What was the temperature range, the environment, the vehicle was operated under?? I have seen sludging like this in Denver during periods of EXTREME cold weather…Two weeks of sub-zero temperatures and almost everybody’s crankcase and dip-stick looked like this as combustion moisture condensed in the crankcase…But when the weather warmed up, the moisture boiled off and no lasting effects were noted…
Did the goo cause any operational problems for the engine?? As I recall, in those split sump Bronco engines, the front sump was “dead”, no oil pick-up in that sump. It just provided an oil storage reservoir of dead, non circulating oil…The front sump filled up and there the oil sat, never circulating up to the heads where it could get hot enough to dry out…
In my opinion, the goo in the pan is the result of a poor sump design and nothing else…
Other than the extremely limited use of the car, the conditions are mostly humid. Just my opinion but I think the biggest factors in oil sludging are short hop driving and humidity, with things like fuel type, engine performance, etc. playing a lesser role.
In every sludge case I’ve seen the common denominator was city driving and extended oil changes.
I’ve referenced the fleet of Chevys that a dealer I worked for had purchased. About 3 dozen cars all with about 35k miles on them and every one of them was horrible sludged.
The cars were parked around back and now and then when a tech would get caught up with nothing to do those cars became a filler of sorts to stay busy. On some of them the sludging was so bad the oil drain holes in the heads were completely clogged and it took some serious scraping to even access the rocker arm nuts.
That dual sump pan is a crummy idea but in this case the rear part of the sump where the oil pickup screen is located was also gooped up as badly as the front.
The problem here in OK anyway is that it’s generally very humid most of the year and dewpoints are often very high. Travel a few hundred miles west and the humidity and dewpoints drop off a lot.
I’ve often wondered if vehicles in parts of the desert Southwest are less prone to sludging than other parts of the country; say AZ, NV, UT, etc.?
Maybe CO is in that category or at least to a lesser extent?
Now I wish I had logged in this weekend.
I missed out on all the fun.
Interesting oil goop you customer had there.
I can agree that this owner either needs to actually drive the vehicle more (in fact you should INSIST on it), or schedule his oil changes in your humid environment for every 3 months. Had he been driving his toy 30 miles every day, I bet the oil would not have looked like that after 1k miles, or even after 6 months.
Here in Colorado, we have a lot less humidity than the surrounding states.
There isn’t much water to go around, and during the summer, you might get a couple of sprinkles from June through October, but no actual rain.
Heck, I should be able to duplicate this for you.
I have had a motorcycle ('89 Honda Hawk GT) sitting in the back of my (unheated) garage for over 2 years, waiting for me to take some time to rebuild the engine (blown head gasket, and low compression readings). Haven’t started it since summer '08, I’m guessing.
I could drain the oil, and see how much water comes out, if any at all.
Then again, since it has a head gasket issue, there might be water in it.
Guess I would have to check the oil level first.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to post the pics and all the comments. VERY interesting indeed.
My guess was way off: 70-80k miles on engine, with oil changes every 10-15k.