Sludge? Pulled a valve cover to check.

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What does one do when they don't know how well the previous owner treated their car? Well, pull a valve cover!

85k, with 10k on a single run Pennzoil Platinum (OLM was at 10%), the car was purchased with 68k. Filter was a Wix, filter dissection yet to come.

I was able to locate 3 receipts for previous oil changes, one at 6k using Valvoline blend, one at 6.5k using Castrol and the third at 65k again with Valvoline blend.

I guess running PP, and now PU, because of superior cleaning isn't really needed...

The car is a 2009 G8 with the 6.0l L76 (similar to a ls3)



 
Wow....that is clean.

...and that's about all I have to say about that!

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Nice! Having changed my own oil for 35 years, I am amazed at how well modern oil keeps an engine clean compared to oils of 20 years ago. It seems sludge is rarely seen anymore, even with very long oci.
 
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^ Exactly.

Plenty of vehicles have run modern 5w20 for 10+ years and are nice and clean.

The worst cases I have seen are engines that got a steady diet of no name conventional 15w40 from mechanics who don't care and owner's who don't know.
 
Your are quite correct Benito...
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Though I am glad that I can run a 5w30 or 10w30 in my car.. Though when I had my Fusion I did run the specd oil for it was 5w20. The new 20 viscosities are more than capable performing well in our cars. I just kinda like the slightly thicker variety. Strange how my cars motor even was specified for even 10w40 in the summer time.
Snoman that looks FANTASTIC ! Cool deal indeed.
 
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I have been tempted to pull a cover on some used cars I have purchased. But all were at about 35-40,000 miles and had service records for 6-8 oil changes. So I didn't bother. But use PP in all of them and they are that clean.
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
I love the look of that golden sheen. Some people think that's varnish. I think that's a nice protective coating..



I may be TOTALLY wrong here :^P ,but is that golden bronzy color the natural color of those internal metals? I have no earthly idea,but I've always assumed that.
 
Very clean indeed.

The real question is why in the world was GM still using plug wires in 2009? I haven't owned a car with them since model year 2000.
 
Fuel economy varies greatly. Last winter with the remote start had me sitting in the high 13's low 14's. We are getting around 18 now, and on trips its gets 24-26.5 at 70.

The gold color is much more pronounced in these pictures. It is still there to the naked eye, but not near as obvious. The base metal isn't that color normally however, you can look around where the valve cover seals and see the color of the raw aluminum.
 
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