284k mile 1999 Mustang GT 4.6l valve cover off

[donnyj08]

http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/donnyj...?sort=3&o=0

This is a picture from a 284k mile 1999 mustang GT 4.6l. Engine overheated and blew a head gasket. also had one broken chain tensioner. Its one of two identical black on black 5 speed coupes i picked up cheap. this one will be a toy when i replace the engine. the other will be to sell as it only has 130k miles on it.


This GT with 284k miles was a 1 owner car. the lady said she used castrol edge 5w30 every 5-6k miles since new. she said it was mostly highway driven. She showed me a pile of old castol edge jugs in her shed..she had a ton of them full of old oil, at least 25-30 old jugs. i figured id share a picture under the valve cover for you guys. its really clean, very light varnish, some of the brown is milkshake from the head gaskets getting blown.

i apologize i dont know how to embed the photo.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

I'd love to see it; your link doesn't work. Or am I an imbecile?

 

[C1KLTX]

Looks good under there. Also nice Silverado lol

 

[donnyj08]

Originally Posted By: Ihatetochangeoil
I'd love to see it; your link doesn't work. Or am I an imbecile?


it should work now, its likely my fault lol

 

[RTexasF]

Clean as a whistle.

 

[OVERKILL]

More varnish than I would expect for a Modular with that kind of oil being used

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
More varnish than I would expect for a Modular with that kind of oil being used

...and that OCI with nearly all highway miles.

 

[donnyj08]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
More varnish than I would expect for a Modular with that kind of oil being used

...and that OCI with nearly all highway miles.



it had more varnish than i expected it to as well. its very clean, just light varnish. the only thing i can think of is perhaps along the way she actually let the intervals go much longer? for almost 300k its pretty clean, but its not making me want to switch to edge anytime soon.

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

Not too shabby!

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: donnyj08
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
More varnish than I would expect for a Modular with that kind of oil being used

...and that OCI with nearly all highway miles.
it had more varnish than i expected it to as well. its very clean, just light varnish. the only thing i can think of is perhaps along the way she actually let the intervals go much longer? for almost 300k its pretty clean, but its not making me want to switch to edge anytime soon.

Still...nothing to sneeze at since it is still running at 284K

 

[iamatt]

What do you expect for an engine that has been steam cleaned! lol

 

[donnyj08]

actually the head gaskets are blown, and one of the tensioners broke, so its out of the car right now. The radiator went bad and they overheated the motor, which could be one reason its varnished. supposedly they replaced the radiator and drove it another couple thousand miles and the head gaskets blew, and it overheated again.

I bought the whole car for $800 so im just going to pop a lower mileage engine in it. I have a 60k mile short block, but im going to put that in my lower mileage GT. going pick up a 100k mile motor tomorrow to stick in this car friday. Should be a nice car to just play around with. Body is in great shape, diff is solid, 5spd seems good and it has a new clutch. it will be well worth what ill have in it running and driving.

Ill tear this engine apart this weekend and see if the heads are cracked. the shortblock will be a good platform to build with forged internals and a steel crank in the future. if i find another really clean car that needs an engine i may build an engine from this block and put a on3 turbo kit on it

 

[NMBurb02]

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Varnish? What varnish?

 

[aquariuscsm]

From looking at this pic with my phone,it looks spotless! I don't see any varnish.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
From looking at this pic with my phone,it looks spotless! I don't see any varnish.


Should all be aluminum coloured. It isn't. There is varnish. Not a lot, but it is there. Still, for the mileage, it looks pretty decent.

 

[Lyman]

Those engines are typically bullet proof, Easy on oil and run forever. Looks great for the miles on it.

 

[FowVay]

I wish it had been run on 5W-20 instead of 5W-30. This might help (or hinder) the argument about the lower viscosity fluid being unable to protect the engine long term.

My daily driver is a Nissan OHC engine with 270,000 miles on it. It isn't in any better shape than this Mustang engine but it's still running just fine. I did do a timing chain at 250,000 miles because the chain guide was broken. The chain and sprockets were worn out.

 

[ARB1977]

Can't complain. I think I would take varnish over sludge any day.

 

[Cujet]

The heavier viscosity oil will extend chain and guide life in modular engines.