9 +years on synthetic oil, Valve train inspection

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As some of you have known, I was the guy who posted a question about my noisy valvetrain when I used Castrol Edge with titanium 0W-40 a while back. If you guys read that thread, you heard that I was going to open the valve cover and do a cleanliness inspection. I think with the amount of high res pics I am gonna post, I think this deserves its own thread. So have a look at this pics. The valve cover has never been opened since september 2004. Engine is a 4 cylinder inline Mitsubishi 4G13 that has travelled 370,000 kms on dino from 1992 to August 2004, and was in bad shape then. I did a complete overhaul in August 2004 and got back the engine a month later and has been on synthetics all the way except was fed magnatec semi twice only early in its overhauled life. I wasn't happy with the magnatecs performance and switch to synthethic.
List of oils used in order of frequency. Car has clocked 120,000kms since September 2004.
1. Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40 Syn (about 8 OCI)
2. Castrol magnatec 10W-40 semi syn (2 OCI)
4. Duckhams QS 5W-40 Syn (2 OCI)
3. BHP Syngard 8000 Syn (1 OCI)
4. Mobil 1 5W-50 Syn (1 OCI)
5. Castol Edge OW-40 Syn Currently using at 700kms only










Let me know your opinions, but it looks really clean to me, cleaner than my pals car with the same engine but he only uses dino 20W-50.
 
Yep, beautiful engine!!

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your pictures! I love seeing a clean engine, and this is one of the best I've seen!
 
Originally Posted By: Ayrton
Yep, beautiful engine!!

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your pictures! I love seeing a clean engine, and this is one of the best I've seen!

Thanks Mr Senna
smile.gif
Yes it has been an expensive experiment on my car but it looks like it has totally paid off. In my country there are a lot of uninformed people who still thinks oil works the same way 25 years ago. I still hear a lot of people saying that 5W-XX oil is too thin for tropical climate and only can be used in expensive cars and not a low end econobox like my car. My mother in laws car , a 3cyl Daihatsu from 2003 had a complete seals failure in the engine. And as I was getting it fixed ,I was talking to the mechanic about the inside of the valve cover being totally covered in deposits and I said it was because of the mineral oil used. He insisted all oils are the same and that deposit layer is completely normal. A lot of mechanics in Malaysia simply can't read English and learnt the trade as apprentice. To them oil is oil. I did not adjust the valve clearances and will be giving him to do it. Would love to see the look on his face when he sees the valves and the cover !
 
Looks fantastic for a 20 year old engine with extreme hi miles. Great job on the picture clarity. Nice post!
 
You have a very enlightened view.

Originally Posted By: alcyon
Yes it has been an expensive experiment on my car but it looks like it has totally paid off. In my country there are a lot of uninformed people who still thinks oil works the same way 25 years ago. I still hear a lot of people saying that 5W-XX oil is too thin for tropical climate and only can be used in expensive cars and not a low end econobox like my car. My mother in laws car , a 3cyl Daihatsu from 2003 had a complete seals failure in the engine. And as I was getting it fixed ,I was talking to the mechanic about the inside of the valve cover being totally covered in deposits and I said it was because of the mineral oil used. He insisted all oils are the same and that deposit layer is completely normal. A lot of mechanics in Malaysia simply can't read English and learnt the trade as apprentice. To them oil is oil. I did not adjust the valve clearances and will be giving him to do it. Would love to see the look on his face when he sees the valves and the cover !
 
Originally Posted By: C4Dave
Looks good. How long are the OCIs? How many miles since the rebuild?


OCI have been anywhere from 7000km to 9500km. I change somewhat early because I live in a very hot climate . The engine has run 120,000 km since rebuild.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Man that engine is CLEAN!!!!!!!!! What`s been your favorite oil so far in this engine?

So far ,its the Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40, and I really love the Mobil 1 5W-50. However, I am still waiting for it to be on sale !
 
Wow! That is the cleanest 10 year old engine I have ever seen. Thank you for posting pictures, this is very exciting to see and is very convincing regarding the use of synthetics.
 
Thanks for the great photos, it looks new - your car (from your other post) looks new, too! You've done an awesome job of taking care of it, looks so sweet, real fun looking body-style. I'm gonna give my new Yaris a diet of sale-priced synthetics over the life of the car, and do 5,000 mile (8,000 KM) oil change intervals. No snow, no salt & no sludge.
 
Originally Posted By: alcyon
Originally Posted By: Ayrton
Yep, beautiful engine!!

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your pictures! I love seeing a clean engine, and this is one of the best I've seen!

Thanks Mr Senna
smile.gif
Yes it has been an expensive experiment on my car but it looks like it has totally paid off. In my country there are a lot of uninformed people who still thinks oil works the same way 25 years ago. I still hear a lot of people saying that 5W-XX oil is too thin for tropical climate and only can be used in expensive cars and not a low end econobox like my car. My mother in laws car , a 3cyl Daihatsu from 2003 had a complete seals failure in the engine. And as I was getting it fixed ,I was talking to the mechanic about the inside of the valve cover being totally covered in deposits and I said it was because of the mineral oil used. He insisted all oils are the same and that deposit layer is completely normal. A lot of mechanics in Malaysia simply can't read English and learnt the trade as apprentice. To them oil is oil. I did not adjust the valve clearances and will be giving him to do it. Would love to see the look on his face when he sees the valves and the cover !

Great job and hats off to you for the hard work all along!
Is a 5w-30 oil not the recommended oil grade for your hot climate ?
Do you by any chance feel that a 5w30 would have left more deposits ?
 
[/quote]
Great job and hats off to you for the hard work all along!
Is a 5w-30 oil not the recommended oil grade for your hot climate ?
Do you by any chance feel that a 5w30 would have left more deposits ? [/quote]
I am afraid to use 5W-30, because over time it would shear down to a 25 or 20, and besides the lowest recommended for this car was a XX-40. But anyway if I could get Pennzoil Ultra here then I would definitely give 5W-30 a go. heard a lot of good things about PU, and its shear film strength.
 
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