Stalling troubleshooting

[ArdWrknTrk]

Yes, make sure you check the oil for gas in it. Smell the oil. And, as Jim said, if the level goes up you have a problem!

The best thing you can do for the engine is to keep clean oil in it and drive it. Some advocate using kerosene or ATF as the last quart in an oil change, but I wouldn't recommend that. One of our guys, David/1986F150Six, had the sludge come free in his engine and it plugged up the oil pickup in the pan and he lost oil pressure. That wasn't from using kerosene or ATF, but it was a sludged up engine and it all came free suddenly.

So you want it to come free over time and be caught by the filter. Use a good quality oil and filter and take long drives to get everything good and warm. And then change the oil as it starts looking dirty.

Using a high detergent EOCI diesel oil will help immensely in keeping internals clean.

Unlike Gary I'm not afraid of MMO or Rislone.

It dissolves deposits, not breaks them off in chunks.

If you have gasoline in there, I'm pretty sure deposits are not a problem anymore!

[red1980F150]

Using a high detergent EOCI diesel oil will help immensely in keeping internals clean.

Unlike Gary I'm not afraid of MMO or Rislone.

It dissolves deposits, not breaks them off in chunks.

If you have gasoline in there, I'm pretty sure deposits are not a problem anymore!

Lol, noted. I was thinking about Diesel oil in it anyway because of the extra additives in it. I'll be sure to pull the dipstick and smell the oil tomorrow. I had been losing a ton of oil until I changed the PCV, but the past several days it's been very steady, so I think the oil loss has slowed considerably unless I'm just leaking more fuel in

I put 2 quarts of 20W-50 V-twin oil in it as it leaked the normal oil out... because it's all I had laying around, but that's probably really good stuff, if not a little too thick.

My younger brother bought a used 2010ish Silverado at auction. He had so much sludge in it that when he removed the oil plug nothing came out, had to punch through the sludge with a screwdriver!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Lol, noted. I was thinking about Diesel oil in it anyway because of the extra additives in it. I'll be sure to pull the dipstick and smell the oil tomorrow. I had been losing a ton of oil until I changed the PCV, but the past several days it's been very steady, so I think the oil loss has slowed considerably unless I'm just leaking more fuel in

I put 2 quarts of 20W-50 V-twin oil in it as it leaked the normal oil out... because it's all I had laying around, but that's probably really good stuff, if not a little too thick.

My younger brother bought a used 2010ish Silverado at auction. He had so much sludge in it that when he removed the oil plug nothing came out, had to punch through the sludge with a screwdriver!

Harley oil should have a good amount of ZDDP in it.

That's really saying something for Chevy engines!

Can you imagine how long it's been?

Or maybe the PO only brought it to some jiffylube place where they never remove the plug and suck it out through the dipstick?

Still crazy that an engine that sludged had any life in it.

[red1980F150]

Harley oil should have a good amount of ZDDP in it.

That's really saying something for Chevy engines!

Can you imagine how long it's been?

Or maybe the PO only brought it to some jiffylube place where they never remove the plug and suck it out through the dipstick?

Still crazy that an engine that sludged had any life in it.

There was definitely some concern, we bought it 2 states over and had to drive it 500 miles home. Oil pressure was dropping throughout the trip. We weren't sure if it would make it.

The worst thing I've seen done to an engine with oil, where the engine was remarkably fine afterward, was something my older brother and I collaborated on as idiot teenagers.

His first car was a 1990 Ford Escort with a 90 hp 1.9l 4 cyl, and it was handed down as my first car. Neither of us changed the oil. After 14,000 miles it was so sludged up that the camshaft was so difficult to turn that it stripped out the timing belt while going down the road (fortunately it was a belt!). We bathed it in ATF, worked it loose, changed the oil and put a new timing belt on and it fired right up like nothing ever happened. I usually don't admit to that story but it's a good one

[Gary Lewis]

There was definitely some concern, we bought it 2 states over and had to drive it 500 miles home. Oil pressure was dropping throughout the trip. We weren't sure if it would make it.

The worst thing I've seen done to an engine with oil, where the engine was remarkably fine afterward, was something my older brother and I collaborated on as idiot teenagers.

