Advice for Smog Removal Components

[Machspeed]

In my Bronco, I run 15w40 Dello 400. It has a big detergent package that is ment for the big over the road diesel engines. It is suggested in the owners manual for towing, 15w40, not the Dello 400. Because I buy it in bulk for my shop and it is handy, I use it in everything I own. My race cars, the wife's 07 F150, 7.3 IDI, 5.9 Cummins.

I will have to say that if you are going to use a high detergent oil in your engine, you might want to buy a few extra filters and change them every 500 to 600 during the first oil change to keep them from plugging up with the sludge.

I am sure that you will get several different suggestions on oils that everybody uses so don't take mine as gospel, I use what works for me.

Just as a foot note, my original engine had over 200,000 on it before it spun a main bearing using this oil.

You guys are great! I would never have thought to put that oil in my truck. In fact, was just looking at engine flush products and thinking then what oil I would go with after the flush. Which reminds me.....I was reading that engine flush products can cause old seals to leak. Presently, I have a nasty rear main seal leaking. With that in mind, want to confirm that the trans needs to be pulled to replace that rear main seal. Seams I changed a rear main seal on my Mustang years ago with some kind of two piece seal.

[Machspeed]

Another thing is your thermostat. Ford put 192 degree stats in everything, and it is important to get engines up to temps like that to boil the condensation out of the oil. But if you drive short distances, or run a lower temp stat, you may never get the engine fully up to temp and get the moisture out.

Thanks Gary, you make a good point here too which brings up the fact that I have condensation blowing out my exhaust on cold start ups. I put a box over the exhaust to keep it from blowing crud all over the place when parked in my shop or garage. I have true duel exhaust but I kept the factory configuration of both tips exiting the passenger side. The mixture is a watery gas substance....very black. You don't want it on sheet rock.

I have the thermostat housing off the intake. Knowing that I don't drive the truck a lot, what would be your recommended thermostat? I had planned to replace that.

[old55pete]

Thanks Gary, you make a good point here too which brings up the fact that I have condensation blowing out my exhaust on cold start ups. I put a box over the exhaust to keep it from blowing crud all over the place when parked in my shop or garage. I have true duel exhaust but I kept the factory configuration of both tips exiting the passenger side. The mixture is a watery gas substance....very black. You don't want it on sheet rock.

I have the thermostat housing off the intake. Knowing that I don't drive the truck a lot, what would be your recommended thermostat? I had planned to replace that.

I know I am not Gary, I would suggest a 195 deg thermostat. I would also suggest what is called a SAFETY stat, it is a thermostat that when it fails, it fails open so it wont over heat the engine. It is a little more expencive in the short haul, in the long haul, it is a whole lot cheaper then dealing with the effects of a cheap thermostat that just ruined your engine.

On the rear main seal, yes you do have to pull the trans, lucky for you, it is a one piece seal that looks like a front wheel seal. Use two small self drilling screws at 9:00 and 1500, run them in only as far as the first couple of threads and use a small pry bar against the screw heads and pop it out. The NAPA part number is PGR 2942 RS.

As for the condensation from the exhaust on a cold start, some is normal until the exhaust system warms up, the black is the soot trapped in the system coming out with the moisture.

[Rusty_S85]

Thanks for the responses fellas. I think there may have been some misunderstanding in my initial post though. Water was not leaking into the engine but rather at the front of the intake. It was weeping out and settling onto the timing chain cover/water pump. After pulling the intake, I was surprised it wasn't leaking elsewhere, as the RTV silicone I used all those years ago was a mushy goo. I don't see any signs of corrosion, but I will look into another coolant. Thanks for that suggestion.

As for the EGR, I totally removed it. I've read that doing so could cause pinging for which I'm very familiar with but I've never heard it. Interestingly, when I pulled the intake, I noted that the intake gaskets were blocking the EGR ports in the head. Surprisingly, they weren't blown through. My Edelbrock intake accommodates those ports so I'm thinking I'll use gaskets to open that up this time. Not sure why I ordered gaskets that would blocked that off.

Gary, as to the hard start, it basically has to turn several times to fire. When it's cold or just mildly warm, it fires right up. I think this may be heat from the intake boiling the fuel in the carb. As such, I'll be putting a special spacer under the carb.

As I mentioned earlier too and of concern to me is the sludge look of my engine. Maybe that's normal for these vehicles, I don't know. What I do know is that when I pulled the engine from my 69 Mustang, I was very pleased at how it looked......it was incredibly clean!!! No black sludge. I admit ignorance in the emissions put on these vehicles but I can't help not to think that recirculating all that mess does not prompt this sludge. I have 100k on this engine and I'd like to keep it going a while longer knowing that what I'm doing to it is not damaging it, thus my questions regarding how I put it back together.

Thanks fellas,

John

 

 

If your intake has the ports for EGR, Edelbrock sells a 4V EGR spacer so you can maintain a 4V carb. Many of Edelbrocks EGR intake manifold kits come with a 4V to 2V EGR spacer for use with a 2V carb. But they sell seperately a 4V version for those that want to run a 4V.

I thought of going this route with my 351W in my 78 Mercury. but now with going fuel injection on my truck if it works out great I probably will do the same thing to my Mercury.

[Rusty_S85]

Many of us like to run diesel oil, as it has a high detergent level and a bit more anti-wear additives.

But ZDDP will plate out on your catalytic converter if your truck was under 8,500 gvw.

I have almost 200,000 miles on this engine and the last time I had the valve covers off it was clean as a whistle.

Delvac, Rotella, whatever is on sale in the weight you want.

I've also gone to extended OCI and haven't noticed any problems.

