After reading some posts, I got to thinking and maybe I'm not alone. When I pop off the oil fill cap, look down the valve covers, heads seem to have an amber color to them, not machine "bright". I am going to assume it's varnish. Now from experience, sludge is pretty dark and kind of gooey. Is the varnish that I'm noticing maybe coming off of sludge deposits somewhere in the motor? Engine is V6, 3.3l, GM with 170K and nothing but Pennz. 10W or 5W-30, changed every 3K like an religious experience. If the varnish is coming from oxidation of the engine oil, would that possibly mean that perhaps some of the oil passages are blocked and I need to clean the engine? I do have lifter noise at startup for exactly 52 secs. (yeah, I counted). Or should I jump ship and go synthetic to take advantage of there cleaning abilities? Or just shut the #ell up and quit whining?????
[ June 11, 2003, 12:59 PM: Message edited by: Schmoe ]