kiss4afrog
Newbie
Since someone was smart enough to ask the color I'd have to add that being black it's usually a normal build up over the years. If it was brown or creamy it's usually moisture from a bad PCV or the PCV breather system being clogged someplace so air can't circulate or a gasket leaking coolant into the engine.
The advice about leaving it alone may be valid. It's like flushing your transmission fluid when you're over 100K and have never done it before. You run the risk of screwing something up. Sometimes the grit in the fluid in a transmission is what's keeping it working. You remove that grit and put in fresh fluid that's nice and slippery and your clutches slip and your transmission burns out. Worked in fleet maintenance and saw this happen a lot with fleet drivers.
With an engine you definitely don't want the grit but it's the idea of doing something to cure what may or may not be a problem. I went against my own advice and flushed my new, used 250,000 mile cars transmission just because I couldn't stand the black and I mean BLACK fluid anymore. I pretty much expected a problem but (knock, knock) so far 16K it's holding up fine.
With your engine you may knock too much stuff loose and plug the pickup or filter but it's very, very rare that happens. People add flush chemicals all the time to clean up the insides of their engines and dealerships sell the service and tend to try to really push it on people who miss the 3k interval. I'm not sure how bad yours is but since it's working you could leave it alone or you could do one can of seafoam and DRIVE it that way for a while (read the can) as it's an oil additive. It's not that aggressive a cleaner or you could try something from a parts store and follow the directions on the container. From the transmission story you can tell I'm in favor of doing the maintenance and keeping it in the best condition I can. It's really your choice but if you follow the directions you should be able to clean up the insides of your engine without any problems. You could also take it to a dealer or independent shop and have them do it and that way they would be responsible. Your truck, your choice.
The advice about leaving it alone may be valid. It's like flushing your transmission fluid when you're over 100K and have never done it before. You run the risk of screwing something up. Sometimes the grit in the fluid in a transmission is what's keeping it working. You remove that grit and put in fresh fluid that's nice and slippery and your clutches slip and your transmission burns out. Worked in fleet maintenance and saw this happen a lot with fleet drivers.
With an engine you definitely don't want the grit but it's the idea of doing something to cure what may or may not be a problem. I went against my own advice and flushed my new, used 250,000 mile cars transmission just because I couldn't stand the black and I mean BLACK fluid anymore. I pretty much expected a problem but (knock, knock) so far 16K it's holding up fine.
With your engine you may knock too much stuff loose and plug the pickup or filter but it's very, very rare that happens. People add flush chemicals all the time to clean up the insides of their engines and dealerships sell the service and tend to try to really push it on people who miss the 3k interval. I'm not sure how bad yours is but since it's working you could leave it alone or you could do one can of seafoam and DRIVE it that way for a while (read the can) as it's an oil additive. It's not that aggressive a cleaner or you could try something from a parts store and follow the directions on the container. From the transmission story you can tell I'm in favor of doing the maintenance and keeping it in the best condition I can. It's really your choice but if you follow the directions you should be able to clean up the insides of your engine without any problems. You could also take it to a dealer or independent shop and have them do it and that way they would be responsible. Your truck, your choice.
), so I would say it's worth a shot.
