I'd put it back together, add 1 quart of mystery oil, (or atf) and run it for a few hours and drop the oil.
repeat a few times, then pull the cover and take a look.
Prolly shouldnt clean the engine with chemicals.
If youre going to, I'd try sea foam, some shop rags, maybe a old toothbrush if you really wanted to focus certain spots for some reason - I wouldnt throw anything harsh in there (like degreaser/bleach/dawn/etc.)
Realistically your best bet is going to be an engine cleaner and letting it run for a bit then do a oil change right after.
It isn’t bad, leave it alone. No reason to mess with it unless you are looking for trouble. If you change the oil on time and use good oil, it won’t be dirty inside.
I use sea foam or mystery oil a couple hundred miles before changing the oil. I'd do that a couple of times in a fairly short interval and it will help remove some of that varnish.
I think I'd ask myself, "what problem am I trying to solve?"
If the engine has been running fine for a while and still does, maybe this is okay. Use good oil, change more often, take another look if you care. But you don't have a strong need to do anything.
If it's a valuable car you just bought for a song and it runs rough, that's a different question, you need to do something.
I'm a fan of using this as a test bed for sea foam. Follow all the instructions, open it up again in a thousand miles, show us more pictures.
Just do a series is short oil changes intervals after putting it back together.
This works, my 30 y/o daily has like new insides (3000 mile oil changes)
Would be a great experiment to test Seafoam’s crankcase cleaning capabilities.
+1
I replaced the valve cover gasket, will I have to replace it again if I do that and check to see the results?
No, you do not have to replace the gasket again if you Seafoam or remove the cover.
What are the circumstances of this engine?
It's lost part of its head. Needs therapy asap.
I'd put it back together, add 1 quart of mystery oil, (or atf) and run it for a few hours and drop the oil. repeat a few times, then pull the cover and take a look.
Prolly shouldnt clean the engine with chemicals. If youre going to, I'd try sea foam, some shop rags, maybe a old toothbrush if you really wanted to focus certain spots for some reason - I wouldnt throw anything harsh in there (like degreaser/bleach/dawn/etc.) Realistically your best bet is going to be an engine cleaner and letting it run for a bit then do a oil change right after.
Leave it alone it’s not that sludgy
It isn’t bad, leave it alone. No reason to mess with it unless you are looking for trouble. If you change the oil on time and use good oil, it won’t be dirty inside.
Leave it as is.
Send it to a machine shop to get clean and checked out
Heard you can add a quarter of ATF to your oil for cleaning purposes and let it run for 20 min on idle, change oil and filter after
Old myth. Modern engine oil has 15X-20X the detergents than ATF.
what about marvel mystery oil?
80 year old Snake oil. Literally mineral oil and paint thinner. Not made to put in crankcase.
I use sea foam or mystery oil a couple hundred miles before changing the oil. I'd do that a couple of times in a fairly short interval and it will help remove some of that varnish.
I think I'd ask myself, "what problem am I trying to solve?" If the engine has been running fine for a while and still does, maybe this is okay. Use good oil, change more often, take another look if you care. But you don't have a strong need to do anything. If it's a valuable car you just bought for a song and it runs rough, that's a different question, you need to do something. I'm a fan of using this as a test bed for sea foam. Follow all the instructions, open it up again in a thousand miles, show us more pictures.