-15 years without being started
do
> once we revive them?
>
> Thanks,
> Andy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
> dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 9:27 AM
> To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: IML: sludge in Silver
>
> Mike, a piece of sludge could have been hanging out in the gallery for a
> long
> time.  Once you switched to Mobil 1, you were probably driving the car
> harder,
> and the 15w50 viscosity made the oil run hotter (generally, a good thing,
> since
> high oil temperature ironically resists sludge formation).  This combined
to
> your very bad luck could have moved the sludge to partly block an oil
> passage.
> Then, the oil pressure reading dropped, since the sensor is at the back of
> the
> cam.  Also, one or two cam bearings saw very low oil flow, ran too hot,
and
> most important, ran dry longer at startup.  This high cam friction
> (especially
> during startup) fatigued the cam.  The super high quality oil probably
> helped
> to postpone the final failure.
>
> Its hard to tell for sure, but that's a good theory.  Yes, in retrospect
you
> should have installed the mechanical oil pressure gauge.  Its easy to say
> that
> now of course!
>
> D^2
>
>
>