Cleaning with no oil filter?

[Wireyman]

I've got a recently purchased 62 Belair 4 door with a 235 straight six. No filter of any sort, as the bypass filter would have been an option. Not much sludge I can see in the engine after changing the valve cover and pushrod gaskets, but a fair amount of varnish.

So far, the only thing I have done as far as oil goes is about 4 oil changes over a 6 month period to allow the detergents to work whatever they may work. Probably a lot more than is really needed, but I have no clue on the service history. Starts and runs fine, with no smoking, odd noises or anything.

What other recommendations would you all have as far as further cleaning? Have checked Chevy Talk, Inliners, and Stovebolt but no luck so far. Any specific additive, treatment, or oil I should be using? Been running 10W30 and last oil change ran some MMO thru it for about 100 miles. Also, any fuel additive I should use?

My first post on BITOG after lurking for a few weeks and have discovered a plethora of useful info here. Any wisdom passed on is greatly appreciated.

 

[ekpolk]

That's a somewhat unusual situation, at least nowadays. The only thing I can think of would be to stay with a cautious approach, which it sounds like you're doing. With no filter to trap a sudden surge of hastily cleaned stuff, you might do some unnecessary damage. Perhaps just continue with the more frequent changes for now, no aggressive stuff.

AutoRx, one of the well-respected products often discussed here, calls for installation of a new filter to trap stuff that gets cleaned off with use of the product. Don't know how an old engine like this would react to such a treatment. You might call Frank at the number on the ARX site and see what he thinks.

You might also try getting a UOA done to see where you are. Terry Dyson's analysis service is very useful as well. His expertise would probably be a great help in determining where to go next. See dysonanalysis.com.

BTW, I have no "arrangements" of any sort with either of these guys. I've been very impressed with Terry's service (used about a half-dozen times), and I actually have some ARX on order myself, though I have not used it yet, it is again pretty well respected by most members who've tried it.

 

[mjo]

My advice is adding a bypass filter would make your engine a lot cleaner. Because the bypass filter was a factory option, it seems to me that your engine would have all the plumbing ports necessary to install one. There are lots of bypass filters available currently. I use a Gulf Coast O-1 Junior that encloses a roll of TP. You can find them used on Ebay for not much money. I think all the plumbing parts you would need are four hose barbs - which you can purchase from a hardware store. Visit the Bypass filters section of this forum for more advice if this is what you want to do.

 

[mdocod]

maybe the engine is designed to run with dirty oil? hehe..

Well... First thing that came to me, was that arx was originally developped for gear systems in high speed printing press machines(many have filters), BUT- it is very usable is transmissions, transfer cases, and axles, all which don't have filters... however, the amount of gunk that builds up in these systems is usually a lot less than in and engine that is subjected to heat and carbon/soot.... I would worry about the quantity of particulates that would be floating in the oil during an arx treatment...

Maybe Frank could offer "special" instructions for your engine.

(my guess, would be that a safe measure, would be smaller, "maintanence" style doses, in alternating clean/rinse phases- it would take longer, but be safer.)

 

[Wireyman]

I'm working the issue on a bypass filter, scanning e-bay and salvage yards high and low. I think the small maintenance doses may work very well for me until I get the filter, and will call ARX to ask abou tadditional options. Even maintenance doses over a long period of time would work for me. Mechanically she is sound, but caution is the wtchwrd until I get it back on a "normal" maintenance track.

 

[unDummy]

I wouldn't worry about varnish or cleaning your engine. I WOULD worry about unleaded fuel if you need lead with those valve. Use a lead substitute or UCL mixed with the fuel, or get an inverse oiler.

IMO, varnish isn't a problem. Since you've already inspected for sludge and have performed several oil changes, just keep on driving and enjoy your vehicle.
Stick with more frequent oil changes until you install some kind of filtration.
Start with a magnetic drainplug.
To prevent excessive fuel dilution, make sure engine is tuned and running correctly(plug/wires/distributor/carb...).
To prevent oil moisture issues, avoid overly frequent short trips and make sure that the cooling is perfect(thermostat/rad/hoses/belts) and that crankcase ventilation is working.

Todays synthetic oils, GF4/SM oils, and HDEO oils really don't need oil additives with the frequent OCI that you should practice(until filtration is addressed). Use the best oil you can afford.

Use the oil additive budget for the fuel tank.

 

[tom slick]

does this car get driven enough to worry about it?

 

[mjo]

quote:

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I wouldn't worry about varnish or cleaning your engine. I WOULD worry about unleaded fuel if you need lead with those valve. Use a lead substitute or UCL mixed with the fuel, or get an inverse oiler.

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What about 2 stroke oil, would that work?

 

[LarryL]

You could consider a TP bypass filter. It might cost a bit, but you can always transfer it to your next car. If you do an Auto-RX treatment or use Lube Control, just make sure that you change the filter when it fails to get hot. At first, it might need changing frequently.

 

[tom slick]

quote: I wouldn't worry about varnish or cleaning your engine. I WOULD worry about unleaded fuel if you need lead with those valve. Use a lead substitute or UCL mixed with the fuel, or get an inverse oiler.

I believe that it has been discussed here (long ago) that only lead or a real lead substitute will work for valves. any oils, etc, will not help due to the heat and the extreme pressure on the valve/seat face.

 

[kcryan]

add a little extra LC at each change and slowly watch it go bye bye?

 

[Alex P.]

Lead substitute is cheap and plentiful, at least.

 

[acewiza]

A bypass filter would be the best thing for that engine, and a good investment in long-term reliability. It must be a pretty decent motor, to be in good shape at this point. Running with no filter, certainly frequent oil changes is the only thing that kept it up so far.

Without filtration you are basically subjecting it to a higher overall wear rate. Just depends on how often you change the oil.