2009 3.5L Ford Flex 146k miles. Rear valve cover gasket is shot and leaking quite a bit. Snapped these as the sun was going down. Cam lobes look new, some varnish but overall I am happy. We bought the car in 2012 with 45k. In the last 100k miles she has received whatever 5w20 or 5w30 was on sale and changed every 4-7k miles.
Under valve cover pics 09 Flex 146k
- Thread starter Barkleymut
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I guess I would think that cam lobes are almost always going to look clean, as they are in constant rotational contact. The rest of it looks like it is in need of some HPL engine cleaner.
Clean yes, but these have 0 scratches or anything that would indicate wear issues. If the water pump holds up on her, I plan to drive it till the wheels fall off
Looks good 
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Looks really good. Keep doing what you're doing. Get some Mobil 1, it's the best.
dnewton3
Staff member
The Cyclone engine series is a very good one in n/a form; one of the better wearing ones for sure.
The small amount of varnish present is nothing to be concerned about. Yes- it would benefit from some cleaning, but the varnish isn't harming anything whatsoever.
The water pump ... the Achilles heel of the Cyclones ... you'll have to deal with it one day whether you like it or not. At 146k miles, it's in your best interest to change it preemptively rather than let it become a problem, if "driving it until the wheels fall off" is your plan.
The small amount of varnish present is nothing to be concerned about. Yes- it would benefit from some cleaning, but the varnish isn't harming anything whatsoever.
The water pump ... the Achilles heel of the Cyclones ... you'll have to deal with it one day whether you like it or not. At 146k miles, it's in your best interest to change it preemptively rather than let it become a problem, if "driving it until the wheels fall off" is your plan.
dnewton3
Staff member
Counter-intuitive statements bolstered by subjective conjecture. He's using inexpensive 5w-20/5w-30, and you say "keep doing" that. And in the next breath you tell him to switch oils, as if your undefined acclamation of "the best" is somehow an indisputable fact.
The Cyclone engines truly don't care what is used in the crankcase as long as it's a lube with the proper specs. Data proves these to be very good wearing regardless of what oil is used. I have over 500 UOAs of these engines, along with my own personal UOA experiments in my 3.5L Taurus. I can say with absolute certainty that the above is true.
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Agreed. I’ve seen a few folks change them earlier. I like these as they are comfy cruisers.
Looks good there!
But which M1 to stay mobile?
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Looks good. Short OCI for the win.
Is the side shown the one with the PCV or not? On my much older Nissan, the PCV side had a very small amount of varnish, and the fresh air side did not.
Is the side shown the one with the PCV or not? On my much older Nissan, the PCV side had a very small amount of varnish, and the fresh air side did not.
Hard to tell with those photos. Can't see down past the camshaft to the surface of the head. Top photo, upper left, the cam shaft looks a little gritty. I would shift the oci or the oil type towards a little more cleaning.
This is the PCV side.
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