Never heard of Seafoam until I came to this forum. What exactly is it? Any links??
I wouldn't want to be trying to break this stuff up in a running engine. You break it up, it goes through your oil pump, lodges in every small crevice oil has to flow through... you may be looking at problems. Your call, but I'd pull the engine... that's just my **** retentiveness though.

-Mindgame

 

I have seen worse... though it has been a number of years. Back then the culprit was parafin-based Pennzoil. I remember helping a friend take a 327 apart and after removing the valve covers we found a caked build up of oil extending up to the top of the springs... a real disaster. Imagine what we found in the lifter galley.

I would take the manifold down and have it tanked, clean the lifter galley the best you can, and re-assemble the engine with a new oil pump. Then a couple of oil changes using Seafoam should pull a good portion of the remaining crap out of there. Like others here, I wouldn't be surprised if other issues pop-up after cleaning the inside portions of this engine.

Only if this engine has oil consumption issues would I pull it and rebuild it, most oil leaks can be addressed with the engine in the car.

I hope your friend got one heck of a deal on this car. Good luck!

 

Its mainly a carbon cleaner, similar to GM Top Engine Cleaner. Its designed to be ingested though the intake mainifold so I can go though and clean carbon deposits on the combustion chamber and such. They also claim it can be used as a oil addative but I doubt it would help much in this case.

 

I had a buddy that ran nondetergent oil in his nissan and eventually it overheated for some unknown reason (clogged pick-up line in the oil pan or some sh*t)and it looked like that. He cleaned what he could put it back together and it blew 2 weeks later. just my $0.02 *the statement i posted was not a fact just a theory.

 

IMHO running a detergent through it would be hell on the berrings. I would just clean what you can from the top end, VERY GENTLY, and then do a few quick oil changes.

 

IMHO, if you've got the engine this much apart, may as well go all the way and totally rebuild it. If it's been neglected this badly you're better off to just start with a clean slate.

 

ohhh man i hope mine doesnt look like that!!!!!

 

ehh well from the looks of it most people think if you just clean it then you'll have other problems. thats a lot of work just to find more problems.

my solution?

TAKE IT TO THE TRACK!!!

run the **** out of it till it blows, then you have a clear course of action on how to handle the problem

 

i kinda think you should break it before you fix it but thats just my opinion. say hook up some N2O and run the holy hell out of it till you absolutely must rip it appart

 

Most of you guys must be spoiled. It doesn't look that bad to me. I agree with the last couple of post. Put it back together with as little money as possible and run it till it breaks. Go have fun with it, then rebuild it. It was a cheap car, right? Keep it that way. Have some fun with it.

 

I also agree, clean up what ya can in the lifter valley do an oil change or two in a short amount of miles and just run it til it dies, you did say it was running strong. so why rebuild it if its not broken, save some $$$ rebuild it once it craps out, maybe a week from now or 6 months.... Still saving a lil time and $$$$ by the way that engine is still

 

That is pretty bad looking. By the way it looks it is just a case of someone note EVER changing the oil.

I say clean it up as best as you can...change the oil early for a few times and you will probably be okay.

I have seen worse on daily driven trucks and cars where the oil just hardly ever got changed.

 

I still say to rebuild it, but if you do decide to try and clean it, this is the best stuff to do it with:

www.auto-rx.com

 

Try a little Zaino.

 

Zaino wouldn't have helped.
This car was a nightmare and is on its 3rd shortblock right now. I'll let the owner write more about it.