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So I had a misfire, so I pulled the plugs and one had oil on the coil and top of spark plug. So obviously means I gotta change valve cover gasket and plugs seals. So I opened it up and OMG the most sludge ive ever seen. Not hard stuff but gooey slime black and stinky no pudding no milk color just black slime. So I scoop it out tooth brush it out seafoam and parts cleaner and managed to get most of it out. I put everything back together with a new gasket set new plug and coil cause of the oil. so I'm thinking next I pull the filter and oil pan and clean all that out, do I need a oil pan gasket or can I just use some rtv? Anything else I should do or look at? Car has never been down on power or had any issues beside oil and coolant consumption. Now I know the oil issues. Car has gm stage 2 a zzp mid lenghth header and downpipe. A vibrant catback exhaust a CAI and a tune that's about it so far. Any help or pointers are welcome ill try post a pic of sludge I never took a after pic cause it was dark but got a good before. Terrible stuff.
Do you think a prior owner never changed the oil? I would be afraid to run anything like solvent or the like thru it because when that stuff comes loose it will instantly plug your oil filter and put you on full bypass as more junk continues to come loose and circulate right thru your bearings and possibly plug oil/bearing passages. The oil pan is tricky, its glued on and sometimes problematic to get to reseal. Oil pickup also gets the sealant. No gasket is used anywhere. Cleaning and scooping topside might work, maybe use some engine brite. If you do that, start the engine right after, run it 5 minutes then dump the oil and add fresh oil /filter. That doesnt look like coolant leak sludge. Did you ever find the coolant leak?
I haven't ran the motor yet I plan on draining the pan and pulling the oil filter and cleaning it all out. I'm probably then going to replace filter flush with oil and engine cleaner a few times through a few filters. Then I'm gonna change oil one last time run it for like 500 miles then replace again. No idea where my coolant is going... No leaks never smell it burning idk? I plan on pulling the head this summer. I replaced quite a few oil pans in my day. This one by far looks easiest. Ill keep y'all posted. Anyone ever done the oil kerosene mix or oil diesel mix or atf flush?
I also got the car from a dealership who got it from a repo auction and car sat for 2 years. Dealer said he changed the oil and crank sensor when he bought it so I have No idea prior maintenance if any was done. I just been throwing money at it since I bought it lol.
if it was my car and i wanted it reliable, id be pulling the engine out and tearing it down. when you start to clean that crap off it can open up a can of worms, a chunk of that could come off and clog an oil passage or the pickup. id also be concerned with wear, its obviously been severely neglected, i would imagine the rod and main bearings look terrible.
i wouldnt put any detergents in. just run it with clean oil and filter, keep driving it. it will eventually have a failure, either a spun bearing from wear, or a chunk of crap clogging up an oil passage.
So i forgot to mention I broke the little nipple on the top of my boost bypass solenoid. I read about a boost bypass mod only can find one picture. Can I just jb weld the little hole on the top of the solenoid closed and accomplish the same thing? Or should I buy a new one? And I disconnect the bottom vac line from the solenoid the top gets capped but what about where the other ends of the hoses are supposed to go. The bottom one gets deleted entirely but what about where it was plugged in at is that the "actuator" what happens to that end? I need a better pic I seen plenty on the topic but only one pic.....
Last edited by Mattdog2020sc; 01-05-2018 at 01:14 AM.
Reason: Mispelling
I was reading your comment asking about the bypass solenoid and actuator but got a bit confused so to clarify the bypass actuator is the black diaphragm device attached to the side of the supercharger. The bypass solenoid is the device that sits up on top of the engine with wires and vacuum lines going to it. The solenoid has a boost/vacuum signal coming into the back of it from the intake manifold. It works by having a constant electrical charge sent to it which blocks the vacuum/boost signal from the manifold from proceeding onto your bypass actuator under normal conditions. If this electrical charge is either disconnected or cut off by the ECU it acts just like a flow through coupler and allows the signal from the intake manifold to place pressure on the actuator which if you are boosting will open up the bypass butterfly valve in the supercharger.You can bypass the function of the solenoid by disconnecting and plugging the line on either side of it. The only reason you have to plug it is because if you leave it open it will be a boost/vacuum leak as when the solenoid isn't energized and is open it is basically just a open line connected to your intake manifold.
Now the bypass actuator that connects to the supercharger has hose barb fittings on both the top and bottom side of the diaphragm. The top line places vacuum on the top side of the diaphragm when your throttle plate is closed off enough to create a vacuum in between the supercharger rotors and the throttle body. This prevents the supercharger from trying to boost and suck air through a closed throttle body when you aren't on the throttle hard and must stay connected. The bottom nipple works the same way but on the opposite side (bottom) of the diaphragm so that boost will push the diaphragm in the same direction as the vacuum signal (on the top side) for when the computer is telling the solenoid to pull boost or your bypass solenoid is unplugged or broken. So while you can disconnect the bottom line to prevent the solenoid from modulating boost the bottom nipple must remain open to atmosphere so it can breath and allow the vacuum signal on the top side of the diaphragm to actuate the bypass butterfly valve.
Picture of bypass actuator for reference
01-04-2018, 09:57 PM
