Neglected car- Unknown oil '95 Caprice 5.7l LT1

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Originally Posted By: gallydif
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Originally Posted By: bigt61


This is a 95 Caprice - a beater worth $500 to $1000 at best. Any money spent on trying to desludge it is wasted IMO. Just keep it running on cheap dino and keep it topped off if it leaks. That's it. Save your money for a nicer, newer next car.


That car, in that shape, with that mileage, will bring $5500 on the worst day in Hades.

Man, I wish I was selling cars in your neighborhood.


It's the going rate. Perfect example here: '96 Caprice 52k 5.7l lt1 (look at the dual exhaust) $5500

http://lakeland.craigslist.org/cto/5782024747.html

How do you look out the back window with that one?
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Nice whale you have there lol..
If i were you i would do short changes with 10w30 delo or rotella, maybe 1000 miles at a time, may try a piston soak followed by a good italian tune up. skip the flushes, the spoon scraping etc, if the engine is running well enough let the oil do its thing.

on a side note these 350 engines are tough as nails !!! with changing the pcv valve and some minor tune up work i'm willing to bet that engine will run along time if you don't screw around with the flushes. And that uoa does not worry me at all . i bet after a few oil changes things drop quite a bit on the next uoa.
 
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Originally Posted By: hemitom
Nice whale you have there lol..
If i were you i would do short changes with 10w30 delo or rotella, maybe 1000 miles at a time, may try a piston soak followed by a good italian tune up. skip the flushes, the spoon scraping etc, if the engine is running well enough let the oil do its thing.

on a side note these 350 engines are tough as nails !!! with changing the pcv valve and some minor tune up work i'm willing to bet that engine will run along time if you don't screw around with the flushes. And that uoa does not worry me at all . i bet after a few oil changes things drop quite a bit on the next uoa.

Thanks! Yeah, people keep telling me they're tough engines. In this case, that's a good thing. This UOA was taken with a PCV valve that wasn't functioning.

Since then I put in a new PCV valve. I also cleaned the MAF sensor and throttle body. The throttle body was nasty. All caked up. Cleaned both the outisde and opened the throttle plate and cleaned inside as well with throttle body cleaner. There's a clear difference now when pressing the pedal. Much quicker to respond. Idles much better too now.
 
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Thats all good !!! most likely never been cleaned in its life.
Not sure what you have for miles on your oil change now, i would really consider doing the short oci with hdeo .. slow cleaning is much better in your case let the oil do the work. how is the oil consumption ??
the pics of the valve springs and rockers are not all that bad... the stuff you scraped with the screw driver was it from a corner ?? if i was to guess i would think this engine was short tripped a lot and with non frequent oil changes or cheap oil was used.
 
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^ you hit the nail on the head! Short tripped its whole life to the grocery store and church by an elderly lady that didn't understand the importance of oil changes.

I currently have 802 miles on the current OCI. The 'change oil' light came on at 793mi. Looked in the owners manual and the light goes by the condition of the oil, not the mileage. Who knows how accurate it is though. These engines take 5qts of oil but I was only able to put 4.5 qts in before the dipstick showed full. I'm assuming those .5 qts I wasn't able to put in is because there's sludge in its place.

After putting in the new PCV valve and resealing the valve covers there's absolutely 0 oil consumption so far.

I was looking into HDEO but then I saw M1HM is very high in magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc. The 5w-30 is API SL. The phosphorus and zinc levels are actually comparable to that of diesel oils. The magnesium is supposedly basically the same as calcium but more expensive. Do you know about calcium and magnesium?

M1HM
http://www.pqiamerica.com/June 2014/mobil1530a.htm

Chevron Delo
http://www.pqiamerica.com/June 2014/chevrondelo1510.htm
 
I've had some experience with this family of engines, but never saw anything like this.
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In any case, you're right, if you want this to be your baby, that's perfectly fine. Others might think it's a waste of time, but in the end, it's your decision, and I took some pretty careful measures with a certainly old F-150, and many others might have considered it a waste, too.

You could do some fairly quick OCIs with an HDEO or cheap conventional or a synthetic or whatever floats your boat. Be aware, this is time consuming (i.e. are you prepared to wait two or more years even with driving a lot of miles) and won't get everything. When it comes to solvent flushes, they have a very niche purpose. I say don't touch them unless you plan on opening the engine anyway. That way, if you end up causing damage, it's not going to matter in the grand scheme of things anyway.

It's not fun, but the preferred option will be manual cleaning. It will be the safest, quickest, and most effective.
 
I agree, I'd also hand clean it, at least the head that was oppened and disturbed, but he's running the engine like that, 800 miles after bolt on and pray. Good luck for him.
 
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Originally Posted By: bigt61

Man, I wish I was selling cars in your neighborhood.


Friend of mine frequently buys and sells these cars, and they go all over the country.

He recently sold a 96 Buick Roadmaster with 32k very documented miles for $9000.

Agree or not, these vehicles are the new classics.
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Originally Posted By: bigt61

Man, I wish I was selling cars in your neighborhood.


Friend of mine frequently buys and sells these cars, and they go all over the country.

He recently sold a 96 Buick Roadmaster with 32k very documented miles for $9000.

Agree or not, these vehicles are the new classics.


Limited with the functioning opera lights? I wish mine had the opera lights. There's a '95 roadmaster sedan for sale in Massachusetts with 9k. Asking price is $15k.
 
To add to the coke-can-as-scraper thing: Plastic drinking straws are good for getting into corners, say along the side of the rocker pedestals. Available in a range of diameters, the end can be cut to various profiles, (an angle giving a point, like the bamboo spears in 7 Samuri, generally works OK) and the sludge mostly goes inside the tube.

