06 malibu 2.2 Eco

[Ecoguy]

Ok so I am looking for some insight to my problem. I have a 2006 chevy malibu 2.2 Eco I changed my valve cover gasket about 4 months ago and everything was very clean keep in mind I have 390000 miles on this engine yesterday it started ticking real bad so I pulled over and checked my oil and it was fine no problem perfect level and still clean so I went on driving the tick then got very loud so I pulled over checked again with nothing wrong so I decided to be on the safe side and tow it home when I got it home I pulled the valve cover and found a very burnt and grimey too end so my question here is what happened and what could have caused it I believe an oil passage has gotten clogged any ideas

 

[old1]

You found a very burnt and grimy WHAT??

 

[dishdude]

He pulled the valve cover and inside found a burnt and grimey top end. The heads are considered the top end of an engine.

At 390k it could be some serious blow by.

 

[hypervish]

Gotta be a typo I'm thinking, 390k on a 2006 is a LOT of driving. Although 39k is very little for an 2006, and probably wouldn't need a valve cover gasket. LOL

 

[supton]

If he changed the gasket 4 months ago I'd think he would have known if there was sludge / goo on the top of the motor then. If it suddenly gooped up then I'd have to think gasket or similar, something letting water in.

What kind of goo is it?

 

[pbm]

Do you have 39K or 390K?

Some Ecotecs have had some issues with chain tensioners I believe (which might account for the loud tick but not the goo).

 

[Ecoguy]

390. Thousand it did have some milkshake in the top of the valve cover

 

[Ecoguy]

I am thinking it has an oiling issue which is causing the oil driven timing chain tensioner to have issues

 

[Ecoguy]

The "goo" is some sludge and some milkshake effect Is there a way to post pictures on here

 

[supton]

To post pictures you have to have an account someplace else, like photobucket. I think there are some free sites that allow you to post temporary pictures.

I have to wonder if the PVC got knocked loose, or if something was left amiss, after the gasket fix.

 

[EdwardC]

wow, was the one sentence??

I would agree that something must have happened during the valve cover gasket replacement, I did read something about the chain tensioner on those ecotecs, but I thought that was with the older models.

 

[Ecoguy]

I thought that myself but all checks out fine everything was done by spec per alldata

 

[Hokiefyd]

How is the engine temperature and the coolant level? And the oil level for that matter? At nearly 400,000 miles, anything could be suspect inside the engine, like a head gasket, piston rings, timing chain issues, etc. If there's "milkshake" in the oil, it sounds as if water has gotten in from somewhere. It could be engine coolant. Perhaps from a leaking head gasket. Perhaps from a water-to-oil cooler, if that engine has one. Could be a number of things at this point.

 

[SteveSRT8]

nice! 400k on the infamous ecotech.

That's great service. But at that age there is almost certainly either more than one thing wrong or a 'cascade effect' of baloney headed your way. Be very cautious disturbing anything as there are many parts near their failure points...

 

[Gasbuggy]

Lifter failure?

 

[Ecoguy]

The engine temp is good and I checked compression all good the antifreeze level is great does not leak period! The milkshake was caused by bad Pcv already found that it was just air and oil froth so to say

 

[Gasbuggy]

How has the tranny held up?