For Patrick Moore and his Hemi rehab project:
Patrick said"Question: One local motorhead has advised me to fill the drained
block with
diesel fuel and hand-circulate it to clean out the crud. I'm not entirely
sure I want to risk that, especially if I see an accumulation of baked-on goo
that may be best left "asleep" until a rebuild.*****
I come from a long line of old time mechanics, and adding a pint or 2 of diesel
to engine oil has long been accepted practice to clean out an engine that's
possible been doing without decent oil changing intervals. You were not to run
the engine hard on this mix, just warm it up andlet it run enough to exercise
it, then dump it out. I have personal knowledge of a man who ran his Pontiac
over 100.000 miles without any work whatsoever; he would put a pint of diesel
in it and let it idle for some time, just before dumping the oil for each oil
change. The mechanic who bought the car took it down for a routine overhaul
(his practice on all high mileage cars) and stated he had never seen an engine
as clean or free from abnormal wear. I have also heard of people doing the same
routine using transmission fluid.
one other point - I had the fuel pump cough up a chunk of diaphragm rubber
which lodged in the brand new carburetor on my (REALLY USED) engine in a
Datsun B-210. After the obligatory few tries at restart it was towed home,
where I pulled apart the carb, cleaned out debris and resealed, and installed
another filter in line! In putting the carb back on I saw a glimmer in the
intake manifold - it was gasoline.......... doggone engine chuck full of oily
gas.... and I had been cranking it trying to get it to fire!
shudder........AFTER dumping over 2-1/2 gallons out of the crankcase, I
refilled with appropriate oil and a new filter and started up without incident.
The tired engine never ran better; compression improvement across the board, no
doubt due to freed-up rings. Upon replacement of that engine a couple years
later, I tore it down to take a look - that unintentional solvent bath sure
made for clean innards! and there was no evidence of scored cylinders.
Just my two cents worth.....
Kate Justet Triplett
Kate's Custom Gunleather
Monroe, Washington
Proud mother of a soldier
and owner of "Lucille" 1968 Crown 4 door HT
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