Eeeeeeeewwww! Sludge! Gotta be coolant getting into the oil somewhere, pop the head off and look at the head gasket.

 

Here is the head gasket flipped over so you can see the blown seals around the cylinder sleeves. Don't see any visible cracks throughout the liners.


And the block with gasket removed.


Cylinder 4 was by far the worst. Head gasket was blown out around half the cylinder.

 

Cause found for the sludge and timing chain

 

Yes, I'd say so. Now that I've completed the diagnosis I can either rebuild it or part it off and send the block to scrap.

 

Any bent valves? Or marks on the pistons from the valves?

 

Haven't torn down the head yet. Nothing bent I can see, and no scoring or contact on the pistons.

I also found cracks throughout the turbo and manifolds, probably from excessive heat/lack of maintenance. There was oil from the turbo all throughout the intake and exhaust systems.

 

Just a FYI. Hairline cracks inside the turbo are considered normal by GM. I read a few articles about this.
Seems that every time the techs would tear into a turbo, they would find those cracks and replace the turbo.
The GM folks did a little digging and found that just about all the LNF turbos would have those cracks after a few thousand miles. Guess they just considered it the norm since it didn't seem to affect the turbos performance.

Now, if it has some big, huge cracks inside, then your's may be done.

 

Good to know. No major cracks. Just hairlines where the pieces mate up. It looks like I'll have a rebuildable engine. I don't need it but I'm sure there's someone who does.

 

My order from ZZP just arrived. I've got a few issues and probably a bunch of questions. But for now, the good stuff.











Fingers crossed I added these right. I'll get to the other boxes shortly.

 

Nice detail work on the painting so far!