Jhovel
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 5
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Bendigo, Vic
- Members Ride
- VZ Executive Wagon
Hi all.
My 2005 VZ Alloytech wouldn't start one day a couple of months ago. Since it had been making cam chain noise for a year or so, I figured that it had finally ran out of safe range of cam vs. crank sensor angles. Everything else seemed OK.
After searching for and reading many many posts here about how to go about it, I managed to buy a chain and tensioner/guide set on eBay for a good price (presumably from someone who had given up on the idea).
So I started dismantling what was required, until I got the rocker covers off.
WHOAW! I have never seen an engine as gunky as that in my life!
What to do? I decided to try out what chemicals I had on hand to see if anything would dissolve the amazing mess. I had no intention of completely dismantling the engine and scrub everything clean! Almost nothing would touch it - other than softening it. Finally I tried oven cleaner on the rocker covers. It dissolved the whole mess and I was able to just wash it off. Of course you cant use the stuff (caustic soda) on aluminium parts, as it etches or dissolves their surfaces very quickly.... Mind you, at that point I felt like dissolving the entire engine!
Next I went to Bunnings and looked for non-caustic oven cleaner. I found non-caustic BBQ cleaner that sounded promising. It worked!
So next I learnt from here how to get the sump off without removing the engine. Tedious, but quite successful! Thanks guys!
Then I foamed every thing in the rocker spaces, inside the crank case (from below) and the sump with BBQ cleaner. I left it on for about 1/2hr and wiped here and there to see if it was clean under the resulting "soup". A few places required more foaming and another half hour soaking.
I then fired up the 13HP high pressure cleaner (4000psi) and set the jet to small.
Everything inside the engine I could reach got a thorough high pressure shower and all the gunk and suds got washed out quite well. Some staining remained here and there, but no more crusts or sludge. The sump required two goes.
The oil pick-up was as good as blocked and very crusty. So it got a bath with caustic oven cleaner (it's steel and therefore safe).
Next I sprayed everything with WD40 to displace any remaining water. Then I washed out the oil passages with degreaser and then lots of kero, using a hose and funnel connected to the oil outlet inside the filter housing. Very little gunk came out and the kero seemed to travel to all the crankshaft bearings easily - and ran out into a pan under the engine.
The new chains went on in the right order and position easily, so dis the new guides and tensioners. When I was happy with the installation I pulled the safety pins on the tensioners and turned the engine over which a spanner after removing all spark plugs, to make sure everything turned as expected.
Next I thoroughly cleaned and poked in the cam angle hydraulic relays/fittings, because a lot of the kero ran out of their holes. I then repeated the kero washout of the oil passages to ensure some came out of the various passages in the rocker boxes.
After that, I refitted everything, with the sump being the trickiest part.
New spark plugs, oil and filter, water to rinse cooling system, battery back in etc etc.
Turned the key, started first go! Hurray!
Lots of urgent messages to have the car serviced soon - ha ha ha. Well they got cancelled pretty quickly.... I think every engine error code imaginable was logged there
Lots of smoke from the oil I had put in the spark plug holes to make the turning over easier for a few seconds, then a VERY quiet idle for a couple of minutes.
Test drive tonight with the heater on full - everything fine.
So tomorrow morning she'll get proper coolant, and then an 80km test drive and then her first oil and filter change. I'm very curious to see how much dirt the oil will pick up - and even more curious to look at the oil filter!
By the way, I'm using synthetic diesel engine oil and probably will continue using to to keep the engine as clean as I can from now on. If I get any piston blow-by as a result, I'll know soon enough and can go back to other oils, but I doubt it, frankly. At 230,000k, the pistons and rings should still be reasonably tight.....
The pictures tell the story....
My 2005 VZ Alloytech wouldn't start one day a couple of months ago. Since it had been making cam chain noise for a year or so, I figured that it had finally ran out of safe range of cam vs. crank sensor angles. Everything else seemed OK.
After searching for and reading many many posts here about how to go about it, I managed to buy a chain and tensioner/guide set on eBay for a good price (presumably from someone who had given up on the idea).
So I started dismantling what was required, until I got the rocker covers off.
WHOAW! I have never seen an engine as gunky as that in my life!
What to do? I decided to try out what chemicals I had on hand to see if anything would dissolve the amazing mess. I had no intention of completely dismantling the engine and scrub everything clean! Almost nothing would touch it - other than softening it. Finally I tried oven cleaner on the rocker covers. It dissolved the whole mess and I was able to just wash it off. Of course you cant use the stuff (caustic soda) on aluminium parts, as it etches or dissolves their surfaces very quickly.... Mind you, at that point I felt like dissolving the entire engine!
Next I went to Bunnings and looked for non-caustic oven cleaner. I found non-caustic BBQ cleaner that sounded promising. It worked!
So next I learnt from here how to get the sump off without removing the engine. Tedious, but quite successful! Thanks guys!
Then I foamed every thing in the rocker spaces, inside the crank case (from below) and the sump with BBQ cleaner. I left it on for about 1/2hr and wiped here and there to see if it was clean under the resulting "soup". A few places required more foaming and another half hour soaking.
I then fired up the 13HP high pressure cleaner (4000psi) and set the jet to small.
Everything inside the engine I could reach got a thorough high pressure shower and all the gunk and suds got washed out quite well. Some staining remained here and there, but no more crusts or sludge. The sump required two goes.
The oil pick-up was as good as blocked and very crusty. So it got a bath with caustic oven cleaner (it's steel and therefore safe).
Next I sprayed everything with WD40 to displace any remaining water. Then I washed out the oil passages with degreaser and then lots of kero, using a hose and funnel connected to the oil outlet inside the filter housing. Very little gunk came out and the kero seemed to travel to all the crankshaft bearings easily - and ran out into a pan under the engine.
The new chains went on in the right order and position easily, so dis the new guides and tensioners. When I was happy with the installation I pulled the safety pins on the tensioners and turned the engine over which a spanner after removing all spark plugs, to make sure everything turned as expected.
Next I thoroughly cleaned and poked in the cam angle hydraulic relays/fittings, because a lot of the kero ran out of their holes. I then repeated the kero washout of the oil passages to ensure some came out of the various passages in the rocker boxes.
After that, I refitted everything, with the sump being the trickiest part.
New spark plugs, oil and filter, water to rinse cooling system, battery back in etc etc.
Turned the key, started first go! Hurray!
Lots of urgent messages to have the car serviced soon - ha ha ha. Well they got cancelled pretty quickly.... I think every engine error code imaginable was logged there
Lots of smoke from the oil I had put in the spark plug holes to make the turning over easier for a few seconds, then a VERY quiet idle for a couple of minutes.
Test drive tonight with the heater on full - everything fine.
So tomorrow morning she'll get proper coolant, and then an 80km test drive and then her first oil and filter change. I'm very curious to see how much dirt the oil will pick up - and even more curious to look at the oil filter!
By the way, I'm using synthetic diesel engine oil and probably will continue using to to keep the engine as clean as I can from now on. If I get any piston blow-by as a result, I'll know soon enough and can go back to other oils, but I doubt it, frankly. At 230,000k, the pistons and rings should still be reasonably tight.....
The pictures tell the story....
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