Inside engine cleaning

[Rudles]

Back in the day I used to keep the inside of my engine (460 cid Ford) by using 3 quarts oil and 2 quarts number 2 diesel then running it around for a short while, draining the oil then 5quarts fresh oil and a new filter. Is there any reason this wouldn't work on my '95 Tahoe 350 TBI?

 

[Ice98]

I dunno about doing that, but I have cleaned it out using seafoam in the oil before (shortly before a change) I have also used seafoam through the gas tank and in vacuum hoses, but it only does so well. where the EGR is there is a massive amount of nasty, I took the air intake and butterfly valve assembly completely off on mine and scrubbed the head out using carb cleaner and a brass brush, it was really bad (EGRs suck...)

 

[Rudles]

Thank you

 

[Vista Cruiser 69]

My experience from some decades of motoring (and working in a technical department of lubes industry) is that indeed Diesel is not worse than most chemical wizard stuff they charge you a king's ransom for.
However, solid nitrous black sludge is quite tough to solve, it takes nasty chemistry to solve, of a kind you normally would not sell to endconsumers. Any misapplication of such stuff would cause engine parts deterioration, seals and even big end bearings.
Volkswagen group had some black sludge cases with 1.8 Turbo engines in Europe and issued a bulletin how to clean the negines from the inside. A hell of a procedure! Hot steam high pressure cleaning, nasty solvent, air bubbles and two oil flushes afterwards - but helped. Took the mechanic about a full working day!
When you do this 50/50 Diesel flush - cheapest way and not the worst - make sure you keep him a bit above idle speed so oil pressure is high enough 1500 revs I'd say. 5 minutes are enough. Doing it twice, granting the Diesel some time to solve things in between is even more effective. But you create a kind of a 10W oil viscosity which cannot supply enough oil pressure when getting hot, so do not overdo.

 

[Rudles]

Great info! Thank you Vista Cruiser!