Looks good 
Valve cover pics.
- Thread starter JeepJKU08
- Start date
2010 Milan, 2.5 Duratec, 103k when this picture was taken
Maintenance history really unknown, but clearly enough
May I ask what year Ranger? Thank You, looks very nice and clean
That is a 1997. 2.3 "Lima" motor.
Interesting (to me) cam design. I have that engine in a Fusion I recently bought. So far so good.View attachment 88619
2010 Milan, 2.5 Duratec, 103k when this picture was taken
Maintenance history really unknown, but clearly enough
I would venture to say that even double your oci's at 6k miles would probably have given you the same results.
Antiquated thinking especially when you are using an engine oil as good as Valvoline. 3k miles is overkill.. Oil is cheap. The few dollars saved isn't worth possible accelerated wear and damage to components that are far expensive vs fluid changes.
That really is great. Conventional/blend or syn? Do you still own that car?
It's just like teeth. Some of us like our engines as clean as our teeth.
Others don't care about having yellow teeth and dirty engines.
I don't think black or white are the only scenarios for engine cleanliness. There is perfectly clean, there is horribly sludged, and there is the entire spectrum between these two. I see no benefit in delivering a vehicle to the wrecking yard with a perfect engine, so I am shooting for a level of cleanliness where the engine and the chassis are scrapped on the same day. We will see how that plays out 
Well, dirty teeth leads to decay, not so sure about engines.
In answer to the question, a terribly dirty engine affects oil flow (clogged pickup screen, blocked return passages) and leads to wear.
I don't think grime inside your valve cover or on your rocker arms is a huge deal. But I wonder if the top end looks like that, what's going on in the grooves of the piston rings? I believe the piston rings work optimally when they and their grooves are clean.
The pic of my Ranger is the only car I've had that really looked clean... although I haven't opened up most of the cars I've owned. My old 3.0 Duratec/Mazda V6 glowed yellow with varnish but I suppose it was pretty clean too. Most of my cars have some brownness visible through the oil fill hole.
It might be but at the end of the day I know I have done everything I can to keep it in tip top shape.
What will you do with a healthy engine when the rest of the car (eventually) falls apart and repair costs far exceed the vehicle's value?
By that time I'll probably be close to death. I plan to put 500k for sure.
I don't just maintenance the engine though. I service both diffs, transmission, t case and cooling system. Other than that it's normal wear and tear parts.
What most people are missing out on is these new GDI, VVT, Turbo/s and such are murder on any oil. If your engine has all three then look out. These silly 10-20k mile oil changes are insane. All the mega carbon buildup and super high heat from turbos is a killer on oil. Those VVT cam phasers have ultra slash ultra tiny oil holes that operate them. Get one tiny bit of sludge in there and the cams stop working proper. Here comes your check engine light as a result $$$$.
How about the power steering pump LOL. Bet your fluid is black. And behind the throttle body......
It's not about how good you think oil X is. Depending on your ring seal and such, some vehicles need early oil dumps. You can put Rolls Royce Aviation Oil in your car. In other words I dare you to find a better oil. It still needs oil dumps.
You probably sent your comments in on a $1200.00 cell phone LOL. Talk about excessive.....
Looks brand new in there. Do you use any particular oil?
Mostly Mobil 1, but for the past few years it's been whatever synthetic has been on sale. Lately it was Castrol Edge 5W-30LL which was cheap on Walmart.com.
