Grey Sludge in Carb

[uralrover]

Series III 2.25 engine seems to be creating a great deal of oily condensation coming from my engine breather cap and fill tube vent lines that has been causing havac with my carburator/slash engine running smoothly under heavy loads, but only after running for a good half an hour or more. Seems to build up a great deal of sludge thats getting pulled into carb. Not loosing any coolant and cannot see any signs of coolant/oil mixture so is it normal for a series in the Northeaster winters or is there something else going on. Need help on this one as it's my daily driver...

Uralrover

[Jeff Aronson]

Not certain what you mean by "oily condensation". Are you saying that after running for 30 minutes or so, you're getting oil sucked into the carb? Or are you getting a spillage out of the breather cap and vent lines?

Are you sure it's oil and not gasoline? Are you running a Zenith carb?

You might want to remove the valve cover from the car and look inside. You just might have a lot of old gunk inside the cover which is mixing with oil vapors in the colder winter weather. When you remove the breather cap, are you seeing a sort of mayo-looking whitish sludge?

Winter driving should not alter the usual driving capabilities of your motor. Maine winters only make mine more suseptible to carb icing.

There are lots of enthusiasts here ready to help.

Jeff

[Momo]

Have you pressure washed your engine bay or done any fording? Water can get in your oil filler tube or dipstick tube if they aren't well sealed.

In your shoes I would drain the oil, drop the pan, clean it out, then disconnect he EGR hose from the breather and intake elbow, then blow compressed air thru it. Dunk your breather cap in gasoline or chosen solvent for 15 minutes, then blow compressed air thru it. Just be careful of ignition sources.

Put it back to together, new oil fliter/oil, and see if it returns. It probably won't. If it does maybe there's a cracked water jacket somewhere because where else would it come from?

Oh yeah, replace your filler cap gasket if it's bad and slide a generic five cent O ring around your dipstick tube to keep the dipstick collar sealed.

[LaneRover]

You mention that it runs smoothly underloads but only after a 1/2 hour or so. Is most of your driving quick trips where the engine doesn't get a chance to really heat up? If so it could be a bunch of condensation building up in the engine and heading out the only way it knows how.

Just a thought

Brent

[CliftonRover]

Tooo add to the last comment, I had a F150 with the 300 I6 that we used for short 5 minute trips around camp, the truck never warmed up and the result was carbon and sludge build up. I would try a product called sea foam, to clean the gunk out of the motor, then maybe clean out whats under your valve cover. I have also heard of spraying a small MIST of water into the intake when the engine's running and that aparently helps break down carbon on the valves.

[uralrover]

Thanks Everyone , as I spend more time getting framiliar with my series I learn a little bit more. My Breather cap is 35 years old so sludged to the max, but what I was associating as a fuel problem actually turned out to be a spark plug issue. Although I'm taking all you guys said into my future things to check list I solved it by troubleshooting further, in a blizzard/snow storm, on the way home, in the dark, really wishing my heater was far more adiquate then it is......

[Jeff Aronson]

Glad you're making progress and using your Series Rover daily!

As for your heat, make certain that your coolant level is high. At low rpm you'll not get a lot of heat [slow travel, idling, etc.] unless the radiator is full. Also, are you running a winter temperature [180 F] thermostat? On my II-A, I installed a winter thermostat that I swap out with a 160 F one in the summer.

If your radiator cap is old or if the gasket is gone, the pressure will be lowered and thus the coolant will not heat to as high a level.

Have you reverse flushed your cooling system? If not, you might have crud in the radiator and/or heater core that is impeding heat transfer.

When my Kodiak core dissolved, I replaced it with one from Rovers North and found that my heat improved quite a bit.

Lastly, if your door seals or scuttle vent seals are gone, you'll lose a lot of heat out from the car.

Stay warm!

Jeff