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I would like to examine the wisdom of cleaning the oil pan upon purchase of an automobile. Indeed if the pickup screen is clogged the engine can be starved of oil and damage might result.

I first look at the valve chamber on straight 6 and 8's and in the valve covers of V8's. If they're relatively clean I can be assured the pan is clean enough also. If they are caked with thick goo then the pan must come down.

I'd like to hear from members about their experiences and if they've ruined any engines in cars they've recently acquired and not cleaned the pan.

For years we heard that everyone should drink 8 glasses of water a day, recently someone researched that and found there was no evidence to support. Now you no longer hear anything about it

We've parted out many many engines and never saw one that we thought should have been cleaned out during its running days.

What say you??

I have an original 1950 Packard that I don't thank it was ever opened I had an inch of crude in the bottom of the pan! plus one valve keeper. dave

Hope you find the valve missing its keeper!
Hate to see that valve stuck in a piston, putting a grove in the cylinder wall!
We used to use kerosene to clean the oil mud out off these engines.
Probably can't purchase kerosene anymore.
We once had a beautiful 1967 Chevelle Malibu hardtop owned by a sweet little old lady.
Problem with her car was, she never changed her oil, never!
When we took the valve cover off, you could not see the rocker assembly!
They were completely covered in that black muck, as well as the whole engine.
Good luck with the clean out, be patient and get her clean and you'll have a sweet running motor.

On a flathead engine the valves are nearly parallel with he piston bore. If a valve lets loose it makes a noise but can never contact the piston.

The keeper most likely fell through a oil drain hole during a valve job. It does no harm down there. The in ch of much will do no harm either as the oil pickup floats on top of the oil.

"Probably can't purchase kerosene anymore."
Actually pretty innocuous stuff. Basically J2,lamp oil, heating oil...
Mineral spirits is great also.

The goo on the bottom does not bother me much, but I have seen more than one engine where the floating screen did not float anymore and the pickup had made a little nest down in the goo. Yet more often I remove the sheet metal cover on the floating screen and discover that a large portion of it is blocked.

I have in inventory a fine running 288 with horrible oil pressure. I had it in my roadster during the mockup phase.
This poor creature had horrible oil pressure and had that low gutteral sound they make when the rods are loose and it is pressed a bit. Removing the valve covers was a shock, and the oil pickup could not rise above the sludge. I cleaned it out and slapped in a set of used rod bearings out of a customer's rebuild. It was then a perfectly good engine for honking around the neighborhood.

Thanks Ross, this confirms my experience that you can pretty well determine the need to drop the pan by looking at the valve chamber. No reason to go through the contortions of pan removal for little or no gain.

I had wondered about filling the oil pan with some kerosene, rocking the car a bit by hand, and allow it to soak for a while then drain it to clean the pan?

John

I had wondered about filling the oil pan with some kerosene, rocking the car a bit by hand, and allow it to soak for a while then drain it to clean the pan?

Not a good idea, better to do nothing. The sludge is probably now in a fairly compact and inert layer, what you will succeed in doing is, despite the fact that some of it can be drained off, is loosening some of the sludge so it becomes free to circulate thru the engine.

I'm just thinking if it is really needed now a days with detergent oil being the standard. Because before detergent oil the bad stuff was suppose to sink to the bottom of the pan and by removing the pan and cleaning it out was necessary in those days. But now with detergent the bad stuff is suspended in the oil until it goes though an oil filter or the oil is removed.
Just my two cents.
Wes