While I was doing a valve cover gasket change….

Truck has 100K. 2005 4.7 engine.
I bought a used set of valve covers and painted
Them wrinkle black. They came out nice.
Since I had a spare set of covers, no down time.

Here is the hideous mess I found.
Any ideas guys what next?

 

Yikes.

Any idea what the oil change history was before you bought it? Assuming you didn't cause this.

@shifty` shall be along shortly to advise. He found similar sludge on his low mileage Tundra. My guess is that he will advise a lot of oil changes done at low intervals. I think that's the safest way to desludge.

 

Welcome to the WHY LOW MILEAGE TRUCKS SUCK club.

I'm a proud member, as you can see here.

Honestly? What I wished I'd have done was get a spraycan of Seafoam and a toothbrush, the Seafoam used for intake/throttle body cleaning, and also a can of Seafoam 'high mileage' mixture. Apply the spray Seafoam to the crankcase (it's safe to mix w/oil) and let it set for 10-15 mins to dissolve some of the nastiness. Then scrub with toothbrush. Once done on both sides, dump half the can in the passenger side head, then half in the driver side head. Run your truck for another 500 miles with it in the crankcase. Then oil change, but take a 20-30 minute drive first to get things nice and hot ... this will liquefy any sludge and it'll come out during change.

This type of thing is caused by lots of short-trip driving - which is how trucks this old get to have very few miles - and either too-infrequent oil change intervals, or in your case, maybe even no oil changes (either b/c owner was ripped off), or shitty oil used.

 

Do you think it would be safe to use Liquid Molly's engine flush? PHM and I run that through our oil a few years ago. Apparently it's what the BMW guys use to clear similar oil sludge.

 

I mean, there's no reason you can't, that's actually what I was going to use on mine, it works great on German cars (I've used on VWs). That much buildup would take multiple cycles, though, and it wouldn't clear all the buildup you see atop things.

The ideal situation to really, truly clean it out would be taking it to an authorized BG vendor and doing a BG Dynamic Engine Clean flush. You can't buy it in person. There's a rigorous process to use it, but BG guarantees the result, and will replace your engine apparently if it kills your engine. Check the WatchJRGo YouTube channel for his 2011 Camaro video (see below) for how it works. I've seen before/after pics, it gets the metal inside the engine silver again, it's almost like using a heated parts wash inside your engine.


PS - that's pretty bad for the passenger side @AV8R4AA . Did you do the driver side yet? If not, expect it to be at least twice as bad.

You're better to dissolve that buildup than to knock it free and vacuum it, only because if you miss a single piece, it can clog something, either the oil pickup, or a port. You don't want either.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8r1xOaQG7-g

 

Oh wow, you're not supposed to be able to buy this unless you're an authorized dealer, but someone on scAmazon is selling a kit right now .... (you get no warranty if you do yourself though and the service is not much more than the kit)

$300 Ferrari Maserati of Washington BG Dynamic Engine Restoration Service kit

https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Maserati-Washington-Dynamic-Restoration/dp/B07TMRJY42

It even gives you the instructions...

 

Another PS for the work at-hand, your valve cover gasket change.

Lots of tips and part numbers starting at this post, and the two posts directly below it: https://www.tundras.com/threads/valve-covers-fix-or-leave.105385/#post-2712883

Especially pay attention to reply #20 on that thread, only because it'll save you a world of grief on the driver's side. Follow the links for tips on the spark plug tube seals, etc. And pull one spark plug to check its condition while there, but they've never been changed. Don't buy replacements on scAmazon, you'll get legit-looking knockoffs.

And if you haven't replaced the PCV valve on the driver's side, you probably should. With that much cake, I'd expect the PCV to be clogged af.

 

Asking because I don't know... why is the driver's side typically worse?

 

I just watched this video and now I want to do this to all my vehicles. Just has a preventative maintenance.

