taco grit

Im new here, found this place on the google...glad to have found this place

I just bought an 04 v6 last night for a real good price. I have a concern about what I seen under the oil cap, inside the valve cover. It has a good bit of black/carbon/grit/gunk built up on the visible parts inside the valve cover. The truck runs great, no smoke, unusual noise. It has 70k miles on the odo.
Is this a common occurance with these motors? If not, what would cause it, and what is the reccomended fix, if it is needed?
thanks

 

HI there and welcome to TW, I have no Idea but I'm sure someone will be along who does.

-Dan

 

thanks

 

All i can say is, clean in up and see if it comes back

 

My 02 has the same thing. I have 127k miles so I havn't tried running anything through the engine to clean it. The truck runs fine. There is some stuff called Seafoam you can get. It's good for cleaning out the fuel system and you can add it to the oil too, but I've never tried it(in the oil).

 

Seafoam FTW!!!!!!!!!

 

welcome to tw!!!

i agree with the seafoam. run a can of it.......brake booster line,gas tank and in the oil. you can also switch to some synthetic oil and see if that will clean the sludge out. there is a chance however that if you run synthetic, it can clean the seals in the motor too good and cause a small leak, but there is only the chance of it happening. if it were to make a seal leak, you can switch back to regular oil and it should be ok. just a heads up. but yeah....i'd seafoam first and see the difference it makes.

 

I appreciate it. I will hit auto zone tommorrow and see if they have the seafoam. I was already thinking about switching to a full synthetic. Is their a particular synthetic that has more cleaning properties than another?

 

I appreciate it. I decided to try the mobil clean 5000. It was alot cheaper.

I also discovered that what I was looking at in the valve cover was some kind of black plate that had buildup on it, (I guess from oil hitting it when changing it and no other circulation of oil). I could look down at the top of the pistons with a flashlight which looked brand new from what I could see.

Bad news is I discovered a leak in my transfer case, which appears to be coming from the top of the case....

thanks

 

try tightening the bolts around the transfer case....may be all you need to do........we can hope so anyway.