Varnish and Cleanliness

[mrcoolguy]

I opened up my 2000 Toyota Camry 2.2L to install new valve cover gaskets and I noticed minor varnish for a sludger. The valve cover itself was brown/red. I cleaned it up and left the valve train alone. I will run PU for 30k miles to see if A) The valvetrain gets cleaner and loses varnish B) the valve cover stays clean. Here are some pics now.

 

[Artem]

Im in for the results in 30k miles. How long will that take you? A few years?

 

[tommygunn]

Not sure what you're worried about, looks pretty part for the course in there ;P

 

[Dakota1820]

That looks pretty good.

 

[Dakota1820]

195,000 I guess mines botanical little varnish but looks decent. I have run just about every oil imaginable in it

 

[mrcoolguy]

Originally Posted By: Artem
Im in for the results in 30k miles. How long will that take you? A few years?

Should take me a bit over two years

haha but ill most likely take off the valve covers every 5k and see the progress

 

[lars11]

Do you mean pennzoil ultra by PU? Why would that remove that varnish if your oil choices didn't?
Just curious, I know that switching from long oci, bad dino to short oci, good synth may flush out some real sludge over time but this light varnish??

 

[mrcoolguy]

Originally Posted By: lars11
Do you mean pennzoil ultra by PU? Why would that remove that varnish if your oil choices didn't?
Just curious, I know that switching from long oci, bad dino to short oci, good synth may flush out some real sludge over time but this light varnish??


PU is known for its cleaning power. It has a lot of calcium and detergents.

 

[mongo161]

Just a question....When you wipe off your dip stick when checking your oil, what color is left on the paper towel or cloth? Is the color left behind black, brown, tan or yellow?

IMO...From what I can tell from your photo's, your engine looks very clean and free of sludge or build up and any conventional oil like VWB, PYB, GTX, QS, Peak, SuperTech from WM, Kendall or any other store branded oils etc should keep it very clean with some short interval OCI's.

IMO....Don't overlook the power of Diesel Dino like Shell Rotella Triple protection in 10w30, if you can run it in your application. Diesel Dino oils like Rotella, Delvac, Delo Tection, Kendall, SuperTech and Super Blue have enough strong detergents/dispersant's to keep your engine in tip top shape. So why sweat the small stuff????....when everything is running fine. IMO...save you money for other items that might need to be replaced as time goes on...


Originally Posted By: mrcoolguy
Originally Posted By: lars11
Do you mean pennzoil ultra by PU? Why would that remove that varnish if your oil choices didn't?
Just curious, I know that switching from long oci, bad dino to short oci, good synth may flush out some real sludge over time but this light varnish??


PU is known for its cleaning power. It has a lot of calcium and detergents.

 

[ltslimjim]

I can see it doing something, depending on your service conditions. Hard to reverse a state while in similar severe or extreme driving conditions which could lead to this kind of appearance even with good oils.

I don't see it revealing bare metal again, not without a good mix of driving and not much in the way of severe. So, what are your interval plans with PU? How about the intervals prior to these pictures?

Because extended intervals with a goal of cleaning = p. u. that stinks.

Anyways, post away...JMO.

 

[Shannow]

It's taken many OCIs to get a deposit of varnish, and clean oil WILL disperse enough varnish to be back in equlibrium, before the varnish deposition process starts again.

With varnish, if you were to do a perpetual oil change via weekly oil changes (of even pretty rubbish oil), or feed a pre-heated supply of brand new oil through the galleries, the varnish will go.

Nothing can really "dissolve" established varnish except for varnish free oil.

 

[Donald]

Looks good to me. PU is great stuff. Trick is finding it.

 

[demarpaint]

Looks good to me. I'd like to see how unaided PU does too. There really isn't that much to clean.

 

[Scum_Frog]

That looks very good for a 12 year old DD....no issue here!

 

[wiswind]

It looks like you are in great shape with the engine.
YES, we on this site like to overevaluate things.....but I'm betting that your engine looks better than most 12-13 year old engines on the road....so not to worry 1 bit.