What an oily mess!
I wanted to replace my valve cover gasket this weekend because of some oil which was leaking into the spark plug tubes. How would you react if you saw this mess after removing the cover?
I have owned this car for about 4 years now and replaced the oil and filter regularly (at least every year within 8-10k) myself. After seeing this mess yesterday, I couldn't help removing some big blobs of thick hardened oil from around the valve train. The old hardened oil crumbles easily when you try to remove it and is relatively dry. No-doubt this mess has built up over the life of the car and probably a sign it was neglected to some degree. As for my own recent oil changes, the fresh oil can be seen on the cam lobes and looks ok.
Have any of you seen such a mess like this when you've looked inside your cars? Is it normal? If not, what would you recommend, try to clean it up or better to just leave it alone? I'm thinking of picking as much as I can, then vacuum out any bits from inside before changing the oil and filter. What about those engine flush chemicals, do they work and will they help clean the rest of the engine? Or will they cause more trouble? Anything wrong with trying to clean this mess out, will any bits I can't vac out ruin an otherwise good engine? Anyone who has been-there-done-that I'd be very glad for your advise.
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Mas
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