Under Valve Clover Sludge - best action to take?

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Looks fine, stick the valve cover back on and forget about it.


No need to waste money on nothing.


I agree and think twice about cleaning too much!!!

You don't want to free up any gunk that might find its way back into the engine and the oil..IT COULD CLOG THE OIL PASSAGES OR OIL PUMP PICK UP TUBE!!!!Not to mention you might reveal a leak or two that has been prevented by some old build up.

Unless you want to spend more money than you need to button it back up and do regular oil changes with dino oil.

IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T "fix it"!!!!

 

[ram_man]

its not to bad. its not bad enough to worry about stick to 3,000 miles oci. my Saturn really likes mobil 5w30. maybe mix in a mmo at 1300 miles to top up with and when its low again change it out and repeat. maybe that for awhile would help.

 

[zoli]

40K miles diet with M1 full synthetic oils help a lot to remove a lot of soot from the valve cover and the sump area as well.
This is a 250K mileage SAAB 4 cyl sludge prone engine.

 

[TrevorS]

1) We have no baseline of engine cleanliness when the OP acquired the vehicle but some leapt to conclusions that 3k intervals had not cleaned the engine / kept the engine clean.
2) Someone insightfully asked about the thermostat and the OP said it was changed at 115k.

Coupled with no maintenance history to 112k, we have ZERO idea of how dirty the engine had gotten at the 115k point.

We have only one point in time when engine cleanliness was assessed, which is just now.

We can make no definitive judgement on how well the oil has cleaned or kept the engine clean.

But we can say the most likely cause of the problem was incorrect maintenance to 112k / 115k, most likely thermostat related.

We can say that the situation is not dire and the OP says the engine runs well.

We do know that gentle cleaning is best.

OP, I think your idea of checking the oil filter is sound. You should also check the oil and keep a mental record of how quickly it gets dirty.

Lastly, you'll have to decide the best oil and oci to keep on cleaning without wasting oil both in terms of cost of oil and change frequency.

I would look for an oil with the most detergents, the PQIA comparative testing can help you here, and I would recommend getting an oil analysis done to figure out exactly how far you can take your chosen oil. With 3000 mile oci's, an analysis will payback very quickly.

 

[Doublehaul]

I have a GMC 1500 with a 4.3l and almost 600,000 miles on the clock. That is not a typo. I replaced the original engine at roughly 450,000 miles because I was given a very low milage replacement. The original engine was running just fine with the exception of 1qt per 2000 mile usage due to worn rings. I changed the oil every 5000 miles with name brand conventional. I owned a repair facility and purchased bulk oil in 55 gallon drums based on the ever fluctuating prices my wholesalers were charging.

Anyways after the swap we tore down the original engine for the sake of curiosity and found very simlar deposits. This is NOT sludge. Its a hard baked on deposit likely caused from blow by as a previous poster noted. It will hurt absolutely nothing and will likely NOT be cleaned off with short OCI. It doesn't need to be however. I would seal the engine up and simply not worry about it. Do a UOA if you like to be sure.

With the rate that Saturns used oil and need replenishment, I doubt if anyone could have neglected that engine by not changing the oil enough.

 

[Clevy]

My friends wife has an equinox I maintain for them since last year. First service I did for her last fall was shocking to me. The car has 70000kms iirc and the valve springs had so much gunge I couldn't see them move while the engine was running.
Since it was coming winter I used pp 5w-30 and a bottle of mmo. I also did a piston soak through the vacuum line,half a quart at a time and letting it sit overnight before taking it for a spirited run.
Prior to my maintaining it the engine consumed roughly 2 quarts in the 8000km interval she was running.
Now it consumes no oil whatsoever.
I changed the oil last month again and the valve springs were so clean I could see the difference in metal colours,there was now a very light layer of varnish on the head from what I could see through the fill hole.
So in a single interval the engine went from horrible to decent and consumption stopped with nothing more than a couple quarts of mmo,and a very simple application.
Not that I'm pushing to use any additive,I'm just relating a personal experience and what worked for me in a similar situation.

Overkill has a great plan too especially considering the wal-mart price of m1 0w-40. And trying his method out doesn't require anything more than oil,no additives.
I'd like to see after pics if you try his idea out. There's nothing to lose trying just a different oil,and it would speak volumes.

 

[askani79705]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Originally Posted By: stchman
To the OP:

Does the engine run fine?

If yes, just keep changing the oil regularly.


+1 Replace the valve cover gasket and carry on.


Ditto. Maybe some Mobil 1 HM if you feel you have to do something.