Limited time, need reasonable opinion...

[genynnc]

So long story short. My dad took payment of a bill in the form of a vehicle. He actually lost money but a vehicle is better than nothing at all. So there was no verifying ultimate health of the engine, the truck is what it is. Anyway, I'm at their house on a two week vacation (well half is a buisness trip other half pleasure). So to the meat and potatoes...

98 S-10 4.3 V6, 85,000 miles. So before I was aware of the sludge problem, I volunteered to change the oil in the truck. Pull the drain plug and it's just caked with about an inch long train of greyish appearing sludge on the end of the plug. So I refill with some Adv. Auto 5w30, drive to see some other relatives put 500 miles on the oil. Planned to dump it so that's why I went with the Adv. Auto oil... I don't have time to wait for the Auto RX. Before I leave, in a few days, I'm gonna dump the Adv. Auto stuff. Now, should I put in a something like Rotella synthetic or PP or Maxlife 5/30? Just need some sugestions.

I can't imagine what the inside of that oil pan looks like. Oh yes, before I changed the roller lifters did not seem to be pumping up until about 1 mintue into the engine running. That seems to have went away somewhat, now it's only about 15 seconds or so after I changed.

Thanks for the help!

 

[J_Myler]

If you don't have time for auto rx get some MMO and put that into the oil and drive it for 500 miles and then dump it out. That should help.

 

[SuperDave456]

Explain to your father what is going on. Buy some Auto Rx and print out the instructions and tell him what to do.

If you have Auto RX go ahead and change the oil, then put the Auto RX in and explain to your dad he has a sludge issue and to change out the oil at a Jiffy Lube in 2500 miles.

How many miles will he put on this truck? Will you see him again to eventually put another bottle in his car?

Your sludge sounds pretty extreme, you may need to do at least 2 if not 3 treatments eventually

He could do a couple 1000 mile oil changes, but even that wont do what Auto Rx does for sludge. Im thinking that since you have 1" of sludge visible in the bottom of the pan the best thing to do would be to pull the pan, but like you said, time is of the essence.

 

[TallPaul]

Multiple changes can be helpful. I would not go to synthetic at this point. The Rotella sounds better, but 40 wt is a bit heavy maybe.

 

[daves87rs]

I agree with dave...hopefully keeping that 4.3 running.

If the engine is messed up, I'd hate to see the rest of the truck. Poor s-10....

 

[The Critic]

Go purchase your favorite over-the-counter Engine Flush and run that before the upcoming oil change. That should take care of the "big chunk."

 

[Peter_Pan]

I say get a very good quality oil filter (the engine will need really need it) then run PP for a 2K interval. Repeat in 2K and you should be OK. PP has a lot of detergent in it and with a good synthetic media filter should be able to clean your engine out. I also suggest spending a few bucks and getting a Magnetic Drain Plug:

http://www.magneticdrainplug.com/Automotive_Drain_Plugs/AP04.html

Considering the situation I'm willing to bet it will pick up a lot of dirt floating around and make the oil filters job easier.

 

[rg200amp]

Rotella or PP would be my choice of oil, after a flush with MMO or Seafoam.

 

[tsmay51]

X2 on the auto rx. Print out instructions and have dad do the intervals correctly if possible.

 

[demarpaint]

A-Rx would be the best bet, 2-3 complete applications as already mentioned. If he refuses to go that route I would add 1/2 qt MMO to the oil and run it for the last 1000 miles of the next few OCI's. If you feel like draining out some oil you can even run a full qt for the last 1000 miles of the OCI.

 

[NHHEMI]

If you don't have time to get the AutoRX as you claim Seafoam works great for a quick flush to get the worst of it. Just dump a can in and let the car idle for about 30 minutes( rev it a little now and then but don't go nuts ). Change the oil then dump another can and go drive for a hundred miles +/- then change again. If it is as bad as you say don't drive too long before changing the oil again to check things out or your filter could get clogged. 2 treatements as outlined above( 1 each - not 2 of each step )should get the worst of it for you and get you to where you can do a normal OCI. Seafoam is available at most national parts chains for approx $7 a can.

