Suggestions? Popped off my valve cover to find this....

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Annapolis / Frostburg, MD
Lookie:

http://www.projectmazda.com/host/redprotege/undervalvecover1.jpg

http://www.projectmazda.com/host/redprotege/undervalvecover2.jpg


It is a 1996 Mazda Protege with the 1.5 Z5-DE engine. It has 127k miles and seems to run fine, no valvetrain noise (has solid lifters) and seems to have enough power to get around.

But I'm still concerned with the amount of sludge build up.

Any suggestions on how to safely get rid of this stuff via flushs or cleaners?

I don't know if doing a kerosene flush would be such a hot idea since the amount of loose crap it'd free up might clog oil passages.


Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Also worth noting. I'm not willing to spend much on just flushing the engine out. It seems to run fine, I just don't want to chance something clogging & seizing the motor so I want to loosen up some of this crap.

I paid $550 for the car, which is a super-amazing price considering its condition (other than finding this out
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)

Pics of it here: http://www.projectmazda.com/host/redprotege/

Someone suggested to me to pour 1qt of ATX and the rest oil and change the filter...drive it like that for 500-1000 miles and cahnge the oil, then repeat it like 2-3 times. Don't know if that will do anything, but i've heard similar suggestions in the past.

Teh same person also told me most of the off-the-shelf "engine flush's" are actually primarily ATF with maybe a couple other additives.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Gro Harlem:
i've used autorx in the past on a different vehicle. Didn't really do much of anything + its overpriced.

And i've had the car for 3 days now, just bought it.


whew Gro man, I was gonna say
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Anyway, pull the Z5 and somehow shoehorn a KL-ZE into that beeotch
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quote:

Originally posted by Gro Harlem:
i've used autorx in the past on a different vehicle. Didn't really do much of anything + its overpriced.

Wow, I think this is the first negative review of AutoRX I've read here on BITOG.
 
lmao, the reason I bought htis car is so I can save on gas & not beat the crap out of my KL-ZE'd MX-3 as much: http://www.projectmazda.com/host/greenmx/

The MX gets about 22-29mpg on premium (not too bad) but I deliver pizzas and wanted a stock-suspension car to beat the crap out of, so I lucked out and got this car for $550 (should've cost at least $1500 for the year/condition/mileage).

So far, I drove 139.3 miles on 3.36 gallons...thats about 41.5 MPGS!!! And that was on 87 octane lol. Thats a 44% savings in fuel-cost over my MX-3

Either way, I wasn't expecting to find so much build up under this valve cover. I have popped off MANY covers off various cars at the junkyards I go to and I've only seen maybe 2 other cars that were this bad in my life. I'm amazed this car runs like it does considering, I just want it to last
 
OK i just looked up AUTORX and it seems the price is lower than I can remember it being. Still $24 for one treatment is nearly out of my budget, but they are running a $3 off thing til 4th of july. I still have reseverations b/c this car is supposed to be super-ultra-low-cost beater-mobile.

I tried the autorx treatment before in my KL-ZE and honestly It didn't do jack squat. My klze wasn't too crusty but it looked no different after the treatment and the HLA's still tick like crazy after the treatment. Sorry
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. I know the autorx guy sponsors this site, and he might remember my name since I've emailed him in the past lol.
 
Even if auto-rx doesn't remove all the visible sludge it's still going to clean up your ring packs and such which is the main benefit.
 
Sorry but what is MMO? I did a search, coudln't find a straight answer.

I figured out OCI = oil change interval. I typically use 4000 mile intervals with a slightly oversized filter & Mobil1 tri-synth 10w30. At least thats what i've used in my old 93' Protege, current 93' MX-3 and my old 93' 1.6-swapped Festiva.
 
I too would recommend the two or even three bottle treatment for this engine ..buy a few spare filters too. You would have paid $650 for this car. Spend a fraction of what you saved and clean it up. You're saving more in fuel in a week or two. You may be able to get years out of this engine.

Although it may be your only alternative, I strongly recommend against using a putty knife. Once scored, you had better get all of it out from where it is hiding or you will leach that crap for a very long time. It will be undermined instead of disolving slowly and may disintegrate in an unfavorable manner.

I would avoid "kero in a can" type flushes if possible. I don't know how MMO would handle this either.
 
I'd have that biopsied. You've got some weird oil cancer or something like it growing in there. I'll bet the pan looks neat too.

[ July 01, 2005, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: Flashlightboy ]
 
If you want a pretty much no cost solution I've seen one done. Get a gallon of kerosene and a brush and brush/dissolve the sludge so that it runs into the pan. Then drain the pan and flush with another gallon of kerosene or until it begins to run clear. There isn't anything wrong with letting the used kerosene sit until it settles out clear and using all over again. After a good drain, fill with cheap oil, run a few hundred and change to something good. If it was me, i'd pull the pan to be sure that the pump pickup screen wasn't obscured by junk. By all means,DO NOT START the engine until all this is done and you have a crankcase full of good oil again.
 
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