This under the valve covers
 

So Im doing the top of my engine that i got from a guy not too long ago. i know he didnt take care of the car (after the fact that i bought it and had to take the T5 transmission to a shop to fix it) there was black antifreeze in the radiator and cooling system was built up with black crap and a few other things. I replaced my intake manifold and carb and had to take the valve covers off to make sure the intake was in correctly. When i pulled them up i saw this. caked on oil and debris inside the cover on everything. it looks like sludge to me. when i pulled up the old intake it was kid of the same thing under the manifold. caked up oil. i saw a nice nugget of carbon from the exhaust port of the heads. it was seriously a good half dollar sized chunk. there was carbon on the inside as well. (maybe this is why there was black antifreeze) I plugged up the holes under the intake and cleaned it out with a rag and some solvent. cleaned out the gunk. that was easy. under the valves are another animal. there are also a few small chunks of what i assume is carbon but there is a lot of build up of caked on oil. any suggestions on how to clean this out, are solvents okay to use? if i should keep the engine? i dont know how far this stuff has gotten in the engine. it ran fine before i took her apart.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

Looks pretty normal, unfortunately.

Add a quart of auto trans fluid to the oil. Watch the oil CAREFULLY: within the first couple hundred miles, it will become black thick gunk like road tar, as that stuff dissolves. Unfortunately the only way to get it out is just that, to dissolve it in the oil and drain it, so yeah... when it gets really nasty looking, change it and the filter, with a quart of ATF in it again. Will probably go 500 - 1000 miles this time before it needs changed again. Keep doing that until it quits coming out like asphalt.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

Needs a good cleaning and more frequent oil changes. I've seen much worse.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

alright, ill give that a try, ive got new valve covers coming in tomorrow then i should be finishing up the project. didnt want to put new covers over gunk and mess like that. i wiped a lot of it out like i did under the intake. looks decent but its still in the cracks and crevasses. my phone took way too big of a picture so this site only let me upload one picture. so i tried to choose the best one. im going to change the oil as soon as its all together. i heard thats a pretty good idea since i may or may not have dropped some carbon or stuff inside the oil pan, and there may also be extra solvent in there... what about one of those engine flushes, or i was also told a bit of sea foam in the oil will help that... any knowledge on that or should i just keep to the atf

Re: This under the valve covers
 

Automatic transmission fluid.

If any of that other would do any better, that's what I would have told you instead. ;)

Re: This under the valve covers
 

IMO, sludge needs to be treated/removed kind of slowly. Engine flush would probably take it off in chunks.

Chunks would most likely start plugging up the oil pickup and returns. This isn't to say that ATF wouldn't do the same thing, but it's not as harsh as a solvent (like engine flush) and may be a safer way to go.

I read someplace that kerosene works too.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

engine flushes are based on kerosene... don't use it... i wouldn't even bother with the atf, just start running a good oil and change it regularly.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

^THAT^ is your safest option.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

+1 for ATF. Done it many times.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

Are we saying ATF because it is a detergent? If so, wouldn't detergent 30 weight be the same?

Re: This under the valve covers
 

ATF has MUCHO more detergent in it than "detergent" motor oil does.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

HINT: Don't use older Ford ATF. Plain Dexron III/Mercon is O.K. You will be changing oil and filters frequently, and probably changing filters more frequently, so get a good supply of decent filters like Purolator Classic (standard) filters. This is NOT a good application for an orange oil filter, since it will probably go into full bypass and quit filtering within days.

When it starts to clean up to the point where you can see iron again, switch to a full synthetic (PAO based) and never look back.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

Excellent advice here! The only thing I would add is drain your oil when HOT and just after a decent drive. You want all of that to come out and not re-form on any parts when cold. Wear gloves, you'll be fine. ;)

Re: This under the valve covers
 

Helps to dissolve the solids, Marvel's Mystery Oil will do the same thing.

Re: This under the valve covers
 

id do 2 maybe 3 oil changes with a quart of atf some cheap oil and quality filters every 1000 miles, then just switch over to some quality synthetic, if your worried about it or just switch to synthetic and it will clean itself slowly over time. You aren't likely to see any problems its not that bad.

but do not use any, engine flushes or try to scrape it out with anything, doing that could potentially cause some serious damage.