A little background:
I have a 1998 Chevrolet Blazer with the 4.3L V6 engine. The vehicle has just under 130k miles on it right now. About 1000-1500 miles ago, all of a sudden one day I started getting a loud lifter noise on startup when the engine was cold. Since I was close to my next scheduled oil change (I change it every 3k on my cars), I decided I would go ahead and change the oil. To my surprise, there was a TON of 'sludge' in the filter when I went to change the oil. This black goopy substance came out of the filter when I turned it over to drain on the top of my drain pan.
Fast-forward a little bit. I changed the oil and started reading about AutoRX and decided to order a couple of bottles. Because I was concerned that my NEW filter might have already been clogged, even though I was only about 300 miles into this oil change, I still took it off and put a brand new oil filter on when I put the AutoRX in the engine. This new filter was still VERY clean without any goop or anything. Looked like it came off a vehicle with 10k miles on it, not almost 130k.
After putting in the AutoRX, I noticed that a few mornings the engine was almost quiet, but other mornings the extremely noisy lifter noise would come back. A week or so ago, I took a trip to Austin and back (~230 miles in one day, all at high speed on the highway...anywhere from 80-95mph), then I did some towing while on the highway pulling a ~1500-1700lb trailer)... During this time, I put about 500-550 miles on it with the AutoRX in the engine. At this point, I started noticing that my loud lifter noise was starting to show up even on some warm starts and was getting MUCH worse on cold starts than it had before.
At this point, I got really concerned. I have no idea how this engine was maintained in the first 118k miles of its life, but I typically maintain my vehicles quite well. Last night after this noise got so bad I was about to take the truck to a shop to have the lifters replaced, I decided just for grins that I would go ahead and remove the filter and take a look at it. Keeping in mind that I had only gone about 550 miles, I pulled the filter off and turned it over on my drain pan to see a BUNCH of that black goop once again. It was just as much, if not more than what I saw when I changed the oil and filter at 3k miles on the last oil change. This morning I started up the Blazer to go to work and the lifter noise was still there, but went away quicker than it did yesterday morning. I'm thinking that my filter had gotten so clogged already after only 500 miles.
Most likely what I am going to do is change the filter again after another 500 miles and then change everything for the rinse phase 500 miles past that point. This engine was pretty badly gunked up and will definitely need a second, if not third treatment.
My question out of all of this is -- has anybody ever heard of a filter having that much goop in it after only 500 miles? When I say goop, it really had a thick consistency, not that thin flowing characteristic that oil normally has. The oil on the dipstick is a little dark, but not abnormally so, based on how much I think the engine is probably sludged up inside. Do you guys think that my noisy lifter will eventually quiet down if I keep up with this AutoRX treatment, rinse, etc, and do it a couple of times? Most people say that a lifter problem on the Vortec 4.3l V6 is very unusual.
Let me know what your thoughts are, guys. I know there are a lot of people on here that have a lot more knowledge and experience on this stuff than I do.
Thanks.
Ricky
I have a 1998 Chevrolet Blazer with the 4.3L V6 engine. The vehicle has just under 130k miles on it right now. About 1000-1500 miles ago, all of a sudden one day I started getting a loud lifter noise on startup when the engine was cold. Since I was close to my next scheduled oil change (I change it every 3k on my cars), I decided I would go ahead and change the oil. To my surprise, there was a TON of 'sludge' in the filter when I went to change the oil. This black goopy substance came out of the filter when I turned it over to drain on the top of my drain pan.
Fast-forward a little bit. I changed the oil and started reading about AutoRX and decided to order a couple of bottles. Because I was concerned that my NEW filter might have already been clogged, even though I was only about 300 miles into this oil change, I still took it off and put a brand new oil filter on when I put the AutoRX in the engine. This new filter was still VERY clean without any goop or anything. Looked like it came off a vehicle with 10k miles on it, not almost 130k.
After putting in the AutoRX, I noticed that a few mornings the engine was almost quiet, but other mornings the extremely noisy lifter noise would come back. A week or so ago, I took a trip to Austin and back (~230 miles in one day, all at high speed on the highway...anywhere from 80-95mph), then I did some towing while on the highway pulling a ~1500-1700lb trailer)... During this time, I put about 500-550 miles on it with the AutoRX in the engine. At this point, I started noticing that my loud lifter noise was starting to show up even on some warm starts and was getting MUCH worse on cold starts than it had before.
At this point, I got really concerned. I have no idea how this engine was maintained in the first 118k miles of its life, but I typically maintain my vehicles quite well. Last night after this noise got so bad I was about to take the truck to a shop to have the lifters replaced, I decided just for grins that I would go ahead and remove the filter and take a look at it. Keeping in mind that I had only gone about 550 miles, I pulled the filter off and turned it over on my drain pan to see a BUNCH of that black goop once again. It was just as much, if not more than what I saw when I changed the oil and filter at 3k miles on the last oil change. This morning I started up the Blazer to go to work and the lifter noise was still there, but went away quicker than it did yesterday morning. I'm thinking that my filter had gotten so clogged already after only 500 miles.
Most likely what I am going to do is change the filter again after another 500 miles and then change everything for the rinse phase 500 miles past that point. This engine was pretty badly gunked up and will definitely need a second, if not third treatment.
My question out of all of this is -- has anybody ever heard of a filter having that much goop in it after only 500 miles? When I say goop, it really had a thick consistency, not that thin flowing characteristic that oil normally has. The oil on the dipstick is a little dark, but not abnormally so, based on how much I think the engine is probably sludged up inside. Do you guys think that my noisy lifter will eventually quiet down if I keep up with this AutoRX treatment, rinse, etc, and do it a couple of times? Most people say that a lifter problem on the Vortec 4.3l V6 is very unusual.
Let me know what your thoughts are, guys. I know there are a lot of people on here that have a lot more knowledge and experience on this stuff than I do.
Thanks.
Ricky