I would suggest Valvoline VR1, it has higher ZDDP levels but I dont believe they are as high as the older diesel oils so you shouldnt have a problem with converters. The peak of ZDDP levels was in the 1980`s and my '78 Mercury still sports original ford converters and when I was a state inspector I ran a emission test on my '78 as a '92 ford truck with the same size engine of a simmilar gvw. I nearly passed the emission test on the sniffer the only thing is the HC was slightly higher than what the 92 wanted but thats to be expected considering one is fuel injection and the other is a carb with some 35 year old at the time converters.

So I dont think VR1 would hurt converters in the long run but it does have higher zinc levels. It is what I use in my solid lift engines, my '56 Fairlane I ran 10w30 VR1 and change it out yearly due to not running enough and not driving the car down the street due to a transmission issue. I also run it in my '58 Ford Workmaster tractor which also has a solid lift cam and I change that oil every season due to condensation build up during the winter months.

In my truck how ever and my '78 Mercury and my other vehicles with hydraulic flat tappets I just run valvoline conventional oil with good success. My truck with the new engine will how ever be switched over to Valvoline full synthetic oil. Just have to figure out what weight oil to use as engine builders tend to not make a recommendation and places like blueprint pushes 10w30 for all their engines which doesnt make much sense considering oil weight is dependent on bearing clearances and I doubt every engine they build is setup to the same exact bearing clearances.

[Rusty_S85]

Another thing is your thermostat. Ford put 192 degree stats in everything, and it is important to get engines up to temps like that to boil the condensation out of the oil. But if you drive short distances, or run a lower temp stat, you may never get the engine fully up to temp and get the moisture out.

You sure it was 192?

I bought a NOS motorcraft thermostat for my '82 by the part number and its a 195* thermostat. Thinking about not using it though with my fuel injection conversion but for a thermostat I would never go below 180* unless it calls for it, like my '56 calls for a 165* thermostat and thats what I run, engine still runs around 180 - 190 in the summer time and winter time its around 170 to 180. Its why I hate to try and run the optional 180 thermostat which was mainly used far up north.

[old55pete]

You sure it was 192?

I bought a NOS motorcraft thermostat for my '82 by the part number and its a 195* thermostat. Thinking about not using it though with my fuel injection conversion but for a thermostat I would never go below 180* unless it calls for it, like my '56 calls for a 165* thermostat and thats what I run, engine still runs around 180 - 190 in the summer time and winter time its around 170 to 180. Its why I hate to try and run the optional 180 thermostat which was mainly used far up north.

As Gary pointed out to me when I asked, there is a section in the documentation on cooling systems, in that there is a section on thermostats, I dident scroll down far enough to see it and then asked the question about temps. That section shows the OEM temp for just about all of them as being 192, at NAPA, the listing for mine as the OEM temp as being 195. It does make a difference on the computer controlled EEC IV as it richen and leans the mixture by the coolant and manifold temp sensors. It also is what tells the IAC motor where to set the idle by the coolant temp. An issue I am still dealing with on my Bronco.

[Rusty_S85]

As Gary pointed out to me when I asked, there is a section in the documentation on cooling systems, in that there is a section on thermostats, I dident scroll down far enough to see it and then asked the question about temps. That section shows the OEM temp for just about all of them as being 192, at NAPA, the listing for mine as the OEM temp as being 195. It does make a difference on the computer controlled EEC IV as it richen and leans the mixture by the coolant and manifold temp sensors. It also is what tells the IAC motor where to set the idle by the coolant temp. An issue I am still dealing with on my Bronco.

Interesting, cause I have to check but I thought I could swear the parts and illustration guide listed the OE thermostat as a 194-196. Unless that was changed in the final update done to this guide in 1992. Thats what I have how ever is a 195* thermostat in motorcraft brand and was second guessing myself on using it now that I am switching to fuel injection.

[Machspeed]

If your intake has the ports for EGR, Edelbrock sells a 4V EGR spacer so you can maintain a 4V carb. Many of Edelbrocks EGR intake manifold kits come with a 4V to 2V EGR spacer for use with a 2V carb. But they sell seperately a 4V version for those that want to run a 4V.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't think I can go back with EGR system with headers. At least not without a bunch of unwanted work. Also, I have no cats, rather true dual exhaust. I've never detected ping with my engine after removal of the EGR system. I guess my original concern was: am I trashing my motor without the system?

After thinking about things, I may have a 180 degree thermostat in there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I do. And Steve, thanks for that input on the Safety Stat, I've never heard of such a thing but it makes great sense!

 

[Rusty_S85]

If your intake has the ports for EGR, Edelbrock sells a 4V EGR spacer so you can maintain a 4V carb. Many of Edelbrocks EGR intake manifold kits come with a 4V to 2V EGR spacer for use with a 2V carb. But they sell seperately a 4V version for those that want to run a 4V.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't think I can go back with EGR system with headers. At least not without a bunch of unwanted work. Also, I have no cats, rather true dual exhaust. I've never detected ping with my engine after removal of the EGR system. I guess my original concern was: am I trashing my motor without the system?

After thinking about things, I may have a 180 degree thermostat in there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I do. And Steve, thanks for that input on the Safety Stat, I've never heard of such a thing but it makes great sense!

All you need is the exhaust cross over, my '82 I removed the cat from it and the EGR still functioned on my 302. But my new 306 build wont have EGR, I am gutting the remaining of the emission systems and having my DSII recurved by a distributor guy out in Washington state since I am now running fast burn AFR Renegade heart chamber heads. Cant run OE timing curve as it would build up too much pressure too early and need to reduce the advance down to a max of 32* to 34*.