last monday I had the last ride for this season, winter is coming (we had first snow this night), and after coming home I let the engine oil out and did remove the oil pan to clean it.
Result, there was a horrible muddy mess inside, seems, nobody did clean it since decades. The car was built in africa and came from there to europe in 2003, and the last owner never did and nobody knows what did the people in Africa before. But, and this is the story, down in the mud I found the oil-dipper of the 1st cylinder connecting rod. It was a shock! Have no idea how it could get lost and how long the engine did run without the dipper. I opened the bearing and found everything in perfect condition without any damage. Maybe it did help that the 1st cyl. has a bit less compression than the others. Thank god!
My question is: Did this ever happen to anybody else? Where to find a new dipper? I am not sure, wether it is possible to repair the old one, because the oil shovel is completely damaged.
Greetings Stefan from germany
update: found a new looking spare-dipper in one of the four big boxes with wrecked, used old junk I got together with the car. Lots of it is from other cars, but fortunately I did not throw anything away when I got the car. Did keep everything to study it to understand more about my 1931 chevy. But the dipper is not an original one, looks different from the other 5 dippers inside the engine, it is thicker metal and much more heavy than the original one, I think it could bring the crankshaft out of balance. But just now, few minutes ago I found a complete set of dippers at ebay.com, and (feeling lucky) the seller is willing to ship to germany. so I have hope to get everything to a good solution. But the question still remains: How could the dipper get lost and how could the engine survive without lubrication on 1st cylinder con. rod??? Have never seen this before at any car...
You never know what the last mechanic did or didn't do. I once bought a "rebuilt" 1931 engine. When I got it home found I needed to replace an engine so changed oil, set it on the concrete floor resting on the oil pan, blocked the back so it would not topple over, hooked up gas line, exhaust, etc and started it. Ran well without any noticeable bad noises. Just did not have any oil pressure so shut it down. On the engine stand removed the oil pan. Took out a couple handfulls of oily leaves and found two rods did not have dippers (they were found in the pan), # 2 rod only had one bolt and the line from oil pump to block was laying in the pan. Checked the bearings, replaced missing parts, hooked up oil line and ran it for several thousand miles despite ~10 thousanths wear in the cylinders. Made noise at idle (with the pistons rocking side to side as they moved up and down) but never failed. Eventually bored it and rebuilt the proper way.
....miracles can happen unexpected...it is really a miracle that the engine did survive without the dipper. And it is true, nobody knows what foolish mechanics do.... I did learn "trust only what you did with your own hands" and the VW split window bus I had before, did never see a "professional" mechanic the 25 years I had it...and about 500000 kilometers on autobahn (freeway) I did see hundreds of cars aside with hazard-triangle and was never in a situation like them... Years ago I did overhaul 5 aircooled VW engines and in one of them I found two different kinds of pistons with diffrent weight...unfortunately both on one side of the boxer engine so the crank was completely out of balance, and even this engine did run years without failure.
So I am in a good mood to get my "bucket of bolts" back in a good working condition soon.
I think always, a car who did survive about 70 years in africa under worse conditions can not be bad and instabile...
When I worked in the dealership in the '50's, '60's and '70's we found a lot of strange things. Dippers installed backwards, dippers broken off and oil lines feeding the oil troughs (later models) completely plugged with sludge. Usually the car would come in with a rod making just a slight noise. All that was required was to remove a shim or two.Seldom found a burnt out bearing. Its amazing how little oil is required to lube a rod bearing. In 1955 we had an 8 Cyl. engine (almost new car) that had the oil light come on when hot. Opened it up and found no insert (lower) in one of the main bearings.
I am now in touch with Stephan from Switzerland, owner of a '29 early six zylinder. He did remove his pan now and found lot of dirt and much more engine parts in the mud as I found. As well the connecting rods are loose and (sorry, the words are missing) some parts like nails to keep the nuts (opposite of screw?) at their place are missing, much trouble.
Seems I have to be lucky...
Today I made a new dipper from sheet metal, and I did check it on a letter scale and it has the same weight as an original one. Tomorrow I will finish work and fix all in again.
Have just to find as way to clean the inner motor. Idea 1: Fix everything and fill in gas instead of engine oil and idle the engine by handcrank, the gas should flush and clean it. later same with diesel instead of oil, and at least fill in a modern engine oil with detergents, than drive until the oil did its work cleaning the motor and is getting dark, than flush out and change back to original oil without additives idea 2: spray this really aggressive kitchen oven cleaner at all parts which need cleaning, mostly the rocker arm under the valve cover, let it work, help with a brush, and flush it with brake cleaner. Important for both ideas: to blow out all oil tubes to be sure, nothing is blocked.
Just want to keep my original, never overhauled engine in good condition.
I would not do either of your proposed cleaning methods. If there is noticeable sludge in parts of the engine other than the oil pan and on the head then consider cleaning. I would suggest Stoddard solvent or other light solvent of that type to remove sludge. Pouring it in the passages, brushing where possible is best. Check the color of the solvent that drains out. If it continues to get darker then pour it back throught the engine passages until it seems to stay the same color. Then pour in some fresh solvent and note color. It should get a little darker but quickly stay the same with each cycle. Allow the solvent to evaporate. Clean the pan with brushing until clean. Also check the pockets above the main bearings. I am sure they will be filled with sludge. I use my fingers to scoup out as much sludge as I can and then a squeeze bottle to put solvent in them and mix/clean with a finger or brush. If this process is done with the block upside down (crankcase up) then most of the solvent/sludge can be removed. Sometimes I have had to rotate the block a few times to fill the pockets, clean, drain.
Once the block/head has been cleaned, fill with detergent oil and run for a couple of hours, drain and note color difference. If very dirty or dark repeat. Once the oil does not get much darker then you are done. I always use detergent oil in my Chevrolets. Have done that for nearly 40 years without any problems even in used engines that I have not internally inspected.
Stefan, I would not fill the engine with gas :eek: :eek: The diesel fuel would be OK>Not sure about the oven cleaner either. A good scraper and stiff brush and diesel fuel or kerosene would be better. I would used half detergent a half non-detergent oil for a few miles and then change to all detergent oil, changing it again in a month or so. The nail in the nut for the connecting rod bolt. The proper thing to lock the nut would be called a cotter pin. After 1940 they not longer used cotter pins but used a stamped tin nut the jambed into the threads and prevented the nut from turning. In 1953 they used nothing and I never saw any of the nuts come loose.
Hello, began to clean today... Oh, the oil pockets above the main bearings...I cannot turn the block upside down, because the engine is not out of the car and I will not remove it or try to turn the whole car upside down...haha...will try to feel the pockets with my fingers...and I will hopefully feel or see what is there. Did open the valve cover today, and I did it last time in July when I made a complete adjusting of valves after I bought the car and did feel scary because I could not hear any noise from the valves...Found the valves were adjusted to zero, very dangerous. The dealer who sold the car said, they made the adjustment with cold engine as usual today, and I did read in the books the engine must be hot to adjust. But I had luck, no burned valves.
This is really the main problem of my car, maybe since decades it did work only mechanics on it, who did try to give their best, but did not have any knowledge about the specials of this car. Every time I work on it I find again spoiled things. But I am in a good mood to get the car back in a good condition before next spring. Will see which spoiled surprises the weak front brakes will create for me...
ok, back to valve cover. In July I did clean everything there and now again I found a lot of baked oil-carbon . Did spray oven-cleaner and after one hour I did brush everything with an old toothbrush and wipe out. Done. clean. Made a video for youtube, you can see my engine from inside.
Have a nice day, here in germany it is time to go to bed now...
