I have been noticing a lot of crud around my valve covers for some time now i just keep wiping it off and it keeps coming back. So today I found an extra coil wire not going anywere, it was just connected to one of those clips on the valve cover bolt, i took it out and found at least 3 valve cover bolts that were loose (2 on the passenger side vc, and 1 on the drivers vc) theres problably more loose ones but i havent tightened them yet because i dont have the tools with me right now.

I keep my pcv valve cleaned, but I never cleaned the little hose that goes from the pcv valve to the side of the intake untill recently (it was almost completely clogged with carbon buildup) so I cleaned it out good and it fixed the sputtering! Its been over 1k miles and no sputtering yet.

I will tighten down the valve covers but eventually i will buy new gaskets and clean out the valve covers and the valves because i know for a fact that they are full of sludge build up.

 

Thanks for the heads up ill be checking that after work. The other day i was looking at and replacing some evap hoses and i noticed the pcv hose leading to the intake had some build up on it. Might take a look at that as well

 

I would recommend running some Seafoam through your engine. It'll give it a good cleaning.

 

do me a favor, dont claim sludge around these parts unless you have the valve covers off and pictures to back it up, because 90+% of the time sludge claims are BS

 

+1!

I can give you links to pics of our engines with 200,000+ miles on them and there clean as a whistle like the day they where born.

 

Agreed. Ive heard alot of people claiming but as long as you take care of everything (oil changes and filter) then there should be no sludge.

 

He’s talking about external build-up around the valve covers due to a leak.

 

Never experienced that before ive changed a gaskets on a few other vehicles and theres oil everywhere with no build up and some build up under the covers. As long as mine doesnt get leaky ill be okay

 

If you have a leak and drive in a dusty environment, you’ll get some heavy build-up pretty quick. ATF, oil, coolant... doesn't matter.

 

There was not carbon build up in your PCV valve hose, well maybe 1 percent if any. It is oil vapor, but yes you should ensure the hose is clean every time you replace your PCV valve which I would do every other oil change.