OK, this is an embarrassing question

[tricked919]

I have my "new" EJ 22 sitting on a stand waiting to go in my 97 OBW. Before I put it in, I wanted to replace the oil separator plate, oil pan gasket and timing belt covers (mentioned in previous posts). The dealer did not have the new plates or belt covers in stock and the wife and I went out of town for the weekend - leaving the motor on the stand with the oil pan and sep.plate off the block. It looks like while we were gone, a freakin dust storm blew in my shop and there's a tad bit of fine dirt and dust inside the case. Its not a lot, but I know it doesn't take much to cause a catastrophe. Can I spray engine degreaser or Carb cleaner all inside the block to rinse anything out that's made its way inside over the past week while I've had the block opened up?

[3eyedwagon]

Yes.

 

Get some solvent, or even brake kleen. Either of those options would be fine, and definitely beat the hell outta doing nothing about it. I'd be partial to Brakekleen as it evaporates pretty well.

 

Be sure to rinse it out so the bad crap flows out the way it went in. There's no point rinsing/pushing the debris into the rings and cylinders by washing it out with the block sitting upside down.

[idosubaru]

that sucks. certainly depends how bad you think it is as well.

 

i'd carefully hose it down with all the spray and dirt able to run out the bottom of the engine.

 

only problem with blowing it out is if the solvent flushes oil out of bearing surfaces you'll have those surfaces turning over without any oil flow. on old generation engines the oil pumps weren't crank driven so you could spin them with a drill to move oil throughout the engine. not sure how to do that with an EJ.

 

i'd probably entertain the idea of disengaging the fuel pump (so there's no fuel flow) and turning the engine over a few times to circulate oil through all the bearings. just don't over-work the starter all at one time, they're not meant to be run for more than 20 or 30 seconds at a time.

 

i'd also do at least one oil change immediately after running it the first time.