"Bored with a camera" motor pics! ( M1, Honda)

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I checked the valves in the White Whale yesterday.

Valves and rockers and whatnot are looking good. Light varnish.
Clean_Valves.jpg


The varnish is significantly heavier on the valve cover.
Valve_Cover.jpg


There's even a little bit of goop on the far corners. It rubs off with a q-tip. To tell the truth, I was a bit surprised to find this.
OMG! MOBIL 1 SLUDGED MY ENGINE!!
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Valve_Cover_Grunge.jpg


I seem to remember the engine being just a little bit dirtier when I checked the valve lash a few years back. I'd recently bought the car and had been running M1 for a few months. (If that has any bearing on anything!)
Wish I'd taken pictures at the time, but I wasn't yet a BITOG loony!
 
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I'd say it looks pretty darn good for that mileage though. Hopefully the M1 is cleaning it up and not sludging it up.
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Originally Posted By: Pete591
Looks like a job for AuroRx


The valvetrain looks fantastic.
The only sign of any deposits in the valve cover. With the assumption that the RX would completely remove all valve cover tarnish, (it won't) do you think the OP will actually get his moneys worth with an application of RX?
 
IMHO, I don't think I'd run arx JUST for some light stuff under the VC. That engine looks clean to me! Of course, maybe if you were seeing some loss of compression or fuel economy it'd be worth a try.
 
With engine that clean ARX not required.

Probably depositing where there is the least amount of flow / circulation/ or where there is change of flow direction or velocity.

Will ARX change the flow of oil in selected locations of the engine that are subject to deposits and clean it up?

The location where these deposits are out harms way and will not impact on its operation or longevity. Engine cleaning in certain istances can be overdone IMO>
 
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Originally Posted By: BrianWC
IMHO, I don't think I'd run arx JUST for some light stuff under the VC. That engine looks clean to me! Of course, maybe if you were seeing some loss of compression or fuel economy it'd be worth a try.


Yea, I'm more than happy with the overall cleanliness.

As near as I can tell, the rings are happy. Spark plug color is perfect, and the oil stays clear for thousands of miles. I can't see any sign of oil escaping or excess gasses blowing by into the crankcase. With a little help from the loose nut, FE is far above EPA estimates for the car.

Just for grins, let me ask; how much does ARX cost, and where do you buy it?
 
Looks good for 190K miles IMO. Those areas on the valve covers probably run cooler (mostly in winter months) than the rest of the engine, and hence become accumulation spots for combustion condensation & deposits.
 
So it is CLEANER than when you bought it? M1 does do some cleaning (as you seem to be proof of, and has been my experience), what grade are you running? I found that their 5w20 removed a LOT of crud from my Expedition.
 
You can usually eat off engines that have run M1. I do it all the time.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
So it is CLEANER than when you bought it? M1 does do some cleaning (as you seem to be proof of, and has been my experience), what grade are you running? I found that their 5w20 removed a LOT of crud from my Expedition.


That's my impression; that the engine is cleaner than when I bought it. The prior owner had lots of Monkey Lube receipts, so the dino he was running never got close to sludging up. Thinking back, I do seem to recall a very thin layer of soft, slippery, slightly dark varnish adhering to some of the rockers and bearing caps. A finger would readily wipe it away. I suppose you could call it nascent sludge, but even that would be overstating things. This harmless 'mystery goop' is now gone, and the valve area as a whole looks 'brighter' and 'cleaner.' (No, I haven't been dumping laundry detergent in the engine!
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For the last few years, the car's been running M1 10W-30 with a qt. of 15W-50EP thrown in during the summer months. There was one (maybe two?) PenzPlat change about two years ago. At the last change, 2K ago, I switched to straight 10W-30 High Mileage.

OCI has been creeping up from ~4K to a targeted 10K for the current fill. Despite the increasing OCI, I've noticed that the oil is staying cleaner longer. I'm assuming this is due to the better overall cleaning Syn offers, but I suppose it's also possible that the compression rings are seating better too, reducing blow-by. (?)
 
Originally Posted By: buster
You can usually eat off engines that have run M1. I do it all the time.


Nothing I read on BITOG surprises me anymore!
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Hey guys. My arx comment was just based on the possibility that there were issues going on other than the general cleanliness. If there aren't, then that's settled.
 
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