Hey everyone I've been busy and I've started pulling off parts from my jeep so I know what to replace out of curiosity I pulled the valve cover to see how much garbage was in there . Mind you the odometer reads 283k. I pull the valve cover and there's not one spec of sludge grease dryed oil nothing. Working on I6 diesels with 3000 plus hours on them there's is always some kind of nasty in them. My question is is this motor newer or has it just been well maintained? Because my dd has 130k and isn't nearly as clean. Thanks everyone. I plan on pulling a main and a rod cap tommorrow to see what everything looks like on te bottom end

 

Can't tell for sure but is there any oil up there?

 

Looks fine.

Mine has 254k and looks like that. I put the last 50k or so on myself, and I'm quite sure it's the original engine.

 

Well, since there's no such thing as "too clean" a valvetrain you may be overthinking this.

So long as everything is functioning the way it was designed to and all sounds normal, I'd just button it up and be thankful.

Pulled my cover @ 208,000 and I was very happy it was as clean as it is.

If/when you drop the oil pan, that's where you'll find build-up if there is any.

 

Fuel rail looks like a fire hazard, when it pops you'll be the first one to know.

 

Mine has 230k and looks like that. Looks good to me

 

If you're paranoid about it you can put cardboard dam around the rockers and run the engine at idle to watch oil flow to the rockers.


Still gets a little slop outside the cardboard though.


Install a new Felpro gasket (like in my pic).

 

Random question:
Is it just me or do all of the older (pre 97) valvetrains have a darker color to them than the newer (97-01) ones? Every pic i've seen the newer ones have a golden color to them, like yours CCKen

 

yea, I've noticed that too. . .

 

I'll have too do that what will it tell me? And there's is some oil up there

 

What do you mean by that looks pretty normal to just some surface rust?

 

It will only tell you that you are getting oil flow to the rockers. No magic tricks.

 

Could be that those rockers are new and so is the oil.

 

I was curious about this too? I noticed when I removed my Rocker Cover on my 97 that they were a Golden color rather than the darker Blacker color in the Pic at the bottom. Mine is original and has overheated numerous times so it goes against what I have experienced before.


Could it be the Metal they used in these different years? "Japanese Steel" is an old term we used to use for parts that were made from recycled metals and always had a Golden Hue on the finish.


Could there be a difference in the operating temp of the older Rockers and Valves compared to the newer ones causing a little more "Cooking" of the oil at a higher temp?


Could it be looser tolerances in the Valve guides or a different angle grind on the Valves causing more exhaust blow by and build up?


I am now intrigued about this difference.

 

I believe the dark coloration on internal engine parts is just varnish that's usually attributed to heat. Basically harmless.