 

I'm sure there's a reason, but I'm not entirely sure. After seeing what I found in mine, and exploring options, I saw several other 2UZ, and in virtually every case except trucks that were nearly-all hwy miles, the driver head was always more varnished.

Maybe that side tends to cool faster, or hold more moisture? Maybe it's because of the PCV valve being there, allowing added ventilation causing that cooling? I dunno.

 

Kinda think id want to drop the pan after cleaning that much gunk out.

At least change the vvt spool valve filter? Not sure how fine the oil pump pickup tube screen is.

 

I mean, for the cost of entry to have the service done, even if it was $600-700, I think it'd be worth it. For ~2hr minutes of actual labor, 65 minutes of which is passive labor while flushing, the results you'll find, legitimate, documented on the internet from private parties, it's really compelling.

I'm trying to work through mine slow and steady with flushes, natural detergents, and shorter OCI windows, since it's not as sludgy or thick as OP's. But if someone had the BG Dynamic Flush service available near me, and the price point was right, I'd probably want to do it just to get my truck back to "near-new" state on the top-end.

I can already tell that the Seafoam high mileage stuff I added to the crankcase and drove with for ~500 miles did start to attack the driver side varnish. I'm probably going to pop off the oil filler housing in the future and do a few spray treatments of Seafoam directly onto the head a few hundred before my next oil change to help.

 

I have not done the Drivers side.
I’m going to use some Seafoam in the oil.
See if it dissolves some goo.
That way I can compare how left bank vs. right bank.
Maybe some MMO. do very frequent oil changes.
Maybe every 500 miles or so.

 

I'm going to be burned at the stake for saying this, but whatever you do, DO NOT flush that engine out. You will end up with endless oil leaks among other issues.

Get as much of the sludge out as possible and adhere to a good oil change schedule.

If it's running fine, don't do anything drastic!

 

I dunno, I flushed. Not the BG Dynamic, but I definitely do use Liquimoly and Seafoam products in the crankcase. I don't suffer from leaks, major or minor, except for the recent valve cover leak which was more related to a previous idiot not reinstalling FIPG and fresh gaskets in there last than anything.

$15 AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT-205 seems to've restored the cam seal leak I had, prior to ever doing any flushes.

 

Isn't there a danger of those caustic sludge cleaners breaking free a big enough bit of sludge to clog an oil channel? Something like that I'd want to tear down the engine and rebuild it, but that's me.

 

Yes, that's why you don't use caustic sludge cleaners. If I understand correctly, the BG Dynamic cleaning is basically like running mineral spirits mixed with kerosene in your engine. The engine gets it hot, and it basically turns the entire engine into a big heated parts washer, devarnishing everything. Then you drain, run their cleansing oil after to bond with what's leftover, drain, and apply your standard oil What's left is at such low concentration, you just flush at your next OC.

But with the Seafoam and Liquimoly products, they're actually pretty light on the detergents. They're like MMO: Very light, heavily refined petroleum product, light oil, which dissolves gunk.

@AV8R4AA since you already have the cover off, you may as well brush on some Seafoam to the top-end. Kerosene on a brush will do it too. My grandfather used to drain 2Qts of oil on his vehicles every 20k miles, replace with 2qts kerosene, then run the engine for 2-3 hours, drain, and oil change. I'd seen a couple of his blocks opened up for rebuild over the years, and they were always spotless. No seal problems.

You just don't want to go crazy with the detergents or use stuff that'll break down rubber.

 

One of our members here hasn't posted in a long time but he is the original owner of a First Gen Tundra with around 400k miles. He adds a quart of transmission fluid to his gas tank every 6 months. I wonder if that would help at all. If nothing else, I guess it helps clean his injectors.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/seafoam-any-good.45673/#post-1175549

 

It would help your injectors, as for the valve cover and crank case......if your gasoline and oil are mixing, you have bigger problems.

I am with the "if it ain't broke people"....sludge stuck to non-moving parts isn't actually a problem, unless it comes loose and plugs something up. I would just change the oil and filters frequently, and cross my fingers...while engine shopping, presumably there has to be some excessive wear on the moving parts from the oil never being changed.

