Changed the cam in my LS1 and discovered SLUDGE

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Changed the oil tonight and what can I say.....that was some dirty looking oil for only 2,200 miles of use. Tonight starts the first rinse phase.

Can someone tell me why I found gray sludge on the magnetic tip of the drain plug? I didn't like the look of it and made me think I was getting excessive wear in my engine somewhere. It kinda looked like well ground metal to the point it was in paste form.
 
Did everyone stop reading the updates to this thread?

Here is another thought fellas. I have been running a 160* hypertech thermostat in my LS1 engine since 2002. During winter months on the highway I datalog the engine coolant to stay between 165-170 degrees and it rises to 175-180 in traffic. During the summer months my coolant never rises above 190-195 in traffic and about 180 on the highway. Are these cooler coolant temperatures causing the sludge buildup in my engine? Is it making it harder for the Auto-Rx to do it's job? Should I keep this thermostat and reprogram my fans to turn on at higher temps to maintain a hotter engine or put back in the stock thermostat and experiment with fan settings to work well with it? Is my fuel economy suffering during the winter months on the highway due to the cooler coolant temps?
 
I read it. The metal-paste bit made me grimace. What's the stock thermostat open at? If its in the 195 region, you could use a 180. I don't think its a big deal though in and of itself.
 
The stock thermostat is a 187 so going with the 180 wouldn't make alot of difference when all I would have to do is program the fans to come on sooner.

Yeah, the paste kinda worries me as well.
 
Unless your car was regularly overheating with OEM thermostat, I would stick with OEM. You want your oil temp to reach a higher temp to burn off contaminates. Also your winter mpg is taking a hit with 160 thermostat most likely.
 
A little off topic but how do you reprogam the fans to come on at a lower temp.? My old Grand Am fan came on anytime the air cond was set to on. But on my 97 Grand Prix, the car is much too hot before the fans come on.
 
I'd personally stick with an OEM stat and reprogram the fans accordingly. With GMs it seems that it's not the thermostat temperature that allows hot running, it's the factory 230 degre fan settings
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The lower operating temps perhaps could have contributed to the sludge. Would you have to re-tune with a new thermostat?
 
The metal sludge at the magnetic tip is damage already done. The A-Rx, as it is dissolving the sludge, is allowing the particles trapped within the sludge to be released/suspended. If you think about it coming from throughout the engine and for however miles the problem started, it's not all that bad. Just no more sludge from this point forward!
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When I first bought the car I was clueless about aftermarket hype and thought it would help my car make more power as advertised. Now that I know better and do my own custom tuning and engine work I reinstalled the stock thermostat and have noticed much better results.
 
Unleashed beast,

I think the lower thermostat could have been a contributing factor to the sludge. Especially considering you were making short trips. Your oil just wasn't getting warm enough to burn off condensation, etc. If it was my car, I'd stick to the OEM thermostat, and then possibly play with the fan speed/cycling only if needed to prevent overheating.

Noticed where you are at, and I'm only about 60 miles west (towards Shreveport) of you. I'm at exit 44 of I-20.

Anyways, with that low thermostat, I wouldn't doubt you'd get lower fuel economy, especially in winter. Depending on how GM has your car programmed, you may have been running in closed loop mode all the time in the winter, which would really exaggerate your problem.

I'm wondering why you would need to get your fans on earlier. If you advanced the timing, or leaned out your mixture a lot, then I'd start becoming concerned with heat (but in your case, you were probably ruunning rich). I actually ran my old '96 Maxima here in the summer with only one fan operating for a month before I could replace it. The Nissan tech told me it was safe, and it didn't hurt anything. The only problem was my AC was hot whenever I stopped at lights. Of course my temp gauge is one of the dumbed down ones (no numbers, it just goes to the middle for its normal range), so I couldn't even tell my coolant temp differences. And my commute was 35 miles of almost all interstate to Shreveport. If LS1's don't have an inherent overheating issue, I'd probably just monitor the temp, and if in specs, leave the cooling system pretty much stock. Just watch for pinging under load in our blast-furnace type summer heat!

I've been thinking of using Auto-RX in my '97 Maxima mainly just because it has 104,000 on it, and I believe in preventative maintenance. And Auto-RX has gotten some really good reviews. Actually, I don't think I've read anyone say it was bad. Let me know how it does for you.

Have you taken that car to the strip yet? Red River Raceway is just north of Shreveport. I've thought of going just to check it out (and running my car just for laughs).

I'm having a little carbon issue, along with Sky Jumper in his '99 Maxima, in this thread: http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=003935. Looks like we both do relatively short trips, too (I no longer commute to Shreveport). I'm probably going to Sea Foam mine tomorrow (vacuum line) to try to get the pistons shiny again.

Keep us up to date on your Auto-RX rinse.

Dave
 
Yes, I have been to RRR many times in the past few years, but my car has a wore out clutch. I am ordering a new clutch in a week or so to fix the problem (slips bad with current HP output and engine mods). My best to date is only 12.66 @ 113 MPH in the 1/4 mile.

The auto rx has made my valve train noise disappear so I highly recommend it for anyone.
 
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