Hi, I'm in the process of changing a bad lifter and would like some thoughts on a couple things.

This is the passenger side of the motor, notice how clean and of good color it is.

This is the driver side and it is dirty and built up with carbon. I would like some ideas on why it is this dirty.

This is the lifter I will be replacing as soon as I can get one stubborn bolt out on the exhaust manifold.

where intake manifold sits

dirty coolant passage. I used a flush when I first got this thing but as you can see, it didn't do it's job very well. I would like some ideas on how to clean up the coolant side of the motor.

 

Can anyone help me out with some opinions about the questions I asked. I'm waiting on parts at the moment but will be putting things back together soon and need some info before I do. Thanks in advance.

 

Drivers side valve cover is where the PCV Valve is located, so any oil vapor from blow-by is pulled to that side of the engine.

The passenger side valve cover is where the fresh air comes in.

So what you see is not unusual but I would change PCV valve and clean it's hose to intake.

When a cylinder fires some of the very very hot gases "blow-by" the rings, this is normal, the very very hot gases vaporizes some of the lubricating oil on the cylinder walls, this creates an oil vapor inside the crankcase.
On older engines there was just a tube pointed down at the ground on upper oil pan or lower crankcase, and this oil vapor and blow-by pressure just vented out and the oil vapor condensed and dripped on the ground.

The PCV(positive crankcase ventilation) system was added to prevent this pollution.
PCV creates a slight negative pressure and pulls any vapor up and burns it in the engine.
As an engine's rings get older blow-by increases so there is more oil vapor and PCV valves can get clogged up sooner so need to be cleaned or replaced more often.
Also clean the Vent hose on the passenger side, it brings in cooler air causing oil vapor to condense faster in crankcase so not as much oil makes it to driverside valve cover.

Also a good quality oil will produce less vapor, you don't know what previous own was using.

You are pulling the heads to do this right?

If so then replace the valve guide seals, they come with head gasket set

 

Thanks RonD. I am pulling the heads and will be replacing valve seals. Question, should I spend the time getting all that carbon off on the driver side or does it even matter?

 

If you pull the heads then you should really have them surfaced and pressure tested, they will also clean the heads when doing this, and in most cases they will install the valve guide seals free or for very little extra if you provide the seals that come with gasket set.

4.0l heads are prone to cracking between the valve seats, which is why pressure test is good to do.

But sure, clean head up as best you can, making sure not to get any crud down the valve train oil passages

 

I went ahead an pulled the suspected lifter apart just to see what was going on. Turns out the internal spring was broken. I will be pulling the rest of them for cleaning and a visual inspection.
Does anyone know of a place where you can get replacement springs for the lifters on a 93 4.0 OHV.

 

Wrecking yard will be about the only place

 

Kind of sorry to hear that about the springs. I Don't see any sense in putting 15-20 year old springs in a 15-20 year old car/truck. But I will be cleaning all as time allows.
I was only going to pull the one head to replace the lifter but saw some problems with the cooling part of the engine that made me thing that pulling both would be in my best interest. In other words, colluded up cooling ports all-aronld.
Pulling the engine apart was something I didn't think I could do, but it's pretty easy once you get past the exhaust part of the question/equation.
I did the re-surfing of the heads myself and cleaned all parts involved. I found a coolant leak after pulling the first head. Way dirty coolant ports is my main problem at the moment.
I'm going to put things back together an run some baking sode to cleans up a bit, then tighen/clean things up a bit. But would like some olpinions on how to clean a dirty engine if you guys have some thoughts on the subjucts.

 

The block ports always look dirty because the head ports are smaller, and the head gasket holes as well.
That is to balance the flow thru the engine, that is also why all the holes are not used

You can get a new lifter

 

I already have a new lifter to replace the broken one. I was just thinking that if I could buy new springs for the other lifters that it would be in my best interest to do so. Thanks for the advice RonD, everything you say and the way you say it makes total sense to me when it comes to this engine stuff.

 

update: I finished putting things back together a couple days ago after replacing the bad lifter and the engine sounds and runs just as good as it probably did when it rolled off the line. In fact, I'm a little surprised at how good it runs now (patting myself on the back alittle).

 

Good work :)