VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Sludge in oil filter

Question, I took the canister filter out of my 1947 Stylemaster and there is fine particles of sludge in the canister. My question is should I remove the valve cover and oil pan and check for more? The car runs great and no smoke, so I don't want to mess things up.

whens the last time you changed your oil???Be more specific about fine particles of sludge please

That shows the filter was doing its job. Back in 1947 they recommended changing the filter every 6000 miles.
Was common to find a lot of sludge in the filter, especially in a car that saw a lot of short trip cold weather driving.
Also a lot of these cars had a sludged-up engine by the time they wer four years old.
For starters I would see what under the valve cover however that may not tell the complete story because often the valves were ground and head cleaned more often than the pan removed.
The oil pump scrre may be plugged up also.
So dropping the pan may be a good idea.

However, my recommendation is to leave it alone. If you want to do something, then take the filter off and toss it in the corner of the garage. Throw a couple shop towels over it and forget it. Merely change the oil every thousand miles or so. No more sludge problems.

A filter on a 216 is merely a sludge collector and not much good for anything other that giving a false impression that the oil is being filtered. Except for the trickle that passes through the filter, it is not.

Charlie

The filter is full of sludge because it was removed by the filter.
The engine gets full of sludge from the condensation forming on the not fully warmed up sheet metal and iron areas.
Eitherway, just change oil evry 1000 miles or once a year if you don't get the car out on the highway for longer trips very often.

I will change the oil and filter every 1000 miles, and when I get up enough nerve I will drop the oil pan. I have been reading that post, and learning from it. Thanks for the information on the nature of these old engines! Every time I ask a simple questions you guys answer it, I appreciate that very much, because I'm learning!

I would suggest dropping the pan and check for sludge. I bought a 47 that had sat a long time. Got it started and then had milky oil. The oil looked new before I started it. When I dropped the pan it had sludge up to the screen. Just insurance to do it.

Thanks for the info , I have the gaskets just a matter of time. Now my fuel pump is leaking, and the wipers have a vacuum leak at the motor. Still it's fun .

Are you running detergent oil or non-detergent oil? I would clean things out in the pan and all over before running the newer detergent stuff otherwise you'll knock a lot of old stuff loose.

Either way, a little sludge in the filter canister is normal. I usually wipe some out with a shop towel use the drain plug in bottom to get most of it out. It'll be fine. Napa Gold filters are the best IMHO if you're looking for a replacement.