Wanna hear a sad story?????

[allen1040]

My father in-law has a 1988 4runner with a 3vze, auto tranny, and 100,000 miles. He was going to give it to me, but I'm not sure I want it anymore. The only problem with the truck was a small oil leak, and, being a nice guy, he went to buy some stop leak to try to take care of the leak before he gave it to me.

BUT what he bought was KW Block Seal, and proceeded to pour it in the oil filler hole. He then started the truck and tried to drive it, without much luck obviously. He ran the engine probably 20-30 minutes before he figured out how bad he f'd up. He then changed the oil and filter and ran "motor flush" through it, and then changed the oil and filter again and spark plugs. No dice. It used to run very smoothly, albeit slowly, but now runs like its firing on three cylinders.

I called CRC, the block sealer manufacturer, and told them what happened. The guy said that the block sealer goop was most likely sitting in the bottom of the oil pan and completely blocking the oil pump screen/pickup. He said that if I take off the pan and clean it and the oil pump screen/pickup the engine might come back to life.

My Questions:
1. Is this thing dead? Should I bother taking it?
2. Is this guy just telling me what I want to hear, or does an engine resurrection sound plausible?
3. Whats the easiest way to get the oil pan off?

Thanks for any help, I was really excited to get a free 4runner in good shape, but don't know what to do now. __________________

[jetwhine]

allan1040,

I would think that if the goop was sitting in the oil pan and blocking the oil pump pick up screen, you would have and oil pressure light on, in the dash saying you are starving the engine of oil. But if you don't have that light either it will come on eventually or there won't be any problem with the oil system as far as a clog at the oil screen. Blockseal works with clean water only. I don't know how it would work with oil. I think oil would be a contaminate to the block seal and there for be ineffective as a seal trying to mix with the oil. That is just a thought. As far as the miss fire, the only thing that I can think of is maybe it overheated and caused a problem with the head gaskets. Just a few thoughts.

[allen1040]

Yeah, I expected the light to come on too. I'm hoping that its running so crappy because its not getting any oil. Its making all types of ticking and other scary sounds as well. Honestly, its probably severely damaged, but I'm obviously hoping for a miracle.

[LCD]

Sounds like a mess! could have blocked up passages or whatever, would be hard to tell. drop that pan anyway and clean it out. Who knows.. miracles can happen

[LMMW]

That sucks man. K&W is good stuff for cooling system leaks. I used it on my wifes truck once to fix a blown head gasket. We drove it for a while after that and ended up selling it.

I can't imagine what that stuff hardened on inside the crankcase

Any updates?

[gorillaman2012]

If it was me I would take it and keep it. BUT! If it was me heres what I would do to try and save the motor. Go out and get oil, new filter, new pan gasket, new head gasket, new head bolts, and a bottle of seafoam.

first drain all the oil and the filter, drop the pan and clean out any sludge or anything thats in there. wipe of the crank in the motor and anything else that looks like its covered in crap. put the new pan gasket on and the pan back to the motor.

Now for the fun. take the intake and exhaust manifolds off then the valve covers and clean the junk out of that. next take the heads off and also the old gasket. clean any of the passages for oil that might have that block seal in it. also the head surface and put the new gasket and cleaned up head plus the new head bolts. throw anything else back together and put new oil in (suggest mobil 5000) also throw in about half of that bottle of seafoam in there and try to start it. not a complete rebuild but will definitely clean everything up inside, save you some money (might cost maybe under $200 for this) and also that engine if it runs will run for a good long time and without leaks probably.

Thats just me though.

[road4runner]

I wish that my father in law would give me a car! A total engine tear down would be the way to go, cleaning everything, piston ring grooves, oil passages etc. Maybe a secondhand engine would be an easier option! It would still be a cheap car.