2005 Mustang 4.0 Under Valve Cover

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Drivers side VC gasket was leading and drilling right on the exhaust and made for a smelly ride. So today I pulled the VC and replaced the gasket. Where it was leaking the gasket was extremely brittle. Wasn't a bad job, about 1.5 hours all said and done.

As far as cleanliness the engine was clean but was dissapointed in the amount of varnish. Not going to loose any sleep over it though, just a thought.

For first 36k car saw RP then Amsoil(SS and XL)until the last OC where I switched to M1HM. OCI were 6-7k. Car currently has 151k and I'll keep with the M1. Other than that this engine has been great, we've had no issues with it.


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Originally Posted by chevman4life
For first 36k car saw RP then Amsoil(SS and XL)until the last OC where I switched to M1HM. OCI were 6-7k. Car currently has 151k and I'll keep with the M1. Other than that this engine has been great, we've had no issues with it.


You bought the car new? If RP and Amsoil was used from new I'm surprised on the level of varnish. Guess those oils don't clean very well.
 
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by chevman4life
For first 36k car saw RP then Amsoil(SS and XL)until the last OC where I switched to M1HM. OCI were 6-7k. Car currently has 151k and I'll keep with the M1. Other than that this engine has been great, we've had no issues with it.


You bought the car new? If RP and Amsoil was used from new I'm surprised on the level of varnish. Guess those oils don't clean very well.




Yes my wife and I are the original owners and I've done every OC. Yes, I'm surprised too especially for the amount of $$ I spent on the Amsoil. I'm not knocking Amsoil in any way just surprised. I still use Amsoil on my small equipment and it's been great.
 
I don't think varnish is a problem. I see no deposits, so IMHO this engine looks great at 150k. I'd keep doing what you are doing. Those are good oils and that engine should have lots of life left running them.
 
All things considered, I think it looks great. It only takes heat and engine oil to produce the discoloration you have pictured there. Both are present in all engines (at least they should be!), so you will always have some level of varnish/discoloration regardless of oil used and maintenance intervals.

A good example is if you've ever removed both valve covers on a transverse mounted V6 or V8. The rear bank is nearly always a good bit darker, with a lot more "varnish," if we're calling it that-- even though the same oil is used, same conditions-- simply because there's more heat back there that can't escape, while the front bank always has constant air movement around it.

I don't believe a reasonable amount of varnish like you have pictured is any meaningful indicator of the cleaning properties of the oil used. I suspect engines packed tighter in the engine bay will experience more of it, while smaller engines in a large bay will have significantly less. Just the nature of the beast, IMO.
 
Seeing this just confirms my suspicions that the OTC oils at Wally World can hold their own (or best ) these higher priced boutique oils. We've seen too many pictures of spotless engines (and excellent UOAs too) that show Mobil 1, Valvoline, Motorcraft, Castrol et al do just as good a job as Redline, RP, Amsoil etc. in normal operation of a ICE engine. True, some engines are operated in the extreme but even then the OTC oils manage to hold their own nowadays. The arrival of Dexos 2 really leveled the field IMHO.
The OP switching to M1 HM is a good move.
 
Originally Posted by double vanos
Seeing this just confirms my suspicions that the OTC oils at Wally World can hold their own (or best ) these higher priced boutique oils. We've seen too many pictures of spotless engines (and excellent UOAs too) that show Mobil 1, Valvoline, Motorcraft, Castrol et al do just as good a job as Redline, RP, Amsoil etc. in normal operation of a ICE engine. True, some engines are operated in the extreme but even then the OTC oils manage to hold their own nowadays. The arrival of Dexos 2 really leveled the field IMHO.
The OP switching to M1 HM is a good move.



I completely agree with you. I always bought Amsoil and was all I used to use. After I moved away from the local Amsoil DC it wasn't cost effective to have it shipped so started using the M1. Can't beat the price especially after a rebate and honestly the M1 would kept the engine just as clean. I'll orobably be switching the Traverse to M1 also. The Schaeffers is good but the question is: is it worth the extra $$?

Thanks for your input.
 
I don't see anything wrong with that.

What created the witness marks on the cam and is there damage to the head under the cam in the last picture...
 
I'm surprised by the amount of varnish given the oils and OCI used. My question that likely can't be answered is which oil(s) contributed to the varnish. My guess is Royal Purple.
 
Why am I only counting 5 cam lobes? If the one on the far right is a cam lobe (and not a cam journal as it appears to be) then it looks like it's outside the valve cover! Is this just a weird illusion or does this engine have some clever design that I'm not aware of? (or I could just be blind and missing something totally obvious).
 
Originally Posted by 92saturnsl2
Why am I only counting 5 cam lobes? If the one on the far right is a cam lobe (and not a cam journal as it appears to be) then it looks like it's outside the valve cover! Is this just a weird illusion or does this engine have some clever design that I'm not aware of? (or I could just be blind and missing something totally obvious).



The other lobe is at the far right. It is literally right in the edge.
 
Originally Posted by JAG
I'm surprised by the amount of varnish given the oils and OCI used. My question that likely can't be answered is which oil(s) contributed to the varnish. My guess is Royal Purple.


The reason I stopped using the RP was I happened to pull the oil cap and noticed a bunch of gunk down the fill tube that looked just like sludge. It was not the condensation you can see in some engines. I was able to clean a lot out but some was left. After a few OCIs of Amsoil it was gone completely. Driving style has always been the same in this car the entire time and never had another issue.

RP was used from new to 36k.

Not saying it was the RP but when you see that you can't help not want to try something else.
 
Originally Posted by chevman4life
The other lobe is at the far right. It is literally right in the edge.


Interesting design-- from the photo it looks outside of the valve cover gasket. There must be some mating surface to the right of it that I'm not seeing. Just thought it looked bizarre
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