Garnish on valves and camshaft

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leoblack9

leoblack9

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May 23, 2018
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So while I took off my valve cover at 111k to change its leaking gasket I took some photos. There are some oil garnish but no sludge. Is the yellowing of the camshafts a bad sign or is it normal?
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

Car is a Suzuki Celerio 2010. Or known as Suzuki Maruti Alto/A-Star in other countries., I change oil every 10k/1yr with full synthetic oil. Current oil is 0w20 mobil 1 advanced fuel economy dexos1 gen2.
 
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My favorite "garnish" is Cilantro, but it's green.
grin2.gif


Back on topic: that's a lot of varnish for a car run on synthetic. The intervals may have been too long.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Pictures linked aren't working... Also what is your driving pattern? (Short trips/mixed/all highway?)

Pictures are fixed now. Mixed driving. Almost all of its life driven through city driving. Barely any highway driving. I'm sure that it almost always gets up to operating temp minus the occasional trip to the groceries / mall which are 2km near my house.

Also I think the cause for the gasket leak in the first place may have been a bad PCV valve, so that might have contributed to the varnish.. I hope that lessens now with a new PCV valve installed.
 
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I've seen a lot better, and a lot worse. I'd shorten the OCI, or get a UOA and see if the oil is up to the 1 year 10K OCI. If you're the original owner judging from the varnish I have my doubts if the oil is up to the task.
 
It could be a fuel quality issue where you are. I would use a more conservative oil change interval but I wouldn't panic.
 
I forgot to mention, its in Km not Miles. So I'm basically doing 6k mi or 1 year OCIs.

Originally Posted by demarpaint
If you're the original owner judging from the varnish I have my doubts if the oil is up to the task.
Yeah I'm the first owner, always did 6k mi oil changes from when its new. Tried different oils (havoline, total quartz etc.), most of its life its only taken 5w40 oil.. for a car that's spec'd to 0w20 weight oil.
 
If it bothers you maybe shorter oil change intervals may help .My self I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
It could be a fuel quality issue where you are. I would use a more conservative oil change interval but I wouldn't panic.
Yeah the fuel quality here is wild guess sometimes. We only got Euro4 level spec fuel in 2017... So should I do less than 6k mi? My motor is running pretty smoothly performance wise, valves are quiet as a whisper.
Originally Posted by CT8
If it bothers you maybe shorter oil change intervals may help .My self I wouldn't worry about it.
I'm only as bothered as the other posters who posted these kind of threads before, maybe their paranoia got to me?
 
Try shorter oil changes or a synthetic oil for a few oil changes and see if there is a difference.
 
Oh that's in kilometers... Yikes... Maybe switch to a less expensive oil and change it more often then. Can you get High Mileage oil like Valvoline MaxLife there? I'd run that and maybe for 5K KM.
 
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Is your driving in the province or in the city? Manila traffic for example is just about the worst in the world and that would mean a lot of stop and go and idling.
 
Originally Posted by leoblack9
I forgot to mention, its in Km not Miles. So I'm basically doing 6k mi or 1 year OCIs.

Originally Posted by demarpaint
If you're the original owner judging from the varnish I have my doubts if the oil is up to the task.
Yeah I'm the first owner, always did 6k mi oil changes from when its new. Tried different oils (havoline, total quartz etc.), most of its life its only taken 5w40 oil.. for a car that's spec'd to 0w20 weight oil.

I would still shorten the OCI or get a UOA if possible.
 
You can remove that garnish with a high detergent oil like Valvoline MaxLife, but it will take two oil changes.

If the oil gets dark quick, the detergent is working.
 
Thanks for the suggestion guys. My camshaft lobes are pretty clear with a light yellow film. I'm more bothered by the dark amber colors of the oil galleries and the retainer brackets.

Someone told me that my engine probably have overheated at some point, well that's correct. It overheated twice when the aux fan failed. That may explain why there's some varnish in there.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Oh that's in kilometers... Yikes... Maybe switch to a less expensive oil and change it more often then. Can you get High Mileage oil like Valvoline MaxLife there? I'd run that and maybe for 5K KM.
I'll look around for that. What's the weight that I should look for? 5w30?
Originally Posted by PimTac
Is your driving in the province or in the city? Manila traffic for example is just about the worst in the world and that would mean a lot of stop and go and idling.
Correct, its been on Manila traffic for 8 years its been on the road. I kept my OCIs to 1 year since I believed that full synthetics could resist that much wear from traffic..
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I would still shorten the OCI or get a UOA if possible.
In the manual it states that severe driving mileage is 7500km or 6 months. So I should follow that instead?
Originally Posted by das_peikko
You can remove that garnish with a high detergent oil like Valvoline MaxLife, but it will take two oil changes. If the oil gets dark quick, the detergent is working.
In my experience all of the oils I've tried on this car takes around 9 months to darken. Now I'm at the 8 or 9th month on M1 AFE, supposedly my next OCI is in May but I'll have to do it sooner now.
Originally Posted by StevieC
It overheated twice on 0w20 and survived?
I was on Total Quartz 5w40 oil when it overheated. Well the engine shut off when it overheated and I had to cool it down the nearby gas station.
 
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I wouldn't change anything....other than maybe stop driving when it starts to overheat in the future.

Originally Posted by StevieC
It overheated twice on 0w20 and survived?



Originally Posted by leoblack9
Tried different oils (havoline, total quartz etc.), most of its life its only taken 5w40 oil.. for a car that's spec'd to 0w20 weight oil.
 
Oh I stopped driving when it did, you really got no choice but to stop when your car's blowing fumes under the hood.

Shortly after that I immediately got my auxiliary fan replaced and then changed my oil not long after that.
 
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Originally Posted by leoblack9
In my experience all of the oils I've tried on this car takes around 9 months to darken. Now I'm at the 8 or 9th month on M1 AFE, supposedly my next OCI is in May but I'll have to do it sooner now.


MaxLife with an engine like yours will darken in about 1700 miles / 4 months flat.
 
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