Strange Gray sludge.......(large pictures)

[Blindsey]

I drained my oil tonight to find my oil had a strange gray sludge in it. The oil has less than 30 miles on it. The oil all looks great except the gray areas in it.
The best way to describe the color is it's the color of clay......Recent changes have been the headgasket was changed, the turbo previous to the current turbo was destroyed and cams have been installed.

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[silver bullit]

What does it smell like?

Got a glitter look to it?

Better pics, that are nore clear...

 

[Blindsey]

Smells like oil. I checked the rods a little back and forth play.......No up and down.

 

[96mitsugsx]

What kind of head gasket did you use? That might be coolant.

 

[Blindsey]

It is not coolant. Coolant doesn't line the entire pan with gray sludge.

 

[sbiggi]

Just looks like moisture from not getting the oil hot enough to burn it off. That can happen if you make real short trips and the oil doesnt get hot enough.

 

[freshlane]

Just looks like moisture from not getting the oil hot enough to burn it off. That can happen if you make real short trips and the oil doesnt get hot enough.

I'm going to agree with the above. You have not driven it long enough to judge it yet. Did you use any time of prelube when you assembled the motor?

 

[mach4g63t]

When water and oil mix together and blend completely it will look like a greyish brown chocolate milk. That's probably what it is.

 

[Freerevving]

Do I see gold flakes?

Bearing failure?

 

[96mitsugsx]

When water and oil mix together and blend completely it will look like a greyish brown chocolate milk. That's probably what it is.

That's what I was trying to say to Blindsey. But he doesn't think it's coolant.

 

[RayH]

Could be condensation of moisture in blow by which gets worse if you've got worn rings and a disconnected PCV valve.

 

[No_Skillz]

Looks like coolant to me. Check your radiator cap/overflow bottle for oil.

 

[delta448]

Did you use assembly lube when you installed the cams? It could be the result of mixing oil and assembly lube, possibly with a bit of coolant too.

If it's not metallic I would just do a couple of oil changes the next 100-200 miles and see if it goes away. I wouldn't be concerned until you either have some sort of engine problems or if it still looks like that after about 500 miles and 3-4 oil changes.

The sludge is probably lube that was picked up by the oil pump and filtered with the oil, the chunks are probably lube that hasn't made it through the filter yet.

 

[MY1GDSM]

My first Q to you is Why where you draining your oil after 30 miles?
Did you have something going on that prompted you drain it?
2nd Where you lossing Coolant? because if you were not or have not lost any, I would have to say (even tho you said it smells just like OIL) that it could be fuel ... When I cracked a ring land last year that is what my oil looked like
Do a leak down test that should give you a bettere Idea of what is going On..

Do you have a closer/Better pic of the fist one?
That looks like metal in the pic
Fuel Can do just as much damage as Water
Anyone ever use gas to clean there Intercooler It WORKS GREAT...Buy buy OIL....

 

[Blindsey]

The reason the oil was drained was on of the bolt holes for the return line was stripped. I know for a fact it's not water. Something tells me it is just a bunch of RTV. The oil pan and valve cover had no time to set before I started it last. There was a little bit of metal in the pan, probably from the turbo taking a hike.
I am going to do a compression test tomorrow. I used a Felpro copper coated gasket.With ARPs. No oil in the coolant either.....

 

[crimsondragon]

Is it thick or runny? I've never heard of coolant mixing with oil turning into thick sludge.

 

[MY1GDSM]

The reason the oil was drained was on of the bolt holes for the return line was stripped. I know for a fact it's not water. Something tells me it is just a bunch of RTV. The oil pan and valve cover had no time to set before I started it last. There was a little bit of metal in the pan, probably from the turbo taking a hike.
I am going to do a compression test tomorrow. I used a Felpro copper coated gasket.With ARPs. No oil in the coolant either.....

