Is this bad sludge??

[Phre0nBurn]

Hey guys... I posted in another thread about how my motor was pretty much blown... not taking it all apart yet, i beleive it was probably something caused by an oil problem... so i took off the valve cover and took a few pics, and i was wondering if i could get some input as to what this black stuff is, and if that would have been the cause... also, if it is oil sludge, how do u prevent that? and if i buy a motor that is used, is there something you can use to clean all of this crud out of your motor without pulling it apart??
thanks guys... there is tons of stuff in the pics, but i circled a few examples for ya..

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/7246/srtop13pi.jpg

http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/9443/srtop23yy.jpg

http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/4075/srtop37ak.jpg

[g6civcx]

That's not too bad. My roommate's accord with 250k and barely any service done to it looked worse than that.

To prevent sludge buildup, you can get the BG engine flush service. Just be warned that sometimes the only thing keeping your oil pressure up is sludge, and when you flush them out, you'll start losing oil pressure.

Just change your filters and fluids often. Do the BG flush service once every couple of years and you'll be good.

[Muzzy]

lol yea u need to run engine flush about every other oil change to prevent that. Ams oil engine flush is the best i have ever used. im not saying that wut caused it but it may have atributed to it....could have clogged the oil pick up?? u check that yet??

[thundering02]

I liked the Valvoline flush stuff....and changing your oil more than every 20k ish will help prevent that....BTW also recommending better oil(aka not penzoil)

[Muzzy]

[email protected](aka not penzoil) castrol bitches!!!!!!!!

wait....did u blow the motor or did u recieve the motor like that????

[blu808]

That motor has been overheated.

[Nan Desu Ka?!]

/\ got to it before me.

overheating and no engine flush. buy better oil too.

[95zilvia]

sludge is like, oily, that shit is solid.

[Muzzy]

^^^^
lol yea thas tru....thas crust!

[S14DB]

Coked oil from overheating. +1

[Dopefish]

I use to work for a dealership and that BG stuff is 'snake oil', although their transmission flush system was pretty sweet. A quart of regular ATF (Mercon3 or 5) does well since it is still a lubricant but with detergants specific to iron, aluminum and steel. It is also cheaper and more readily available than BG cleaners. Run a quart through a warmed up, idling motor for about 15 minutes before doing an oil service. After draining the old oil, leave the drain plug out and run another quart of clean oil through the motor; it will drain out taking more impurities with it.

I have done nothing to my 100k young KA other than semi-regular (3k-5k) oil changes
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/DopefishLives/240sx/240chainrattle1.jpg

Basically regular maintenance is all that is needed to keep a motor from sludging up, but some motors have inherant problems with sludge no matter the car... (VW 1.8t comes to mind).

I second coked oil from over heating the motor.

~Kris

[Muzzy]

^^^^^^^^
ew that looks all nasty and stained

[sncs14]

Yep, it got cooked pretty good. Good luck getting that clean very easily.


^^^^^^^^
ew that looks all nasty and stained

It may have looked that way, but, speaking relatively that's clean.

Last fall when I had to replace a rod in my KA I pulled the valve cover to find one of the cleanest heads I have ever seen. At 100,000 miles there was no build up in the head anywhere. I run mobile one full synthetic changed every 5,000 miles. and have never used any aditives.

[S14DB]

With all the blow by I had. At least the valve train is clean on mine.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/S14DB/240sx/Engine/EngineStriped2.jpg

[Muzzy]

every 5k?? hhmm..ok. well he can have that cleaned(stain) but he'd have to totally remove everything and steam clean that shit and hot tank teh steel and iron stuff.

yea that head is pretty damn clean..i must say...aside from the staining. cams look good too.

[Phre0nBurn]

Hahaha... To reply to everyone...
Yea, I blew the motor... I bought the car like a month before the motor went...
Im not sure exactly how it is blown, but as stated in another thread, there is a knock from the head (it sounds like its in the head), sounds like a rod knock...
no more power, the knock goes up with the res, obviously, heh, and the motor wont idle or anything...
so im guessing its done...
i got it, did an oil change, got about 1200 miles on it, and it went bye bye...
I flushed the motor with 2 quarts of syn blend, and then put a new nismo filter on and filled her with Royal Purple...
hmm... sucks, haha
but yea, that sludge crap is nasty, and thick... i havent taken the motor apart or out, so im not sure whats wrong with it yet...
i do know that when i take the oil cap off the valve cover, tons, and i mean TONS, of air pushes out of it... like theres a fan in there... haha

[Muzzy]

could be a bad lifter?? that sounds super bad. jus throwing that out there.

[Phre0nBurn]

but what about the air??
i mean, it feels like 2 spark plugs are not there, so its just squeezing air up and out the top of the cylinder... or something like that...

[Muzzy]

lol wut?? how u know its jus squeezing air out??? i jus say clogged lifter cuz the valve my not close fast enough. idk. it would be easier if i could hear it.

[Phre0nBurn]

lol, damn... i wish i still had my video camera... id take a good 15 second clip...
lol

but i was told by someone to look inside the oil fill cap when the motor was running to see if i could see if the oil squirters were working..
when i attempted it, i got hit in the face with air... i felt it... it was like there was a damn leaf blower in the valve cover...

[S14DB]

It's not sludge, it's coked oil. The oil got so hot it separated and left rock hard residue(coke) on the valve train. Same thing happens inside turbos when you don't run a turbo timer. Good luck cleaning that stuff off. A Hot Tank may work. But, most likely that head is trash.

Air is:
1) your PCV valve is stuck closed and not venting crankcase gases.
2) rings are not sealing and you have a ton of blow by that even the PCV valve can't vent.