4.3l vortec engine sludge, manifold leak

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: jstutz
it was replaced about a month ago becuase the old one wasnt working properly and the engine was not getting up to full temp ever. it would get to about 155 and stay there. your buddy that has pulled apart the other engines with 1 inch of sludge, what does he do afterwards to get things back to normal. My sludge was no where near that bad. I didnt even have a layer persay. it was just collected in the low spots and stuff.


Not getting to operating temp will cause sludge as well. How long was the old one acting up for?

He uses a variety of solvents and cleans them right out before reassembly if they are bad.

 

[jstutz]

it was doing it for probably a few months before i caught it. my wife drives it mostly and would not notice a change in the temp gauge like that. So i guess really i don't know. it was defiantly less than 6 months though. it was winter during that period which may be even worse.

 

[dickwells]

Critical thing on these engines is to keep an eye on the coolant level. If it starts going down take a much closer look to find the problem. I replaced the intake gasket twice on my 02 Silverado. The plastic was broken both times so I think overtorqueing is a chief cause. By the way I have cleaned a GM 305 engin from badly sludged to clean with Mobil 1. This took place over a distance of about 20,000 miles with changes every 3K. Good Luck, RW

 

[pair of Blazers]

it actually the CSFI "spider". it was changed in the 03 models after continuing problems w/old poppet type ones. they would leak or stick causing all sorts of misfire problems. the "new" one is a multech II injector that inserts where the old poppets use to.here is my post from the SSF board after all was said and done. if you want to read the whole thread you'll have to register.
Quote:
update
so after having a bad miss and truck throwing codes on me I did a tune up in mid March. bought NGK Iridium plugs a set of Magnecor wires, cap, rotor and spent an hr and a half doing the work. I found the the last time I paid some one to work on my truck they did a half a$$ job. my 1 &3 plugs were never changed and the #1 wire pulled right out of the boot. here I thought great this must be my miss problem, wrong.
after starting it up after all is done it doing the same sh!t! now I'm like *** where do I go from here.did some searching here and on a few other boards came to the conclusion that it probably the spider. I'm going to have to do the LIM gaskets anyway so I'll do it all at once.
order the injector pod seal kit and bracket from GM parts direct $244 for those parts. looked at Summit for the LIM gaskets and they were on back order. took a chance on e-bay and found a place that had them as a kit for $60 + 6 for shipping, not bad since Summit wanted $80 + shipping.
yesterday I had the truck towed to a guy I trust, thank you AAA. he called me late today and told me the truck runs like a top. going to pick it up in the morning and see for myself, cost roughly $350. so in total we have about $150 in tuneup parts +
Spider + $244
LIMG kit $ 66
labor $350
total $660
we'll see how it goes right now a new Trail Blazer is looking pretty good and yes I've looked.
talked to the dealer that sold me the truck, asked me how it was going. told him I put more money into this truck in 3yrs than my 91 in 10 yrs(pre mod engines), talk about a puzzled look on a guys face. we talked and the scary part was I knew more about the options than he did w/regard to color, gearing and LSD.
end rant. sorry for the book

and yeah I was pretty [censored] at the time. that was in March of 07, truck has been OK since (knocks on wood) so it was cheaper than getting a new truck.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/rftekk/misc/DSCN0024.jpg
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/rftekk/misc/?action=view&current=Blazeroil.jpg
and the latest UOA
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/rftekk/misc/?action=view&current=Blazer1208oil.jpg

 

[jstutz]

Just a update on the blazer. After fixing my leak and reading many posts i decided to just change the oil with cheap walmart oil and run it for 250 miles and drain it. I then filled it with walmart 5w30 and .5 qt of MMO. I figured the little dose of MMO would help the cleaning a little. After 1500 miles, this weekend, i drained the oil. For as dirty as the engine was inside i expected the oil to be pretty much black. Not the case. On the dipstick it still looked pretty fresh. While i was draining the oil i could tell it was a little dark but really about normal for 1500 miles. i get the feeling the oil is just not cleaning up the gooey sludge i saw in the engine so i filled it with castrol tection 15w40 CJ as it was on sale for 7 dollars a gallon at local WM. i believe as oils are concerned these diesel oils do about as good a job as any for cleaning up the engine. This winter i will switch back to Synthetic 5w30 and hope all is going to be well. i just have a hard time paying 30 dollars for ARX. The 15w40 seems to work well in the engine. i do agree with the earlier post that it seems to " soften " the engine. Good or bad i can tell the difference. Seems like you would not be able to tell a difference in a viscosity at 212F or about 10.5 to about 14 considering most 5 or 10 w 30s are about 60-70 at 40C or 104F. As unscientific as it is i can definatly tell. I am an engineer and would really like to understand how a few points in viscosity is making that difference. Anyway thank you all for the posts and ill update thru the summer on the blazer.

 

[MI_Roger]

I had the same problems with the 4.3l V6 in my son's 2001 Blazer last fall. Had the lower intake gasket replaced, and did two quick oil changes (under 100 miles!) while the engine was HOT.

This seems to have eliminated the sludge and engine noise.

Have you had problems with the SAI pump too, or was that eliminated in 2002?

 

[Ken2]

Quote:
This winter i will switch back to Synthetic 5w30 and hope all is going to be well. i just have a hard time paying 30 dollars for ARX.
You can easily pay that much for multiple oil changes and not get the job done. Auto-Rx works for the conditions it claims to work on. Diesel engine lube oil does contain slightly more detergents and even more dispersants than gasoline engine oil, but neither that nor synthetic has enough detergent to dissolve really heavy deposits. Auto-Rx also cleans the baked carbon from the ring grooves and improves compression, so there is usually a mileage improvement. If it doesn't do the job for you, get a refund. My interest...none. Auto-Rx has worked for me and I'll use it again when needed.

 

[jstutz]

Mi Roger, sorry for the ignorance but i do not know what an SAI pump is. Suprising since i own three chevys and seem to work on them all the time. I guess if i dont know what it is i probably have not had a problem with it.

ken2,
Ill maybe give ARX a try this fall. You were talking about baked carbon being cleaned from the ring grooves and stuff. i have two quick questions. 1) do normal vehicles even without sludge have baked carbon issues. 2) could you do a compression test to see if it needs it.

I have a older chevy truck with the old 4.3 and i have one cylinder that is down about 20 psi compaired to the other 5. Would this possibly be a candidate for ARX?

 

[MI_Roger]

SAI is the Supplemental Air Injection pump used on the 4.3 litre engine for some model years of the S-10 Blazer. This item is a nightmare for maintenance since the inlet to the pump injests water causing the pump to flood, then either freeze or electrically short (depending on the time of the year), and results in a CEL.

The "latest and greatest" GM repair consists of a new pump (design #3?), new inlet hose with breather cap, new control solenoid, all for only $380! Since the pump will pass some of the water contaminants before it fails, you usually also have to replace the two checkvalves at the exhaust manifolds ($50 each) and maybe another large solenoid valve and/or some plumbing beneath the engine. Most of these parts are only available directly from GM, with the exception of the exhaust check valves.

Aftermarket versions of the SAI pump are available, but they are earlier versions which have been obsoleted by GM.