Re: Gasket sealer questions

[Jon Pike <jhpike@domain.elided>]

> I've never dropped a lower pan as part of a routine oil change.  I've
> dropped plenty of them to change gaskets, or during an engine rebuild.
>
> With cars run with non-synthetic oil, I've seen some coking type buildup
> around the base of the baffles, but never enough that I felt I should be
> dropping the pan every so often to get rid of it.  Really just a thin
> coating, after many miles.
>
> With cars running synthetic oil, I don't see any buildup.
>
> If you've got a serious grunge buildup around the baffles, then it would
> seem that there is something else going on.  Filter clogged and stuff
> getting through the bypass?
>  
I thought it was more than warrented on this car.  With it burning a 
quart every 100 mi or so,  it would seem that the PO's didn't change 
anything for a long time,  just kept adding...

My first change after buying the car,  I found about the volume of 1/4 
teaspoon of metal filings on the drain plug magnet,  and oil that looked 
like Arco Graphite.   I didn't have a pan gasket yet,  so I didn't pull 
it.   I changed the Spica filter,  found a fair amount of very thick 
black sludge on the bottom of the filter housing (is that before, or 
after the filter??)  that would stand up and do the ferrofluid dance 
with a magnet under my small dish I was catching stuff with.

After that oil change,  the oil was mostly oil colored,  rather than 
black, even after a couple hundred miles..  
Did the DiMatteo Spica flush, (poured about 3/4 quart slowly thru the 
barometric capsule hole while idling)  After that,  the oil looked 
pretty dirty again..  I only ran the car on the stands for about 10 min 
or so after that before draining again.

Anyway,  I got my gasket,  and have pulled the filter..  there was a lot 
of sandy to silty sludge in various places,  not a huge amount,  perhaps 
a tablespoon total,  including about half that much in "large particles" 
gasket sealer bits of various types,  flakes of bearing, bits of 
plastic,  unknown bit of bent up sheet steel..  Haven't yet put it back on.


> I also don't bother with the cam cover removal and draining/replacing
> what's around the cams.  For a routine oil change there's a miniscule
> amount in there, quickly diluted by 8 fresh quarts.
>
> YMMV,
>
> bs
Well,  I thought I'd try draining that.. as long as this was a "major 
cleaning" oil change..  I was surprised at how much is in there..  those 
cavites must hold a cup a side or more.    I was also surprised at the 
crud level down there.. tried swirling it around to get the stuff up in 
suspension.  My turkey baster wouldn't quite reach all the way down.

I wonder how fast that stuff gets exchanged..  it was still pretty dark 
(even before stirring) while the rest of the oil was mostly clear,  even 
after 4-5 short jaunts about town of around 200-250 mi..

Jon
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