Hey all first time posting,

Been doing a lot of reading since june, so let me start of with a big THANKS for being so awesome. Every time I get stuck in the garage I come inside and get oil all over my keyboard and knowledge in my noggin. This is an awesome forum and all the help you've provided as a community is invaluable.

Now that we got the sappy stuff out of the way.. (I will provide a tl;dr for those so inclined)

In june I bought a 1993 XJ Sport with about 148,000 for $500. Mechanics special. It leaked oil and gas and the steering wheel was falling off and the exhaust had a huge crack and the list goes on. But it ran strong and started without hesitation so I bought it cause I've always wanted a Jeep. Seriously ask my brother, he knows. In the past four months, I've done the oil filter adapter, rear main seal, spark plugs, air filter and am halfway through the valve cover gasket.

When I pulled the valve cover off (could have loosened the bolts by hand), I discovered what i had already feared. The previous owners didn't give too many ***** about jeeps. I'll try to post a pic here, but if i cant figure it out, imagine the valves caked in black sludge.



In addition, the air filter has oil on it as it seems to have come down through the 90 degree elbow from the valve cover. I put that filter in four months ago because the old one had oil on it and i wanted to put a fram in before popping in a K&N and ruining it with this oil discharge.




Questions:

1. What can I do about that engine sludge? Is there a magic product that will just totally destroy and lay waste to the cakes of crusted oil?

2. Why are my vacuum systems dripping oil down onto my airbox? Its in the throttle body too.

3. I may have botched the oil pan gasket while setting it back up into the engine. Theres a gnarly puddle right under the RMS, bigger than any before. Any way to be certain without pulling the whole pan again?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well here you have two pictures and a sh!tload of words.




TL;DR- How do I fix the problems in the pictures

 

The closest thing to a "magic" sludge removal product is probably Kreen. That said, I've certainly seen worse sludge than yours. Try some short OCIs, maybe with some HDEO (Rotella, Delvac, Delo, etc) 10W30. Be sure to use a quality filter (Wix, NAPA Gold).

Looks like you might have some blow-by. I would do a compression test next.

BTW, I personally wouldn't use a K&N air filter, especially in an off-road vehicle. Take a clean one and hold it up to a light. See all those little tiny holes where light comes through? Yep, dust can get in, too. Stick to a good paper filter.

 

2. Clean your pcv system. The valve on the rear of the valve cover and its tube, also the valve on the front of the valve cover and its tube. If its plugged it will suck oil into the airbox like a ****!!

If that doesnt fix it do a compression test, one dry and one wet, see if the rings are letting oil by.

If your rings are letting that much oil past, rebuild the motor.

3. You probably didnt get it lined up on the rear of the pan, its a pain.

 

Every Dirt Track Race Car runs K & N filters with a pre-filter on engines up to about 1000 hp. The K & N uses their oil to coat them with and there cleaner to clean them up with also. I have ran them for many years and never an issue with dirt entry up to 750 hp with a carb and 900 FI. Holley.

 

I'm sure that's true. Now, think about how often that race engine in torn down and inspected/freshened, compared to the engines in our Jeeps.

I just wanted the OP to make an informed decision. Take a new/cleaned & oiled K&N, and a new paper filter for your vehicle. Hold them side-by-side up to a light and see which you want keeping dirt out of your engine.

 

Reseal the valve cover with a new Felpro gasket.

Reinforcing what others have stated:

Clean or replace your CCV lines as they are probably restricted. That's the reson for the oil in the air filter.

Rotella T3 oil with a Wix or Napa Gold filter and monitor the sludge removal using a flashlight through the oil fill hole.

FWIW, we've seen way sludgier engines and way oilier air filters than yours, and this stuff fixed them right up. No worries.

 

No offense intended to Fred, but your comments are more suited to a dirt track racing forum than a Jeep foruum.

Apples and oranges, Bud.

 

Alright thanks for all the input guys I will definitely be taking some advice on pcv system and compression test.

Update: just finished the valve cover gasket, she's all buttoned up, so thats good.

New question. If I really did botch the pan gasket job, would you see oil leaking actively while the engine is running? Because when i let it idle, nothing drips, and doesnt until about 5 minutes after its been turned off. I really dont want to pull the pan another time.

Another question, theres a cylinder on the fuel lines near the left rear tire, and just after the jeep starts this will drip for a few minutes then stop. Whats up with that?

 

Fuel filter.....

 

the reason it doesnt leak while its running is because the oil level drops below the lip as the oil pump does its work.

 

You sure about that? I think the oil level is below the RMS whether the engine is running or not.

 

Guess itd be over filled for it to b that. Or sitting with nose up. Only other thing is the valve cover or rear main right?

 

Not even close. The level in the pan is NEVER at the level of the crankshaft.

 

I have the same problem (dirty engine), but last year when I got the car the lifters were making noise. Now no lifter noise, but now I have a knock.
It happens most of the time in the morning after it sat all night.
The rest of the day it isn't to bad.
I used STP and synthetic oil and that helped a little.
Then last oil change I tried Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer.
Used only one qt. and that's 20 percent, still got the knock in the morning.
It says in badly warn engines to use 60 percent.
It is sort of expensive...I think it was $11. qt.
Any one ever use this stuff or have any suggestions?
Thanks!-jretzky

 

Use Rotella T3 and a Wix or Napa Gold filter. No "motor honey".