sludge in my intake

[Beef52751]

I took off my intake tube and there was a black/brown sludge in the throttle body. It kinda looked like oil but thicker.. what is it??? where did it come from??? and how do i fix it????
Thanks
Beef

 

[inferno94]

Probably crap from your pcv system.

I work in a garage and you'd be surprised how often when my boss shows then said sludge the shell out for a $60 "fuel system cleaning" which does nothing to the sludge.

The best prevention is an oil catch can, its mounted in the line going back to the intake mani/intake tube from the pcv. It catches this oil and prevents the sludge but it must be emptied.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

sludge makes its way into the intake one of 2 ways:

either a neglected/malfunctioned PCV system allowing excessive pressure to build inside the crank case, which then blows oil and crap into the intake through the crankcase vent, or..

excessive blow by caused by worn rings/cylinders, which overwhelms the PCV system and blows oil into the intake through the crankcase vent.

either way, the best way to prevent this sludge from forming is to identify and properly repair the cause...not by adding ghetto-fab canisters to the crank vent.

 

[Beef52751]

so...do a compression check to check rings??? the PCV valves is brand new but it might have gotten in before i changed it, i never checked.
Thanks
Beef

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

what brand is the PCV valve? aftermarket parts companies have a really bad track record of not properly metering their PCV valves..they like to be lazy and sell a "one size fits all" sort of deal, and in doing so people end up getting valves that dont flow enough or flow too much..and it causes problems. PCV valves are one of the few parts of which i will only run motorcraft.

if the valve really is ok, then a compression test is next. both a wet AND dry test are needed to check ring health, so have a can of light oil handy.

 

[inferno94]

sludge makes its way into the intake one of 2 ways:

either a neglected/malfunctioned PCV system allowing excessive pressure to build inside the crank case, which then blows oil and crap into the intake through the crankcase vent, or..

excessive blow by caused by worn rings/cylinders, which overwhelms the PCV system and blows oil into the intake through the crankcase vent.

either way, the best way to prevent this sludge from forming is to identify and properly repair the cause...not by adding ghetto-fab canisters to the crank vent.

It's funny that every vehicle over 20000km that I've ever checked has this sludge to one degree or another, possibly every vehicle has had one of your listed problems? This would include my new truck (yes I know about blow by in new motors).

It's more likely that the air inside the valve cover is oily and has oil droplets flying around in it. When said air goes through the pvc valve (some is left there and is the reason they eventually clog) into the tube and into the intake mani some of the oil drops out and forms sludge along their way to the cylinder. Intake valves can have this stuff caked on them on high mile motors.

If the sludge is excessive then yes I'd say there is a bigger problem (my moms car had a defective egr causing weird pressure issues and lead to massive sludging).

Catch cans are used in many pneumatic systems to remove liquids so why is it a ghetto fix to use one for its intended purpose to improve the function of an existing system?

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

Catch cans are used in many pneumatic systems to remove liquids so why is it a ghetto fix to use one for its intended purpose to improve the function of an existing system?

because if they were necissary, ford would have installed them from the factory.

if you'd like, i can take some photos of the intake tubes on my 135,000 mile ranger, 240,000 mile escort, and 125,000 mile escort....all of which are clean inside because the engines are functioning properly.

 

[betomonroy]

The most common thing that creates this situation is a dirty throtle body and this can happen to any vehicule even under thirty thousand miles on the odometer.
You see as soon as you turn off your motor any oil steam left inside the throtle body start to build up the sludge behind the throtle valve. Once it's built up enough to start clugging the throtle valve your engine generates A LOT MORE vaccum to the PCV valve under idle. Therefor the engine start to build up more sludge into the intake manifold/the rest of it.
Just by giving Your engine's throtle body periodical clean ups You will help a great deal to your vehicules performance.
Oh... and trust me... MPG count by doing this.