RTV would Cure... Don't think thats It
How do you know its not Water??? you mean Coolant right? you did'nt say if you lost any or not....
I HIGHLY doubt that The metel you are seein' is From the Turbo... More likely its from the Water or fuel that is mixing with your oil not letting it lub the bearings...also Copper spray will tack up very quick and not let the H/g do its job right if the head is not installed quickly... or if to much is used....


Also Your gonna put the oil pan back on put oil back into it just to do a Comp. test? it would be alot easyr' just to do a leak down test............

Just my .02....

 

[fhudsonjr]

I've seen that before. It's coolant churned, mixed and shaken ( not stirred) with oil.
Check that head gacket.

 

[Blindsey]

I'm positive the head gasket is fine! We will see though. When I say I think it is turbo parts i'm almost positive. The turbo was DESTROYED! you can move the wheel up and down almost half an inch......

 

[MY1GDSM]

You had the head off ... Was there any damage to the pistons???
Was the comp. Wheel damaged??? Maybe you blew some parts into the Motor, There is a chance that the metel your seeing is from the Turbo I just Highly Doubt it... If your oil looks that bad after 30 miles the This maybe a Problem bigger then you relized When you Starting Fixing it...
Why did you have to Replace the Head gasket?
Did you Have the head surfaced?
What made you use Copper Spray On a Felpro h/g?

I've Seen Many times on here people Say it not a bad headgasket/rings/bent Valves over and over Before they do A comp. or leakdown test only to find out when they finely did one that was the Prob. to begin with Mean while wasting time tryin to Fixing other things

It may not me the H/g, could be other places that coolant could get into the oil Cracked head/Block oil cooler Ect... the H/g is just the most likely one

One last thing to remember just because you have Compretion Does NOT mean that your Head gasket is not leaking between the Oil/coolent Passages

 

[blcknspo0ln]

My oil looked exactly the same color when I did my last rebuild, but it was not as thick as those pictures look. The fellows are correct, though, you cannot expect an accurate assumption based on oil that has oil been run 30 miles. I'm not saying all is well, but there is a strong chance that it is just from stuff that you used during your rebuild.

To check for foreign contaminants, cut your oil filter open and see if there is any material in there.

 

[groundPork]

coolant's my thought too. pics aren't clear enough, but if you think about it... what else in your engine aside from air when whipped with engine oil would cause milk shake like that. not as bad as my transfer case, but the swirly, light colored, emulsions are kind of a give away...

 

[Blindsey]

You had the head off ... Was there any damage to the pistons???
Was the comp. Wheel damaged??? Maybe you blew some parts into the Motor, There is a chance that the metel your seeing is from the Turbo I just Highly Doubt it... If your oil looks that bad after 30 miles the This maybe a Problem bigger then you relized When you Starting Fixing it...
Why did you have to Replace the Head gasket?
Did you Have the head surfaced?
What made you use Copper Spray On a Felpro h/g?

I've Seen Many times on here people Say it not a bad headgasket/rings/bent Valves over and over Before they do A comp. or leakdown test only to find out when they finely did one that was the Prob. to begin with Mean while wasting time tryin to Fixing other things

It may not me the H/g, could be other places that coolant could get into the oil Cracked head/Block oil cooler Ect... the H/g is just the most likely one

One last thing to remember just because you have Compretion Does NOT mean that your Head gasket is not leaking between the Oil/coolent Passages

I used a felpro and coated it with copper for back up. I resurfaced the head. Valves are new. I ran a 13.2 on a busted valve. I know what oil looks like mixed with water. it def isnt water........

 

[MY1GDSM]

Just do a leak down test and we can go from there.....

Also Its last time I checked not the best thing to RUN your can with a busted valve does'nt mean nothing is going to go wrong down the road

Hell this keeped Runing When the Valve snapped off
Damb Turbo timer keep'd it running

 

[16g-2ndgen]

that looks like the bearings are trying to fail to me but it could be different, but im 99.99 percent sure thats metal contaminating your oil. you can see the metal particals in the oil mixture. the first looks like assembly lube floating in there. do what blknspool said, cut the filter open and look what you find.