ticking noise... not timing belt

[lucaswhunter]

I just got a call from my mechanic... I took in my rodeo to get the t-belt changed, and it turns out it is not bad. He sais something about an "oil flow back valve?" does that make sense? he said that they are plugged, and not getting enough oil in. he said i may want to try a detergent in it.... any ideas? im gonna change oil and stuff this weekend so its a good time.... I have 120k on it.

[amigo-2k]

buy some Seafoam.


Dump in a half can and then take it for a 30 minute drive and then change your oil asap (while it is good and hot).

[lucaswhunter]

thanks! I will try that... Ive had good experience with seafoam in my old jeep.... should i pour it in the crankcase? or use through pcv?

[amigo-2k]

I typically just pour it into the crankcase, but if you want to suck some through the PCV, I'm sure that will be fine too.

[rodeo02]

Lucas, if she's ticking really bad due to a collapesed lifter (they get clogged easily on the 1993-1997 3.2), I'd dump the oil, slap on a new cheap oil filter, fill it with a cheap 5w-20 (thin!) motor oil and a ton of seafoam. Run it for 1/2hr, around town, etc, until it's good and hot. Dump it, and run a good 5w-30 and a good filter. This may take a couple applications.
G/luck
Joel

[iskiuskiweski]

Originally Posted by amigo-2k

I typically just pour it into the crankcase, but if you want to suck some through the PCV, I'm sure that will be fine too.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if your are sucking it up through the pcv then it is going in to the intake manifold, not the crankcase. Unless of course you are saying remove the pcv and dump it in the hole, which I don't know why you would do that, it is the same as putting it in the oil fill, just a smaller hole to try and get it into.

[rodeo02]

Originally Posted by iskiuskiweski

Correct me if I am wrong, but if your are sucking it up through the pcv then it is going in to the intake manifold, not the crankcase....

You got it. That will clean the heck out of your combusion chamber, but it wont hit the 'oil side' of the engine in any quantitiy. Really, the only way to clean the common chamber/intake on all of the 3.2/3.5's is to remove the top, or the whole thing & clean it by hand. For the oil burner 3.2/3.5's you need to load each cylinder thru the spark plug hole with seafoam & let it sit over night.
G/luck
Joel

[lucaswhunter]

Good News! I poured a bottle of Seafoam in the crankcase and drove it for about 30 miles, and at mile 25, the engine hesitated, and blew a puff of smoke, after that it ran like a top and ticks no more... I changed the oil afterwords and it was like molasses coming out, everything sounds great now! thanks for your help!!!

[iskiuskiweski]

So you put the whole bottle in? Just wondering.

[lucaswhunter]

I did use the whole bottle.... Risky, but it worked... (thankfully)

[tygger]

Can Seafoam be added to old oil that's in the engine or should I change my oil, put in Seafoam, run engine and change it again afterwards?

[lucaswhunter]

I ran it in the old oil for about 50 miles and them emptied.... change it hot, and the syrup will come right out!

[iskiuskiweski]

No sense in ruinning new oil, I normally put in with the old right before my scheduled oil change. Once every 12k or so.

[Ramblin Fever]

Just curious if any one else is leary of using Sea Foam and other engine cleaners

[amigo-2k]

I was always in the camp of no additives for a long time.

When my old truck started to stumble at idle, I changed out the plugs and wires, no help. With 150k on the engine I was at a loss of what to do. So I tried a couple of bottle of injector cleaner and wham, it was just like new again.

Adding stuff to the oil on an old engine (over 120K) is a bit risky. But if you have kept up with 3-4k oil changes since new, I honestly don't think adding sea foam (or the like will hurt it).

Most SUV (for sure Isuzu's), carbon up the engine very quickly. I'm surprised how fast my oil turns black on my Amigo, yet my wives 13 year old Prelude si oil is usually very clean. Also, after reading about folks dumping their engines due to lack of oil, and me personally having engine PING with one 13k I knew I needed to start doing something to keep the carbon down. That is where Sea Foam came in. Add a half can go for a 30 minute drive, drain and watch the dark black water junk flow out.