Valve cover off..oooh that doesn't look right :(

[biggeek]

Hello Guy & Gals

Just got my driver side valve cover off and didn't like what I saw










so what are my option?

1) leave it just do a couple oil changes a few hundred miles apart
2) Clean it out with shop towels
3) Aggressively clean with brake cleaner or degreaser and some red scotch brite( i have grey too)....cleaner would applied to cloth/scotchbrite not on engine itself
4) Engine flush( not convinced about these)
5) Cry


I know I will only be able to degunk the bits i can see and some of that stuff may not be easy to get out as it was baked on.


I have had the car for about 4 years and have changed the oil a couple of times I have done about 20k miles in that time...I am going to do an oil change yearly from now on regardless of mileage( hey! I dont smoke or drink so I got to waste my money on something...hence a 4.8is )

Apart from the oil leaks the engine was ok but I had noticed a little stutter a while back so hopefully the new VCG, upper timing cover and spark plugs will resolve this.

As the car has over a 100k would you says coils need changing? new Eldor coils ain't to expensive but I was going to leave this until I have finished the VCG

[Joshdub]

What are you worried about? It isn't sparkly fresh but that is what 10k OCIs will do to you. I'd suggest doing them closer to 5k. I also read somewhere that synthetic oil should be changed after 8 months even with minimal use due to breaking down. I don't know how true that is.

[80stech]

Looks like pretty normal Castrol gunkiness.

[white46]

Doesn't look bad to me.
Having said that, you should change oil yearly, regardless of mileage driven.

[Anhelenuk]

Idk my valves looked new compared to yours when I did valve cover at 76k miles. Definitely up you oil change interval

[biggeek]

Thanks for the replies everybody it much appreciated.

Ok, I am a total newbie at this so I was hoping I was overreacting.

I will do 5k oil changes as suggested but i will also do option 1 after the vcg works is done.

[semcoinc]

Please tell me what Brand and grade of oil that was that you were using the last 4 years.

There are several full synthetic oils that I would trust to go 10K miles or even 2 years (with maybe 8K filter changes), so I am curious what it was you were using during this time and 20K miles.

The PO may have had a lot to do with what you are seeing, hard to tell

Mike

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by semcoinc

Please tell me what Brand and grade of oil that was that you were using the last 4 years.

There are several full synthetic oils that I would trust to go 10K miles or even 2 years (with maybe 8K filter changes), so I am curious what it was you were using during this time and 20K miles.

The PO may have had a lot to do with what you are seeing, hard to tell :dunno:

Mike

If the PO was the Original Owner, then the X was under BMW's no maintenance program. No maintenance means BMW believed in 15,000 miles oil change with no monthly intervals. Lifetime transmission fluid so no normal ATF change.

Just change all the fluid while the X is still running.

[crystalworks]

Looks dirty... but not too bad. Seen much worse.

Seafoam treatment in the oil, gas, and vacuum line (going into intake mani) would be my course of action.

[CleanIsFast]

I've seen much worse as well.