Grease and crap

[rodsfromday]

When I removed valve cover this is what I found. This is on my E46.







It's a lot of old grease and crap. Is that normal? What's the best way to clean it all up.
Thanx.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[jlevie]

That is a sign of too long an interval between oil/filter changes for the usual driving conditions (probably mostly urban cycles). A series of additions of a flush compound, driving a hundred miles or so and an oil/filter change should get a lot of it out.

I presume the oil has been being changed at the factory intervals (15-18k). Reduce that interval to no more than 7.5k and try to get the car on the highway at least once a week for 30 minutes.

[McGyver]

that is absolutely disgusting! i would pour some stuff into the oil that is designed to thin and remove gunk, drive it for a few minutes, then drain EVERYTHING out and refill with oil. if it were my car i would probably do that again in a couple hundred miles and then stick to 3.5k intervals for standard oil and 7k for synthetic.

good luck!

[toointoxicated60]

holy crap. that is scary looking.

You need to do more frequent oil changes.

[bmwguy325is]

Ya thats some engine abuse for sure

[Todd Black 88]

Typical e46 oil change interval issue there. My wife's car was exactly the same.
I used a rubber spatula and scraped all I could out before doing an oil change every thousand kilometers with a flush compound, for 5 thousand kilometers.

[Simon S]

whoa.. both cool and scary looking..

[TobyB]

You got sludge.

Be careful if you decide to touch it- globs can plug up things.
Especially lifter orifices...

More long trips, more frequent changes.

t

[AndrewBird]

Automatic transmission fluid is a good cleaner for this sort of thing. Add a quart of it to the oil (subtracting 1 quart of oil from the total) and run it for a week or two, then change the oil again. May want to do this a few times considering how bad it is. But some cheap oil to do the flush, makes things a lot more cost effective. Running cheap oil for a short period of time won't hurt anything.

[jlevie]

Automatic transmission fluid is a good cleaner for this sort of thing. Add a quart of it to the oil (subtracting 1 quart of oil from the total) and run it for a week or two, then change the oil again. May want to do this a few times considering how bad it is. But some cheap oil to do the flush, makes things a lot more cost effective. Running cheap oil for a short period of time won't hurt anything.

I agrees with everything except the use of cheap oil (and filter). The ATF is going to affect the oil's lubricating properties, so you want the right oil (and filter) in the engine to minimize the wear.

[AndrewBird]

While I do agree a bit, the short amount of time the oil will be in the engine is not going to do anything. As long as you use the correct weight oil, a cheaper brand like Pennzoil or even your auto parts store brand will lubricate well enough. I mean, we are only talking a few hundred miles, not thousands.