LT4 sludge problem

Such a sad story of another neglected Corvette, I do like the "locked garage" bit. A number of things come to mind like, "If you rest you rust" or, "Use it or lose it". This car has been available to use for

My guess would be that the rockers going out on an un-used engine should have told you and your "mechanic" something. Like why did they fail, maybe sludge build up? When you disturbed the sludge buildup in the valley it moved on to more important destruction, your bearings and the oil pump. It should be rebuildable, but if you don't use it any more than that, just push it around.

Very true, if you don't drive it each time long enough to evaporate or boil off the condensation that is in all engines you will end up with sludge after 10 years.....

Many pe>

I have a 1970 Dodge Challenger with the original engine and 32,000 miles on it. No sludge problem, and its also a garage queen for most of the time. Nice to blame the user when its probably something else. The challenger runs great!

Check the PCV valve and hoses. With out crankcase ventilation you get a lot of sludge.

Al

ya didn't drive it enough..

my2¢

uh?? Dad was dead on with his reply. there ARE other factors that come into play. look where Jay Leno stores his collection.

my2¢

do you also have a vette Al ?

OK, so the user was not at fault and the engine broke its self, I understand now. Did you assume that he took it out for a 100 mile drive when it's possible that it was 20, 5 mile trips after the sludge was broken lose during the repair 2 years ago? Good to see you're able to diagnose that it wasn't the "users" fault on a nearly bullet proof engine, I'm not. I have seen cars with less miles than that with the entire valley full of ash for 5 or 6 block trips every day for 2 or 3 years. I've also had a rocker fail in less than a year with no further damage to the engine in the next 90,000 miles. Based on my experience and not seeing the engine I offered an opinion, your opinion was based on what?

Great impute on how your challenger is treated, like maybe warmed up a bit more before the oil is dumped. I have a '50 Chevy with 123,000 miles on it and it runs fine with the original babbited rod bearings. What does that mean, that it's 5 times better than your challenger?

Give us a hint of what "something else" might be. Keep in mind that this post was to be answered off line so he can keep the help to himself like he may be doing with other reasons his machine failed.

Hi, Dad... Pretty low opinion of me, eh? Well, the car was repaired one month ago and the oil was changed. The old oil was 6 month old and came out of the bottom looking nearly new. The sludge formed in the 100 miles since the repair (1 month). I drove the car 3 times during that period...two trips of 50 miles each...plenty of time for it to warm up properly).

On line answers are perfectly fine....I just didn't want to take up too much bandwidth hence the comment about answering off line. What could have happened to make the oil sludge up? Certainly neglect except I have the service record to prove that it wasn't neglected. Fuel in the oil from an improperly repaired rocker/pushrod? Coolant in the oil from a blown head gasket or other gasket installed during the repair. I did tell the mechanic that the low coolant light had come on during the 100 miles of driving since the repair.

My note to the group was an honest effort to try to figure out what went wrong. I should have know that it would bring the trolls out.

SR Steve

Oh quit your whining, I never said I had a low opinion of you, and you never said how long ago the repair was made. I do have an opinon of how you treat your Corvette or lack of it's use, but that's your business.

You watched it being changed but you can't check your cars oil?

How many times did you shut it off and restart to make those 3 or 2 trips? What about the other 723 times you drove it before that at 3 miles a pop? Plenty of time to warm up? One or two times not getting to running temperature don't make ash form.

Yeah, right, you would be the first.

I thought you sent it off to be tested but you want us to guess?

That only proves it was serviced, not how it was maintained or driven which can be where it was neglected if it was neglect. My statement had nothing to do with that kind of neglect, get over it.

None of these relate to changing a rocker arm or push rod.

You told him but didn't check it? How odd.

There you go with the name calling, try to tell us what really happened or what you're trying to accomplish and the troll will go away.

