Thread: Opened my valve cover and found this!

Hi guys, so yesterday i removed my valve cover and found my engine looks far from good... I noticed a lot of "old oil" sorry dont know the word in english... sludge? something like that...



Anyone know how to clean that? i was planing on cleaning the top of the head and the oil pan before doing anything as i think that if some of that falls into the engine it can cause big problems... any help?

Some information, swapped the engine 1 year ago, and change the oil every 2000 miles, i use valvoline VR1 20w50 and K&N oil filter.

Also the engine is pulling strong... so i dont know how is this happening is something unexpected... i put down 179whp months ago...

im also using a oil preasure gauge... and it seems to be fine...

Previous owner wasn't changing the oil on the regular. And 20/50 is hella thick which doesn't help. U can use carb clean and a brush to get most of it. Then pull the pan clean the pickup. Then change oil normally but add some engine flush when u change the oil.

Running the motor on ATF instead of oil will clean it out. Only run it for a little while though, lol. It'll smoke like crazy! Flush out the ATF after your done, and refill it with oil. It'll smoke a for a while, but when it's cleared out, it should be nice and clean in there!

I never had a super sludgey engine that is anywhere near that. I can share my personal experience with my B14 stock engine. I got the car in 2004 with 106k on it and when I first popped the valve cover, it was a little dirty. Certainly no sheen, or any good reflections but it was not caked with sludge such as the above engine. From 2004 until 2009, I was using Mobil 1 dino oil 5w-30 and changed it every 3000 miles. It did clean up and each time I do pop the valve cover, it looks cleaner than last time. I have 233k on the engine now and the engine still runs pretty well for how old it is.

Some of the strongest running motors here were sludge monsters.

I would not worry about it unless you are doing a full rebuild.

You can run like 3 quarts oil and 1 atf but I would not run it on straight atf!

I can vouch for this! I bought Bgreen's old red NX, and the motor is probably just as bad, but it pulls like a raped ape!

Free Increased compression!

But seriously don't touch it, I tried to clean mine with no real benefits. Problem is when you start cleaning it, it starts chucking off and can start clocking oil lines. On mine I killed 2-3 timing chain tensioners.

I agree. There are very small oil galleys and you do not want them clogged with that crap.