Bought ol Betty in Feb with 240 miles on her, she smokes pretty good & did oil change right away cause she sat for a while before I came along (a year?)... anyways, got a little rust in bottom of pan as seen on dipstick, oil almost smells fuel tainted, moisture droplets on dipstick with oil. Coolant stays perfectly full, temp ok.
question1- are these typical symptoms for this milage & worn vomp. rings & valve seats?
Question 2- should I do a full oil change, or do filter & drain 1/2 the pan cold to get debris?, then top off & dump some lucas? Just wary about all tha play in that old 4.0, don't want to kill ol Betty! I know I have the winter on my side to thicken stuff up a little, & lucas, just need her to keep going till I can rebuild her...
thoughts?

 

I meant "compression rings", & "the" not tha. Saw on another forum about using Delo... had an old rabbit diesel that ran forever on it, can I use it with some lucas & a good filter? Yup another question. Thanx forum guys!

 

*I'd perform a couple of oil changes at a reduced mileage interval. Then keep an eye on oil and coolant (which you should also have changed)

*A simple compression test would likely give you more information about what's going on inside of Betty's engine! The compression spec. for the 4.0 engine is 120-150 psi, with no more than a 30 psi variation between cylinders. Many parts stores will rent you a compression tester very inexpensively; call around.

*Also, You might have a faulty (leaky) fuel injector or two that can contribute to fuel in your oil....

 

^^^^What tj said. Forget the lucas.

 

i would not put the lucas in it. maybe buy some cheap 10-40 and filter. throw a quart of tranny oil in and bring up to temp, drain, then put some good oil and good filter in it. as said, a compression test would be good.

 

Napa Silver filter, 4 quarts Rotella T3 with 1 quart of Marvel Mystery Oil.

Run it for 1,000 miles.

BTW, have you shone a light into the oil filler hole to assess any sludge build-up?

 

Ok, I'll go that route with the ATF & I know there's got to be compression issues between the old rings, sludge & buildup. Thanx!

 

I put a qt of marvel in with my 1st change, then she just started smoking really bad so I went for the lucas. Been great till it got 1/2 qt low on the stop & go downtown, there has always been massive sludge in the top end, but checked the oil & lucas had almost foamed up to a frothy film in the dipstick tube... temp always runs ok on my gauges, but my oil pressure gauge is dead, so none of its accurate I guess.
I know a teardown is in order & I love rebuilding any strait 6, but $$$, need my own shop!
Thanks for all the great tips! I'll let u all know how goes!

 

Foamy frothy film sounds like water.

 

It does, but Lucas also causes foaming. Lol

 

Exactly.

 

I'm not a fan of ANY additives in the crankcase with the oil. One exception to that would be if I can visually see an engine contaminated with substantial "sludge".

The only thing I generally do is to adjust the OCI (oil change intervals) to less mileage if I feel that the engine has not been maintained properly with reasonable oil changes. These more frequent intervals will safely clean your engine over time.

 

Well thanks for all the advice everyone. All the history I know about ol Betty is she had to of been sitting abut a year with NASTY oil, 2 broken leaf springs, valve cover bolts were all loose but 1, & evidence of blow by in air filter.
so I did a high milage oil change w/ marvel, Fram filter, coming up on 600 miles & can still see a lot of crap up top.
she's a little rough, but I'm all about a cast iron long 6, I HATE aluminum engines, that's why I bought her & I know I've got to tear down, looking forward to it.

 

I thought water too, little drops on the dipstick. She's all cast iron, grimey as hell, rockers tick, & smokes like a train. Don't smell coolant in exhaust, which is grey not blue-ish, gasket maybe? Chances of it being a water jacket in the 4.0? Last straight 6 I worked on was a 1918 International!

 

Ran ATF in her hot for a few, changed oil @ 570 miles from last change, marvel top off & some in the gas hoping it will clean my injectors a bit... she's a smoking Betty now! Considering sea foam? Little drip from rear seal which has been bulging since I bought her. When I drop the pan to replace the seal is there enough room to grab a connecting rod & give it a jiggle to check for piston slap? Would like to rule that out while it's open? Thoughts?