Did you check the oil at anytime after it was fixed? Was that new oil dark? Did they pull the lifters when they changed the rockers and push rods? Did they pull the manifold and clean the valley? Was it their, Chevrolet's, mechanic that did the work? Did you get a look at the parts that were replaced? If so, were they dirty with ash or just stained? What was the reason they were replaced? What did the roller look like? Was the end of the push rod broken? If so, did it damage the rocker socket? If so why didn't they change the lifter? Did you keep the parts? When you started hearing the "noise again", did you check the oil? Was it the same" It shouldn't have been. Where in the 100 miles did the oil pressure start to drop? Did you check the oil when it did drop?

I would never rule out the job may have been screwed up but with what you've told me you are the suspect. You seem to know very little about your car and want to share less, just blame someone else for its failure.

Now the group troll, Dad

Jeez,

The man's out 10 grand and we dog pile on him?

Sounds like the lab analysis will be the key. Don't see that you have any recourse no matter what they find unless the Mobil 1 is at fault. Hopefully, you can have the motor rebuilt. Maybe a slight bore job and maybe a new crank. And a new..................................

Good luck, Ed

First, don't let the barbs get under your skin (you seem to be shrugging off the hostility well). I offered some free wallpaper of Ferrari pix, because I know quite a few Vette lovers who appreciate Ferraris, and the only response I got was an extremely rude one. That's usenet for ya.

Second, I can relate to the comments about the bad things which happen to collector cars. I was shopping for a real-low-miles C4 (and finally found one). i had the help of an all-Corvette mechanic and he sniffed and poked around a long parade of prospects. I could tell you horror stories...bottom line is, aside from bad gas and dried-out rubber parts, many bad things do indeed happen to cars that are "just started up" on a regular basis. I looked at a few high-compression cars which hadn't been driven enough for the simple reason that it was a hassle to prepare cars that didn't like pump gas--in order to really drive them, I mean. And then there's the horse thing. You know: "rode hard and put away wet"? It's funny how many people will gladly detail the body and interior before replacing the car cover, but don't prepare the mechanical part of the beast for a long sleep.

I once did photography for a guy who restored Ferraris. ***Those who can't stand this OT stuff can move on to the next paragraph.*** He gave me some very good advice about sports cars: never even start the engine if you're not going to warm it up to operating temperature, and never work it hard until it reaches operating temperature. Operating temperature he defined as normal operating range on the OIL temp gauge, not the water temp.

As to your sludge thing, I'm not familiar with fuel in the oil, but coolant in the oil looks light brown and opaque; pretty distinctive, like chocolate milk almost. If yours is nearly black, and some parts are coated with a lacquer-like substance, I'd have to go along with the theory of too many short trips or running it too much without "blowing out the carbon," as mold man used to say...

I have heard that even if you don't drive a car very often you should change the oil periodically, especially synthetic, don't know why or how often. Have you asked mobil one folks? I think, Two Guys had a show on this very problem.

personally i would rebuild your engine, how bad could it be?

DR (sleek '96 vette bonb)

Sorry for inconvenience. Pulled my post after finding out that he saw the car being drained rather than extracted.

Whole thing doesn't make much sense but 16K miles in 10 years would give a proper change interval of about 500 miles.

Would like to find out what the oil analysis shows.

Not sure why you think that unless you read some more information on it than was given. I raised two sons, when they were young they told how things went bad in the same manner. Just enough so they wouldn't get their ass kicked, this story reminds me of that same tactic. The answer will be simple when all of the truth is told. Even the paragraph you left has no true statements in it, or maybe you understand how you drive it 3 times 100 miles, 2 trips, 50 mile each??????? It's a lot easier to make sense when you're telling the truth.

The old troll-Dad

Remember Quaker State from the late 60's early 70's full of paraffin? I'd pull off valve covers off engines and they would be packed with sludge.

Dad wrote:

I didn't see anyone troll you.

like dad said. "The answer will be simple when all of the truth is told".