Finished changing the steering box and a few other things on my 62 Caddy and decided an oil change was in order......Out gushes the "black gold"---I expected that cause it's been sitting for years---but as I went to replace the drain plug, I see a chunk of crud in the opening Sludge I figured, so I dig at it with a screwdriver......well, it's LIKE sludge, but it's light GRAY in color. Diggin around with the screwdriver I coaxed some more out, along with a stringy substance that ran out like STP or the like(yuk!) Think it might be some kind of "miracle" additive, graphite-based maybe? This stuff does NOT look like metal....looks more like light gray paint(!) Question is, do I keep diggin it out, or ???
i cant help you but when i dropped my pan i found cigarette ****s and a bunch of crimp connectors in the sump.....
Drop ther pan and clean it out real good. Now that the **** has been disturbed, it could plug up the oil pump, filter, and/or internal oil p***ages - maybe already has. Sounds like insert or babbit bearing material. You should inspect the rod & main bearings while the pan is off.
Sounds like water/moisture from sitting. Put cheap oil and some engine flush in it and give it a good douching. Once a friend on mine was changeing the cam in his 400" MOPAR and just before he put the valley pan on a june bug flew in and crawled a hole in the lifter valley. He put it together anyway and ran it for a couple of years. Wre Pulled it down for an overhaul and what did we find stuck to the pickup screen on the pump but a june bug. Sometimes you find the neatest stuff in an oil pan.
My Dad was helping an uncle change an intake gasket. My uncle had changed it and the car ran bad for a whole year. When they pulled the intake off, they found a screwdriver and a pair of gloves.
It is probably residue from lead in gasoline. I would think about dropping the pan and cleaning it out. There isn't a safe way to do it in the car. If you take the pan off make sure you clean the screen on the oil pump pick up. I soaked one in solvent for a while and lit it on fire in the driveway. After it finished burning I brushed off the ash and it was like new.
good ol' TENNESSEE sludge ive seen some that setup so long it almost solidified in the bottom s****e it clean it run it and a cheap oil douchin will do wonders its really good for the skin too
Found the same stuff when we re-did the mainseal on JC. I soaked it in a Varsol vat and wire brushed the hell out of it. If you're gonna do it, you might as well do it right; could be a while 'til you wanna get under there again...
Exactly. To make sure you get everything you may want to do the whole engine, but removing everything from the pan is probably a good compromise. Just watch your oil presure.
The answer to your question has already been posted. the grey sludge- like substance is lead deposits from gasoline. Possibly the result of an over rich condition at one time. It's quite common from 50's-60's era engines especially ones that might have run a lot of premium gas. I'd pull the pan, clean it out, check the oil pickup tube for blockage, put it back together if everything else looks OK. A lot of times you will see similar deposits around the valve train components under the valve covers and around the low spots in the lifter gallery. Frank
If you've been driving it -you shouldnt have this type deposits...its moisture and I hope its not coolant. I could maybe see this if it was using NON detergent oil???? Are you having any heating or coolant loss issues?
If it is lead deposits,I would be extermely carefull with the stuff. Quite toxic. I wonder If you could recons***ute it though,and make some really good 'ol leaded fuel by mixing it with fresh gas?? Are you sure it's not primer dust from BIG OLDS? Spark**
How about years of non-detergent oil and a road tube crankcase vent? I'd pull the pan and clean it and the pickup tube out. Then you can see the timing chain hanging loose and the bearings that are gouged up from that **** going through them for all those years. You can probably see the remains of the valve seals and the nice worn grooves in the cylinder walls and the brown tarnished bottom of the cylinder bores that mark the bottom of the piston stroke too. Course, you could always just run about 5 quarts of auto trans fluid with a new filter in the motor for an hour of good running time (road use) before you changed to real oil and another filter. Trans fluid will clean it out pretty good, just don't leave it in too long. Gene
Yeah -It seemed like those old motors were sludge factories....... -Id say it was the loose setup they had when new-add wear- add non detergent oil=sludge. about all that old oil was bad about absorbing moisture ,as I remember.
was the toilet plugged up??? ??? ...seriously. i'd listen to Fab32 (and the others). i don't know **** but Frank knows LOTS of ****.
It's lead alright....years ago this was a common thing to find under valve covers, under intakes and in oil pans. It from unburned gasoline combining with the additives in the oil. I had a friend who insisted it only formed with Quaker State oil...that's when "Pennsylvania-Grade" oil was still parrafin-based...but I found it with all brands. Just clean it out real good....
Well I gotta say thanks for all the suggestions and comments--I was kinda baffled at first and posted before thinking...(this ain't a troubleshooting group ) Sorry for wasting space, but y'all always come thru when somebody has a question The general consensus is to R & R to pan, clean it, and have a nice day. However, I felt the lead comments applied(as I also had a little lead in my *** yesterday) so I'm gonna run and flush. The goop I was getting out of there....man!, it was the color of primer(Sparky may be right ) very light gray--almost white---not milky like water contaminated. I could rub it between my fingers and it resembled the powdered pearl I use in paint. Yeah, I'm gonna believe it's lead.The oil change DID correct the 15-second "chick-chick-chick" lifter noise at start-up...(I think I'm on the right track!) If it breaks, I got a spare. Thanks again, y'all.
Well now that that crisis is over.... back to our regularly scheduled programing featuring the "Rubbing Out of Big Olds...........and I'm not talking about putting a bullet in him.
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