For harder deposits, a metal or PVC tube can be useful. I use bits of old TV aerials or arrow-shafts, since the school has an archery range.
 
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I have the LT-1 in my 95 Corvette (@ 300hp)--all stock, 68K miles and I think I understand at least some of your fondness for these cars---this engine is the icon for a low-end torque-monster. Incredible driveability.
I vote for leaving it alone, with frequent oil & filter changes---IMO if you don't disturb the sludge, it will just stay there.
Steve
 
Doublewasp: wow she's a beauty! One of my favorite colors. Do you still have her?

Steve20: I believe you do understand the fondness for them. I just did another oil change. 890 miles.

Part 2 comes out now
 
I would just use a 10W-30 diesel oil like Rotella and do frequent changes. Even once it gets cleaned out (if ever) they like 5k mile OCI's, no more regardless of oil type in my testing with my car. I currently use Maxlife 5W-30 but had very good luck with Rotella 10W-30 and Rotella T6 5W-40.

As for an air leak, did you change or at least inspect the flexible hoses as part of the PCV valve? One near the valve and the other under the throttle body? They tend to crack on the inside of the bends. Could be sucking in dirt there.
 
Originally Posted By: gallydif
First off welcome to BITOG
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I see we share a common interest in full size American autos. If you have facebook, check out a group called "The Brougham Society" I believe you'd like it.
Hitting your daily question first. Man, both the panthers and bbodys are wonderful cars. Can't go wrong with either. Which panther do you have? All you said is true- the build quality is phenomenal and there's a plethora of them out there. There's just something about that 4.6. Don't know how to explain it. But every time I got in the Town Car and went to turn the engine over, I had full confidence it would each and every time. Not the fastest engine, but it's bullet proof. To me, it's the most reliable engine for cars on the road. Now the 5.7 lt1 is no slouch either. Way more powerful than the 4.6. More fun to drive. My 4.6 had 200hp. I know later on towards the end of production, the CVPI's were rated at 239hp.
Both my lt1's feel different. I put OESpectrum Monroe shocks on the Roadmaster sedan. Drives nice and soft like I'm riding on a cloud. Also note that the RMS was much better taken care of mechanically by the previous owner. It was garage kept. No sludge from what I can see. The RMS and Town Car had the same ride quality pretty much. The Caprice have shocks made for towing and it has a much firmer sporty feel to it.
The 4.6 is know to burn oil. That's common and nothing to worry about. Mine did it as well about 1qt/1k like yours. I tried everything even including the Lucas Oil Stabilizer snake oil to no avail.

It's funny you mention M1 and magnesium. Earlier today I was on the PQIA website and researching calcium, phosphorus, calcium, moly, zinc, magnesium, boron and what it all means. After comparing many dinos and synthetics, I noticed that M1 has a huge amount of magnesium. (Mobil Super is like the rest- all calcium and hardly any magnesium). It's more expensive than calcium.
I noticed that M1HM has high levels of zinc and phosphorus comparable to that of HDEO's. Know that know, I may go M1HM over HDEO now since they seem pretty comparable as far as cleaning and anti-wear agents.

What I understand is that magnesium and calcium are the detergents that will actually clean the sludge/carbon up while phosphorus and zinc are the anti-wear agents. Moly and boron are the protective coatings.


I was lucky enough to find BITOG ~’08 with the Oil Bible, but try to check in a couple times a decade to keep up to date. It’s a great resource, I feel a lot better having some tiny understanding of the products that I put my trust in. Don’t be an enabler! I waste enough time as it is looking at ‘70’s/’80’s Cadillacs on craigslist that I have no money, time, space, or use for
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I found myself a 03 Grand Marquis in decent condition at a good price. It has really benefitted from a MAF cleaning, injector cleaning, & addressing the timing chain, & now has more power than I really can use. I love the interior- leather, bench seats, digital gauges, tasteful/simple design. I really enjoy the time I spend in the car. On the list of things to do is swap to front HPP springs & replace the rear coils with (originally equipped) air springs. I’m trying to address the floppiness of the suspension ~40mph curves; already replaced the shocks with standard KYBs before I found out about the early 2003+ spring sagging issues.

Other than that, I love driving it. It’s my first Ford, wooden steering wheel, bench seat, V8, RWD, burn out capable, & many other things. I’m really enjoying the experience, especially considering the cost of admission.

I was looking for a 94-95 Impala (wanted the digital gauges + bench) in black, or possibly dark green grey metallic, and as stock as possible. They exist.. but in my area either at $7-8k+, or beat up, & a lot of shady stories on craigslist. My plan was to spray my way into the 12’s & laugh up the entire experience.

For whatever reason, it seems like the Ford modulars don’t respond well to go-fast mods. Maybe it's the smaller displacement. I'm watching the 2016 Drag Week & there's a Marauder running mid 15's, & a Lightning in th high 14's/low 15's. Ultimately that’s fine for me. For a daily driver I think I made the right choice, the comforts of the newer generation Panther to B Body make up for the lack of power potential & cool factor of the Impala. And at ~1/3 of the price for a 20 year old car. The Grand Marquis is really fun to work on & tinker with, it’s still fun trying to eek out MPGs & restoring some of the broken bits. Plus, I'm not wasting money chasing performance in a daily driver. Like I said though, I’m not ruling out picking up a B Body one day and sticking a 150 shot on it
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Glad to hear you're making progress with the Caprice!
 
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