Grey Sludge
Grey Sludge
Other day I pull the dipstick to find grey thick sludge covering the top portion right up to the rubber seal.
So I pull off the oil fill cap and see more thick grey sludge coating the neck and further down. as well as water droplets.. The hose from filler neck to air breather was also full of grey sludge and water.
What I don't have is any other tell tale signs such as white smoke or the sweet smell of burning coolant..
Car runs and drives fine (other than a slipping clutch) and only smoke I have is the nice light blue from running a premixed car..
Now I only picked this car up a week ago so don't know much about it (I have previously owned 6 rx-7's)
So, what the hell?
So I pull off the oil fill cap and see more thick grey sludge coating the neck and further down. as well as water droplets.. The hose from filler neck to air breather was also full of grey sludge and water.
What I don't have is any other tell tale signs such as white smoke or the sweet smell of burning coolant..
Car runs and drives fine (other than a slipping clutch) and only smoke I have is the nice light blue from running a premixed car..
Now I only picked this car up a week ago so don't know much about it (I have previously owned 6 rx-7's)
So, what the hell?
The purge valve may not be hooked up or functioning properly so that water vapors aren't being drawn out of the engine when it heats ups.
Check to see if all three tubes to the purge valve are hooked up properly and not leaking.
If they're OK you may want to take the purge valve out and test it - you should be able to blow into the tubes, with one serving as a pressure valve to open flow to the other two.
If not clean it out with warm soaping water, rinse really well, blow out the residual water and recheck - they usually come back to life.
When the purge valve is functioning properly it will draw water vapor and other nasty vapors out of the engine and send them to the base of the carb to be combusted.
Good for your engine, good for the environment.
Check to see if all three tubes to the purge valve are hooked up properly and not leaking.
If they're OK you may want to take the purge valve out and test it - you should be able to blow into the tubes, with one serving as a pressure valve to open flow to the other two.
If not clean it out with warm soaping water, rinse really well, blow out the residual water and recheck - they usually come back to life.
When the purge valve is functioning properly it will draw water vapor and other nasty vapors out of the engine and send them to the base of the carb to be combusted.
Good for your engine, good for the environment.
The purge valve may not be hooked up or functioning properly so that water vapors aren't being drawn out of the engine when it heats ups.
Check to see if all three tubes to the purge valve are hooked up properly and not leaking.
If they're OK you may want to take the purge valve out and test it - you should be able to blow into the tubes, with one serving as a pressure valve to open flow to the other two.
If not clean it out with warm soaping water, rinse really well, blow out the residual water and recheck - they usually come back to life.
When the purge valve is functioning properly it will draw water vapor and other nasty vapors out of the engine and send them to the base of the carb to be combusted.
Good for your engine, good for the environment.
Check to see if all three tubes to the purge valve are hooked up properly and not leaking.
If they're OK you may want to take the purge valve out and test it - you should be able to blow into the tubes, with one serving as a pressure valve to open flow to the other two.
If not clean it out with warm soaping water, rinse really well, blow out the residual water and recheck - they usually come back to life.
When the purge valve is functioning properly it will draw water vapor and other nasty vapors out of the engine and send them to the base of the carb to be combusted.
Good for your engine, good for the environment.
That's very helpful information, thank you!
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Never heard that before, but it's an interesting theory.. The car was only driven for 1 day in 6 months before I picked it up...
Last summer I bought a brand new Ariens MaxZoom zero turn mower, less than an hour on the clock and that was from moving it around the showroom. Fantastic machine, professional grade, 48" cut with the 24 horse Kawasaki V twin engine.
When I checked the oil fresh out of the crate, it had the lung butter on the dip stick and the oil was milky.
Needless to say, I was concerned. But like J9 says, this is normal if an engine hasn't been run long enough to heat up and vaporize the water vapor. Two hours on the mower and the lung butter was gone for good.
I'd do a general check for vacuum leaks and take a good look at the purge valve, but chances are this is one of those problems that will fix itself. If not, take a closer look at the purge valve.
When I checked the oil fresh out of the crate, it had the lung butter on the dip stick and the oil was milky.
Needless to say, I was concerned. But like J9 says, this is normal if an engine hasn't been run long enough to heat up and vaporize the water vapor. Two hours on the mower and the lung butter was gone for good.
I'd do a general check for vacuum leaks and take a good look at the purge valve, but chances are this is one of those problems that will fix itself. If not, take a closer look at the purge valve.
rotary!!
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 145
Likes: 0
From: The Netherlands
Have the same issue with my daily driver (piston engine) and especialy in cold conditions. Every once in a while i have to drive about 200 kilometers on the highway and the engine is clean again. In the summertime where the engine heats up more i have no trouble with it.