His first car was a 1990 Ford Escort with a 90 hp 1.9l 4 cyl, and it was handed down as my first car. Neither of us changed the oil. After 14,000 miles it was so sludged up that the camshaft was so difficult to turn that it stripped out the timing belt while going down the road (fortunately it was a belt!). We bathed it in ATF, worked it loose, changed the oil and put a new timing belt on and it fired right up like nothing ever happened. I usually don't admit to that story but it's a good one

You got lucky on that little 4-banger.

On the truck, drive it and change oil. Drive it and change oil. You should see things clean up and, hopefully, the blow by will decrease.

[red1980F150]

You got lucky on that little 4-banger.

On the truck, drive it and change oil. Drive it and change oil. You should see things clean up and, hopefully, the blow by will decrease.

Well Gentlemen, it's running much better, it idles fine now in gear at stops and doesn't die when I shift into gear anymore. I changed the oil again on Thursday morning. Initially I thought it looked okay but there's just a little bit of water in it that you can't notice until the oil is sitting in the drain pan. That leads to a question, I've noticed some water on the breather hose that goes back into the air cleaner. Is that normal on a carbureted engine (condensation)? If not then I might have a bigger issue. I suppose if the PO ran it a bunch with water and old oil that could be a good reason to have significant engine wear. But, generally speaking, I'm really pleased with how much better it's running at the moment.

[Gary Lewis]

Well Gentlemen, it's running much better, it idles fine now in gear at stops and doesn't die when I shift into gear anymore. I changed the oil again on Thursday morning. Initially I thought it looked okay but there's just a little bit of water in it that you can't notice until the oil is sitting in the drain pan. That leads to a question, I've noticed some water on the breather hose that goes back into the air cleaner. Is that normal on a carbureted engine (condensation)? If not then I might have a bigger issue. I suppose if the PO ran it a bunch with water and old oil that could be a good reason to have significant engine wear. But, generally speaking, I'm really pleased with how much better it's running at the moment.

Condensation is a by-product of combustion, and since the rings don't seal perfectly you'll have some in the crankcase. The key is to drive the vehicle long enough, and have a hot enough thermostat in it, to get the oil warm enough to boil the moisture off periodically. So you may not have a problem at all, especially if you haven't been taking 20+ mile drives to get it truly warm.

And I'm really glad it is running so well. Keep on driving it and you are going to love it. But, have you checked to see how warm it is getting? Use an infrared thermometer pointed at the thermostat housing to actually find out instead of relying on the factory gauge.

[red1980F150]

Condensation is a by-product of combustion, and since the rings don't seal perfectly you'll have some in the crankcase. The key is to drive the vehicle long enough, and have a hot enough thermostat in it, to get the oil warm enough to boil the moisture off periodically. So you may not have a problem at all, especially if you haven't been taking 20+ mile drives to get it truly warm.

And I'm really glad it is running so well. Keep on driving it and you are going to love it. But, have you checked to see how warm it is getting? Use an infrared thermometer pointed at the thermostat housing to actually find out instead of relying on the factory gauge.

Thanks Gary, I'm glad to hear that. My younger brother said something similar but he's not an expert, probably saw it on a forum as well, so I wanted to get your advice.

I have an infrared thermometer at work I can borrow, I'll use that. I have noticed on the factory gauge that the temp tends to stay a little low, probably closer to 1/3rd of the way up the gauge rather than half. So it's definitely possible she's not getting warm enough. The current time of year probably doesn't help things with the colder ambient temps.

I actually have a calibrated scientific-grade infrared camera, it might be fun to take a little video with that.

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks Gary, I'm glad to hear that. My younger brother said something similar but he's not an expert, probably saw it on a forum as well, so I wanted to get your advice.

I have an infrared thermometer at work I can borrow, I'll use that. I have noticed on the factory gauge that the temp tends to stay a little low, probably closer to 1/3rd of the way up the gauge rather than half. So it's definitely possible she's not getting warm enough. The current time of year probably doesn't help things with the colder ambient temps.

I actually have a calibrated scientific-grade infrared camera, it might be fun to take a little video with that.

The factory gauges are notoriously inaccurate. There are lots of reasons for that, but Ford probably took that into account when they decided not to put degrees on the gauge. So just because it shows in the lower 1/3 doesn't really mean much.

But checking with the infrared thermometer will help a lot. And your camera would be cool. Or, hot?

To put a video on here I upload it to Youtube and then get the "embed" code. Then tick the box in the upper left that says "Message is in HTML Format" and paste the embed code in.

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