Chrysler Flathead rebuild

[WyrTwister]

Chrysler Flathead rebuild

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-83dOWXkF8

Flat head engine from the 1930's . Ran on non detergent oil . What a mess ! Was this typical of what the engines of the time period looked like at overhaul time ?

 

[bullwinkle]

Yes-extended use of ND oil would eventually fill the crankcase with sludge. That’s why it’s important to not use modern oil in ancient engines-all that crud will start breaking loose and block the oil strainer.

 

[Tman220]

Yes that's very common with ND oil. That engine isn't even that bad! I have seen much worse than that with ND oils.

 

[WyrTwister]

One Lonely Farmer has a video on YouTube ( sorry for the lack of a link ) . He had an old tractor that had been run on conventional oil .

He had been transitioning to synthetic oil in his equipment , so he did an oil change on the tractor in question . With full synthetic .

After running the tractor a short time , he started to have problems . Upon tear down , the pan was full of sludge & the oil pick up was clogged . Thus starving the engine of oil & causing bearings to fail . Very big mess !

His theory was / is the synthetic oil loosened the deposits / sludge way too quickly . Sounds plausible .

I have wondered what it would have done if he had used 1 quart of synthetic and the rest conventional oil ?

 

[RoadRaceJosh]

Yep. If an engine is that dirty inside it's dangerous to switch to a modern oil. In air cooled VWs and the like you'd have to tear down the engine and replace the oil cooler to make sure all the garbage was gone. We are living in an era of vastly superior oils than our motoring forefathers had. If you have an especially old piece of machinery it may need a special diet just like your senior dog or cat.

 

[RoadRaceJosh]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
One Lonely Farmer has a video on YouTube ( sorry for the lack of a link ) . He had an old tractor that had been run on conventional oil .

He had been transitioning to synthetic oil in his equipment , so he did an oil change on the tractor in question . With full synthetic .

After running the tractor a short time , he started to have problems . Upon tear down , the pan was full of sludge & the oil pick up was clogged . Thus starving the engine of oil & causing bearings to fail . Very big mess !

His theory was / is the synthetic oil loosened the deposits / sludge way too quickly . Sounds plausible .

I have wondered what it would have done if he had used 1 quart of synthetic and the rest conventional oil ?


The tractor in question may not have an oil filter and even if it did there may be enough garbage in the crankcase to block the oil strainer or trash the bearings with hard carbon. Reducing the detergency of the oil would have left more junk fixed in place. Would it have been enough is hard to say.

 

[PimTac]

That engine is actually not too bad as far as sludge buildup goes.

Interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted By: Joshua_Skinner
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
One Lonely Farmer has a video on YouTube ( sorry for the lack of a link ) . He had an old tractor that had been run on conventional oil .

He had been transitioning to synthetic oil in his equipment , so he did an oil change on the tractor in question . With full synthetic .

After running the tractor a short time , he started to have problems . Upon tear down , the pan was full of sludge & the oil pick up was clogged . Thus starving the engine of oil & causing bearings to fail . Very big mess !

His theory was / is the synthetic oil loosened the deposits / sludge way too quickly . Sounds plausible .

I have wondered what it would have done if he had used 1 quart of synthetic and the rest conventional oil ?


The tractor in question may not have an oil filter and even if it did there may be enough garbage in the crankcase to block the oil strainer or trash the bearings with hard carbon. Reducing the detergency of the oil would have left more junk fixed in place. Would it have been enough is hard to say.


Think the tractor had a filter .

 

[fraso]

In the Corvair Oil Guide, Richard Widman regularly uses HDEO to clean heavily sludged engines.

Originally Posted By: "Richard Widman"
Bottom Line Recommendation #10
Forget the myth that you can’t put high detergent oils in older engines or engines that have been using poor quality oil. I do it every day! 50% of this market is API SF or lower, frequently without thermostats. They are full of sludge. Some drain plugs come out looking like a cork, with an inch or so of thick sludge on the end. No matter what the engine, I put in a 10W-30 high detergent CI-4 oil and instruct the customer to come back when it thickens up, or the following week if he doesn’t want to check it himself. Once it no longer thickens up quickly we move on to 15W-40 and add a 1200 mile engine cleaner. At the end of that cycle we move to whatever oil the engine should have.

 

[Garak]

Richard is an extremely valuable resource here.