 

This is what happens when the dealer throws in free oil changes for two years. " Your oil has lots of life left it will go 10,000 easy". Blah Blah Toyota doesn't recommend it Blah Blah.

 

I've tried different methods of engine flush over the years with varying degrees of success. They all seem to work about the same.

My old '01 4Runner did 1qt of ATF and idled for 10 mins before changing oil and filter.

'06 Tundra did a can of Seafoam, idled for 10 min, then oil/filter change.

Wife's '11 Buick Enclave I did LiquiMoly Engine Flush, idled 10 min, changed oil/filter, then added LiquiMoly Antifriction oil treatment.

You're going to get some of the gunk out with any method but depending on severity you may have to flush and change a few times until it's clean. In all my experiences only my 4Runner with almost 300k miles developed any new leaks after the flush treatment, and it was a small infrequent drip from the oil cooler o-ring on the block.

Had a buddy who ran straight ATF in his engine (old '80's diesel) and changed the oil filter and topped if off with ATF every time he stopped his truck. After about a week of round trips to work and home the inside of his engine looked brand new. While ATF has lubrication properties and copious amounts of detergents I would not recommend this method. ATF is not designed to handle the stresses of an engine under load and we never found out how his crank and rod bearings looked after doing this. Any engine flush treatment is designed to just be used at idle for brief periods. Read the manufacturers directions.

 

He also recommends using the vacuum hose from the brake booster and pouring Seafoam in there to do an intake/top-end cleaning, which is something Seafoam explicitly tells you never to do. I know it's "doable", but there's always that one dumbass who hydrolocks his engine from sucking up too much at once. You get better action from misting Seafoam in, that's why they make the spray attachment version of their can, so you can atomize the product, letting it coat things in the intake.

 

If you want to try frequent oil changes it will be cheapest to buy in bulk.

Wal-Mart has some good deals right now.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mobil-1-Advanced-Full-Synthetic-Motor-Oil-5W-30-5-qt-3-Pack/175346065

 

I've been using Walmart Synthetic every 3-5K for 250K miles and my engine looks pristine under the valve covers.

 

Seafoam in the oil seems to do some good. Here's a video with one person's results. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agAWXnT4-EQ&t=156s

Do you know what brand of oil was used before? I know Valvoline would sludge up and engine in days gone by, but I think they've reformulated and cleared that problem. Amalie was another offender, but I haven't seen Amalie on the shelf for quite a while now.

 

Since my ownership, I have used only the best Synthetic oil and Factory filters.
Not a mile more than 5000 OCI. Draining it, looks nearly new.
Never black, gritty or sludge. Thought I might extent OCI to 6000.

About 100 miles since 1 quart of MMO.
A hint of slightly darker oil. Not much to talk about.

 

What is MMO?

 

Guessing Marvel Mystery Oil. Until he answers it will be a mystery to us all.

 

Amazing isn't it? One of those things about my Tundra that always surprises me. On my other vehicles, if I drive them a mile after an oil change, its black as....oil....on my dipstick.

When I change the oil on my Tundra, its a real challenge to read the oil level the next day because its still so clear.

 

This is the correct answer.

I'll say. MMO has been around forever, it's just a really thin, highly refined, fine oil. It'll literally penetrate into anything with time.

When I was doing more engine swaps than today, or when I had to store engines, I'd always pipette a few mL of MMO into each cylinder and have a problem-free ignition. When I was way younger and finding more of my vehicles out in fields and they hadn't been run for years, some with frozen engines, a few drops of MMO into each cylinder and a few days waiting and half or more would turn over, half of the remainder would get there after 2-3 repeats, nearly all the rest were seized from catastrophic failures.

I don't know what the detergent levels are like with MMO, but given when it was created, I can't imagine they were originally that high, and it's supposedly the same formula today as almost 100 years ago, IIRC.