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A REAL "rice burner," literally?

vandelay industries

vandelay industries

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So, just for the heck of it, and because something just didn't feel right, i decided to take the right side valve cover off to check things out.

And here's what i found (i'm still kinda in shock):
000_0449_zps10fa7973.jpg



Now, the engine did run good---i heard it run before buying. Do i trust the guy? Mmmmm......maybe 50/50-ish, maybe he didn't know either as he bought the truck to part out......(?)

Now what?

P.S. Does anyone know what size torx are the valve cover bolts for vortec center bolt valve covers. i carefully used a screwdriver to remove, but want to put them in right.
 
Almost looks like maggots or lice,not rice!..:eek1:

If rice is all thats in there,I doubt it'll hurt the engine much--its a lot softer than metal...worst it could do is block the oil pump screen up or an oil passage..I'd just clean it out,flush the crankcase with diesel and run it.

You'd be surprised what we found in engines at the junkyard,yet they usually ran fine after being cleaned out and run awhile--leaves,toads,mossy looking fungus,dirt dauber nests,ants galore,rodents,etc--and even rust!..we had a Monte Carlo SS 305 HO that was a recovered theft,we found the vandals tried seizing the engine by dumping a can of loose change down the carb with it running wide open..after we took the heads & intake off and removed the coins stuck under the valves,it started up and still ran decent--had 2 bent push rods and pistons with many dings in the tops,but it sounded strong..someone bought it and put it in a work truck and used it a long time !

The big question is who put it in there?...it could be a rodent,in that case they may be nesting in a cylinder or peed in it,and corroded things badly,and we had engines refuse to turn over when a rat & its nest gets squished between a piston and head....maybe some one did it as a joke,who knows..
I'd say if it spins over without feeling like anything is being compressed,I'd clean any apparent muck out ,give it fresh oil and filter,and run it awhile..
 
diesel4me said:
Almost looks like maggots or lice,not rice!..:eek1:

If rice is all thats in there,I doubt it'll hurt the engine much--its a lot softer than metal...worst it could do is block the oil pump screen up or an oil passage..I'd just clean it out,flush the crankcase with diesel .....

The big question is who put it in there?...it could be a rodent,in that case they may be nesting in a cylinder or peed in it,and corroded things badly,and we had engines refuse to turn over when a rat & its nest gets squished between a piston and head....maybe some one did it as a joke,who knows..
I'd say if it spins over without feeling like anything is being compressed,I'd clean any apparent muck out ,give it fresh oil and filter,and run it awhile..
Click to expand...

The position where the rice is, is directly under where the oil fill hole is. My main concern is WHY someone put rice in there? To try to cover up a leak?

Also please describe the diesel flush procedure?
 
somebody was f*cking with someone...


there's no way that motor was running with that in there.. first of all, it'd be oil soaked.. unless the oil pump is toast, or now clogged with rice-a-roni.. :haha:

either way, you would see signs of smashed up rice in and under the springs... not to mention it would have been ticking like a time bomb at a minimum...
 
i think i'm going to bite the bullet and run it as is---i turned the engine over by hand and there's no abnormal resistance.


BTW the torx size for the valve cover bolts is T-30.
 
at a very minimum, vac that up, drain the oil, and filter that with a paint filter, window screen, sumfin,to see if any of em got down into the pan from the drainback at the end.. that sh*t will clog the oil pump screen in no time, than you WILL have rotating resistance.... :haha:

any signs of em out the drain plug, I'd at least flush it a bit, than put the plug back in, and fresh oil..
 
...redneck desiccant...?:confused:
 
Weird,although some of the old timers do things that I don't think any of us would do now,my father in law has used oatmeal and raw eggs in his cooling system to "fix" his head gasket issues,just weird,he is 75 now
 
Isn't that an old myth, that putting rice in a knocking engine will quiet it down temporarily to sell it?(I don't actually believe it but maybe the PO did) Or maybe it was sawdust. Either way, I would assume the engine needs a rebuild if you need it to be reliable. Now if you are using it for a demo derby then I might try and run it and see what happens.
 
folkenheath said:
Isn't that an old myth, that putting rice in a knocking engine will quiet it down temporarily to sell it?(I don't actually believe it but maybe the PO did) Or maybe it was sawdust. Either way, I would assume the engine needs a rebuild if you need it to be reliable. Now if you are using it for a demo derby then I might try and run it and see what happens.
Click to expand...

I've heard the sawdust thing...
 
I can see where it would have run good.

I had put hand fulls of brake lathe shavings in a test engine and it ran for a while. Never did loose oil pressure.

Not to mention one V6 I filled with a garden hose through the oil cap ran for days.
 
That rice wasn't in there long,no oil was sopped up by it--I'd just vaccum out whats visible,drain the oil out,put the drain plug back in and dump a few gallons of diesel or kerosene in the crankcase,let it sit overnight or longer,and drain it out again...fill with fresh oil and fire it up--might want to spin it over with the coil wire off till it has oil pressure first,it'll help avoid a dry start..

Unless there is a few pounds of rice in the crankcase and the oil pump screen gets completely blocked,I doubt any harm will be done..it will get ground up and sent to the oil filter post haste,and its too soft to do any real damage..
 
snowdriver said:
Weird,although some of the old timers do things that I don't think any of us would do now,my father in law has used oatmeal and raw eggs in his cooling system to "fix" his head gasket issues,just weird,he is 75 now
Click to expand...

Ah, the old "egg in the coolant system" trick. I've heard about that one for years, but I've never seen it done.
 
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