Adjusted the valves today....

[slammin.e28]

....and this was hiding under the valve cover.



#2 cylinder, exhaust lobe. This was the worst one, others had scratches/gouges, but weren't as worn down.

Oh well. I was going to switch the oil to Valvoline VR1 but looks like the damage has been done. PO ran Mobil 20w50 in it. Banjo bolts tight too.

She still runs, and we're gonna get the most out of this M30. Unknown mileage, so I'm not going to put a new cam in it. Eventually will swap a B35 or 24 valve the car.

There's my story for the day.

Moral? Put VR1 in your M30s. They need dat zinc.

[travish325]

Bro I think you need a new cam..


Vr1 and red line zinc additive ftw!

[greasemonkey]

Wow. That looks frightening

[be34st]

Zinc huh? Okay. I'll trust you Slammin.

[slammin.e28]

He he he, so, monthly oil change (she puts a metric shit tonne of miles on this car) found this:



It's the rest of the cam!!!

Meanwhile, it takes a good 6 seconds for the oil light to go off.

[MoreMayhem]

I'm only a lowly shade-tree mechanic whose main tools are a 12" crescent wrench and a needle-nose vice grip, but that don't look so good.

[Stanley Rockafella]

that's an absurd abount of wear on that cam. I'm not surpised about the metal shavings either, nor the oil light not shutting off as it should.

I'm very interested to know what's the mileage on this beast...also, any mods to this engine?

[slammin.e28]

No idea. The guy's son drove the car for a loooong while, so I have no idea how he maintained it, but it didn't come to our shop for regular services.

Mileage, again, no idea. Odometer stopped at like 157k. I'm assuming it's up around 300k as the guy drove the car constantly. Wine salesman, so he was all over at tastings, shows, etc, etc. I'd see his son all over town with the car too.

Basically, it's time. She's wore out. I want to do a compression or leakdown test just to see what comes back. I should send the old oil (from my first oil change) and have it analyzed for shits and giggles.

[JinormusJ]

Thats a freak-ton of cam wear
Way more than a crap-ton or a heck-ton

[slammin.e28]

Yeah. I really don't know what to do.

It's still running fine. I'm putting VR1 20w50 with BG MOA, so it's got a shit ton of zinc, etc in it. Just a matter of time.

I had to move it to back out the M3 to go to work this morning. 16 seconds for the oil light to go off. The longer I counted, the more I cringed.