I agree. Any sludge in there usually doesn't cause a problem until it's loosened or mixed with some miracle cure in a can. If it's freezing or colder, use 5w30 and the engine block heater. Your car will thank you.

 

Ive always thought of MMO as basically auto tranny fluid. Add that to an old engine and you will end up with a crankcase full of sludge and thick goop. It cleans out everything good bad and ugly too. We used to run atf fluid for about 10 minutes drain it and replace with Texaco Aircraft oil<synthetic> in the late 60s early 70s. Never did kill anything back then but 60s cars prob could run with sand in the crankcase

 

This is what I was also thinking, but I too also have had experience with additives and now wouldn't put them in an engine unless it was a beater on it's last legs and I was just trying stuff.

Lucas oil sabilzer is one that I would stay away from. When I blew a head gasket there was little bits of "jelly" under my intake and valve covers. Also go to the display and spin the little gear thingy as fast as you can and compare the amount of air in the Lucas treated oil to the untreated oil,,,,, many air bubbles,,,, spelling disaster for friction type bearings.

 

Several things here.
All 60* V6's are known to leak coolant from around the intake manifold gaskets. Some say its Dex-cool, but the problem existed prior to Dex-cool.
Anyway, I doubt this is your problem because it is very evident with the oil color.

Valovoline Max life is just Valvoline oil with seal conditioners in it. If your engine's seals aren't leaking, you don't need it. My wife's GA w/a 3400 is nearing 160k miles and I'm sure not going to use the crap. BTW, the lower intake manifold gaskets were changed around 120K miles due to the leak I mention above.

Could there have been a reaction between the Maxlife and MMO? Possible but not probable. You're jumping to conclusions just like the people I mention that blame Dexcool for their intake gasket failure.
Look at the facts. Its a 180K mile engine that obviosly had problems or your dad wouldn't have put MMO in it to loosen up a lifter. Correct?
It probably had more than one problem if it had a sticking lifter. The cause of the engine freezing was more likely the high milage oil pump failing that caused the engine to over heat thus baking the oil into the syrupy mixture you describe. Ever see oil that got hot but not burned? It gets like this because all the lighter components evaporate leaving the heavier syrup.

Wow, organic chemistry just came in handy.

 

A sample of the oil was sent to be analyzed and should be back before long.
I have done my share of work on cars and I've done some work in chemistry, and I don't think the Marvel freeing gunk that was already in the engine explanation was the cause. It might still be the cause, but I don't like a couple of the replies above carrying a tone like I have no idea what I'm doing. No one can say for sure that all the oil was thickened due to the Marvel freeing gunk in an old engine.
The oil pump did fail, but it failed because it was trying to pump 5 quarts of pudding.
In my opinion it would take an amount of crud that no one will ever see in an engine that's had regular oil changes, or even a semblance of regular changes, to thicken all the oil so that none of it will come out of the drain hole without prodding by a screw driver. I think it was a chemical reaction of something in the Marvel with something in the oil that caused it all to thicken. "I THINK" is what I say when I don't know something for sure.
We will see, I'll post what we find out.

 

What I think happened what that with 180k miles on the engine previous oil was acting as a gasket of some sorts and the "mystery" stuff loosened it up.

Just like with adding seafoam change the oil within ~300 miles and put in a fresh batch.

 

I have always used MMO as a lubricant in the fuel system. To protect it from the toulene I add to every tank fuel. It seems the toulene can eat the rubber components in the fuel system.

By the way those 3.1's are crap. I have swapped two for customers before. On one the crank was locked up. On the other the crank wasn't locked but both heads were cracked.

 

Okay, the results are back and they are bogus. My dad said the lab told him there was coolant in the oil. He said yea there was a little but coolant obviously wasn't the problem. Said he's seen hundreds of coolant leaks and it wasn't coolant that did this to the oil.
So, we can only guess. Two possibilities by consensus:
Mystery oil freeing sludge (very unlikely in my opinion, and my dad's opinion)
or, a chemical reaction between Marvel, oil, and a little coolant.
Actually I suppose a test could be done with those fluids. Put them in a metal bowl and put it through numerous heating cycles to simulate what happens in an engine. I'll probably never get around to it but it could be done.

 

yes the results from a lab are bogus. You're absolutely correct, the lab lied to you. Obviously coolant in the oil caused this along with all the sludge which was freed up.

 

i used that GUNK engine cleaner at autozone on my 93 nissan maxima (172k) ran it for 10 minutes idle and changed the oil question does that gunk engine cleaner actualy work? I know MMO actauly does something

 

Or, like it or not, my theory is still very viable.

 

Never run an engine cleaner in anything you own. Most cleaners are very acidic and weaken gaskets/seals.

 

just a quick question. Did that car ever use Pennzoil for the motor oil? If so that's a likely cause with MMO breaking up the sludge creating problems as others have suggested.

I've done 6 tests on different vehicles I've owned over the course of 5 years testing pennzoil products vs Valvoline and additives... Motors tore down after 60k miles and 145k miles. Pennzoil products ALWAYS had an obscene amount of sludge in the motor compared to valvoline or valvoline/lucas or even pennzoil/lucas. I've been working on this in my construction company for quite a bit of time (lots of driving) and found that I'll never use Pennzoil products in any vehicle that is not a test. I've always found large sludge deposits in all of my trucks running pennzoil. Lucas/Valvo vehicles have always shown the least amount of bearing wear and low sludge deposits.

BTW I always use fairly controlled situations such as normal maint, same vehicle for each set of tests, and even swapping out drivers between vehicles every few weeks. My employees do a monthly report on the vehicles and how they feel that one is performing... once in 5 years has anyone ever said the pennzoil vehicle is performing better then the valvo one.

Anyway... I ask because Pennzoil is not extremely resistant to cold weather by my business tests. Perhaps it's the refining or an additive they use from factory? Maybe it's a matter of my tests being flawed but... if you're using pennzoil I wouldn't rule out anything. MMO is a wonderful product. My family has used it many years and had no problems. I do however believe in 1 year when I buy new trucks for company I'll test MMO vs lucas and use it in intervals. Perhaps weigh up each in 2 types of oils even...

 

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That's interesting information Mountain_Man. I think Pennzoil might have been used at some point in that car. I never said it was impossible that the problem was sludge being freed by the Marvel, just extremely unlikely in my mind. (Again, we're talking about five quarts of pudding, it would take a ridiculous amount of sludge to do that.) I still think that wasn't the cause, but your information about Pennzoil makes it a little more likely.

 

simply trying to give any info I can. I've read forums here for a long time but never joined. Now that I actually own a Z28 again I figured I could use some info provided here.

Buildup in motors can cause strange things. It still wouldn't shock me if it was caused by a bit of coolant in the oil mixed with MMO. Strange deal there if you ask me. Very strange...