Quote:
Originally Posted by Shortos
Thanks for the advice guys.
Laird Scooby.. are you basically saying to pour carb cleaner straight in to the top of the plastic oil separator?
How would I then extract the contents from it? Wouldn’t all the crud then find it’s way down to the sump?
Apologies if I’m way off here
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Not quite - spray carb cleaner from an aerosol, it will dissolve the gunge and yes, return it to the sump but when you next do an oil change will be removed, meanwhile the filter will catch it.
Obviously you don't want to use gallons of the stuff, the solvent based carb cleaner will evaporate off and/or be diluted by the oil (and then evaporate on first use once the engine temp is above a certain level.
If you think about it, the crud/gunge that's in the oil separator is only oil that has been thrown up there in the past and stayed there for whatever reason. Lack of oil changes is the most likely/common reason for this as dirty oil is more likely to contaminate the oil separator in the first place.
I can understand why you misinterpreted what i was saying but hopefully that clarifies it. The other alternative is an afternoon spanner twirling to remove the inlet manifold for access (some people can manage without but their fingers are nimbler than mine!) then removing the oil separator and either cleaning or renewing it, complete with new seals.
Keeping the flame trap clean and regular oil/filter changes help to avoid the situation in the first place, especially after you've got it clean the first time - often it's found you have to clean it all again a month or so after the first clean and again at each oil change until it stays reasonably clean.