valve cover

[fishwater]

just removed the valve cover (and gasket) on my '96 with 186k. luckily was able to get that broken cover bolt out that i broke a few weeks ago... https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=143381&highlight=broke+nut
here are some pictures of what the cover, etc look like. having done this for the first time, i just wanted to get some input on how things look under there. other than the leaking gasket and a VSV that i'm replacing now, i'm not having any issues (unless there's something in the pictures!!)

 

[NaterGator]

Here is what I saw when I got mine off...

 

[fishwater]

few more

 

[fishwater]

nate,
how did you clean the inside of the cover? not sure what would be best to use in there. thanks.
-blumer

 

[NaterGator]

Blumer,
I didn't! I just left it alone and put it back on and changed the filter (was at 3k mi on syn anyways) and ran the oil for another 2k miles. I've been running synthetics since I bought the truck, but I'm not sure about the prev owners. Anyways, that was at about 108k miles... but I felt the sludge buildup was acceptable for the age of the truck, and not really harming anything.

 

[fishwater]

gotcha. i was wondering about whether to mess with cleaning it or not. thanks!

 

[Lka1988]

gotcha. i was wondering about whether to mess with cleaning it or not. thanks!

You already have it off, may as well, right?

...Which reminds me, I probably need to replace the valve cover gasket on the old tractor motor ...there's a nice coating of old oil down the entire side of the block.