Definitely keep changing the oil and filter frequently( 500 or fewer miles - cheap oil is fine for that )until it appears you have got the worst of it out though. You should be good to go after Seafoam #2 however. Once you are confident the engine is basically clean in there I would recommend using a good high mileage oil like Valvoline MaxLife. If you want synthetic for the vehicle they offer MaxLife in blend and full synthetic formulas. IMO it is the ideal oil for your application/situation once you get the gunk out.

 

[addyguy]

I'd go with half a quart of MMO in the oil you have in there, drive for as much as you can before you have to change the oil, and then change it to cheap dino again. Tell your dad to get in changed again in 2-3k miles, and it should be okay from there. With the exception of the intake gasket issue, the 4.3 is a preety tough engine.

 

[bepperb]

It sounds like [contrary to every post here] you don't want to go with an additive?

If that's the case, I drain and fill with another cheap oil and new filter obviously, and tell him that he will need to change it again in 2000 miles. I understand that there is more detergent in a "premium" oil, but there's probably so much stuff in there more frequent cheaper changes would be better for the problem. Especially since the filter probably needs to be changed more than anything.

I'm sure autorx is a better bet. If it were me, I'd change the oil now, get that mailed to him and have him dump it in, and tell him to get another change in a few thousand.

 

[TallPaul]

What NHHEMI says makes good sense to me, assuming Seafoam is specified to be added to oil.

 

[Drew99GT]

I'd bet dollars to donuts the intake manifold gaskets have been flooding the crankcase with coolant. I've dealt with several 4.3Ls; on my brothers, the gaskets failed so bad it filled the crankcase to the brim with antifreeze and killed the motor. It was a sludgy, gooey mess.

I'd focus more on the cooling system at this point. You'll probably eventually need to get the gaskets replaced with metal framed ones. Or, if it's simply a beater truck, drain the cooling system and flush it, get a new thermostat in there and a new radiator cap (very important on these engines), and before refilling the system with something other then Dexcool, add a bottle of Bar's Leaks. Then refill and run the engine for 30 minutes to circulate the stop leak.

For the gummed up oiling system, I'd maybe try Rislone. It apparently works somewhat like Auto-RX and slowly desolves crud.

 

[PT1]

Ok here is the cheapest way to clean that thing up. Go to WM and get several gallons of Rotella for $10.50 a gal and several ST oil filters. Also get a couple of quarts of rislone AND MMO and start doing 1500 miles oil changes with your rotella/rislone/mmo cocktail. After 6000 miles of that get 2 jugs of PP 10w30 and some ST filters and give it two 3000 mile OCI's with the PP. Send a sample of the 2nd PP run to Blackstone and see what you have in there. If you are losing coolant all this while then skip the rislone & mmo and send a sample to blackstone of the first run of rotella to check it for coolant.

Also, as said before you could use seafoam versus mmo & rislone. But I would use a HDEO like rotella because of the detergent in it.

 

[SuperDave456]

Im curious as to what course of action he decided to take.

Anyone hear from him?

Im kind of wanting to get updates to hear how everything goes.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Why not pull the pan and clean it the right way?

My old 91' lincoln used the [censored] SG/SH rated oils for years which caked the oil pan. The pan rotted out and I had to have it changed. The mechanic that did it said the internals looked a little brown, but no hunks or caked deposites. All the hunks were glued to the old oil pan. Now that the pan is new, the oil stays very clean for a 3k interval.

I would choose to clean the pan if it is easy to remove.

 

[txrhino]

I wouldn't waste money on Auto-Rx.I would go with the least expensive oil and maybe some MMO to help thin the thick stuff out and faciltate getting a better drain. The gray goupy stuff indicates water/oil mixture forming an emulsion. Additives don't fix stuff like that.

 

[demarpaint]

At the very least why not pressure check the cooling system and see if it's leaking coolant into the engine? If it is, there are no additives, flushes or short OCI's that are going to stop the sludge formation in that engine. Once you're certain the coolant is staying where it belongs then decide how you want to attack the sludge issue. Many options have already been suggested.