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Technical What is the Silver stuff in my valley?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by BJR, Aug 2, 2020.

  1. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 9,818

    BJR
    Member

    Did the head gaskets on my 472 Cad. It was running fine with no unusual sounds, just white smoke at start up. So that's why I changed the head gaskets, and replaced the valve seals as the original ones were trashed. When I started cleaning what little sludge was in the valley, when I wiped it with a rag there was this silver paste about like antiseize compound. It was not magnetic and didn't look like metal shavings. Any Idea of what it was? Show Cad valley.jpg s up as the white stuff in the photo, but it is really bright silver, like silver paint. Original stock 100,000 mile engine.
     
  2. scrappybunch
    Joined: Nov 16, 2011
    Posts: 412

    scrappybunch
    Member
    from nj

    Oil additives from the 70's would be my guess. I recall seeing the same goo way back in the day.
     
  3. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    I was going to say the same thing, cheap oil or oil additive.
     
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  4. I forget the name of it but it was an additive that had ground up powdered aluminum and was supposed to "reline your worn cylinder walls." It was a gimmick and went off the market after a few years that was supposed to prevent having to do a ring and valve job otherwise known as a costly rebuild.
     
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  5. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,942

    squirrel
    Member

    this stuff? JC Whitney, 1972

    overhaul.jpg
     
  6. Man, they sure were proud of that stuff! I just looked it up, $4.95 in 1972 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $30.53 in 2020. :eek:
     
  7. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,757

    Deuces

    Slick-50 when it had those little BB's mixed in with the oil....
     
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  8. harpo1313
    Joined: Jan 4, 2008
    Posts: 2,584

    harpo1313
    Member
    from wareham,ma

    Restore is another culprit.
     
  9. Engine Honey.... motor overhaul in a bottle.
     
  10. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I was thinking Havoline oil from that time frame. If it were me I'd pull the pan and clean it out too.
     
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  11. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    I have seen cheap off brand motor oil sold in discount stores that had the same kind of gray sludge in the bottom of the bottle. I figured it was the usual chemical additives, but in a cheap coarse form that settled out of the oil. They could say their oil met certain standards on the label but the additives didn't do anything. I knew a guy who bought nothing but that cheap oil, he figured it was ok because he changed his oil every 2000 miles but he wore out a motor every 2 or 3 years.
     
    stillrunners likes this.
  12. Fortunateson
    Joined: Apr 30, 2012
    Posts: 5,331

    Fortunateson
    Member

    I thought it was "How Green is my Valley"!
     
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  13. Flat Roy
    Joined: Nov 23, 2007
    Posts: 533

    Flat Roy
    Member

    probably Teflon beads.
     
    Deuces likes this.
  14. Gman0046
    Joined: Jul 24, 2005
    Posts: 6,256

    Gman0046
    Member

    Someone I knew back in the day had a 365 Caddilac in a 56 Ford. The motor was completely ragged out with no oil pressure. To sell the car he filled the crankcase with Motor Honey. What a dirt bag.
     
  15. BLACKNRED
    Joined: May 8, 2010
    Posts: 366

    BLACKNRED
    Member

    Back when I was a boy, had a 283 SBC, my first V8, it was a little fumey when I got it and had some small oil usage, bought some stuff called Tefcote, in the late 70's it was around the $45.00 mark for a quart. Overall it sort of worked but whether it was worth it for the problems was doubtful.
    The upside, I drove the car for another 18 months before I could afford to rebuild the engine, here was the surprise, the entire internal surfaces of the old 283 were entirely coated in teflon so much so it was very noticeable, when you poured oil on the inside of the block it ran considerably quicker down the casting. So in the end the $45.00 was well worth it.
     
    alanp561 likes this.
  16. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 9,818

    BJR
    Member

    Thanks for all the replies, I changed the oil pan to a rear sump Eldorado pan when I put the engine in my 49 Buick, so that was cleaned years ago.
     
  17. I've seen it before, but not so much like yours. You definitely run into weird shit when you pop an engine apart.
     
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  18. stubbsrodandcustom
    Joined: Dec 28, 2010
    Posts: 2,273

    stubbsrodandcustom
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Spring tx

    Looks exactly like that RESTORE stuff in a can, seen it a few times.
     
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  19. papajohn
    Joined: Nov 2, 2006
    Posts: 896

    papajohn
    Member

    Chevy used to sell (maybe still do) an engine break in lube that I seem to recall being silver.
     
    BJR likes this.
  20. Yes Sir that is it. I bought an old Ford pick up years ago that the guy swore by that stuff. You put the pills in the gas tank to save you gas. Every time you went around a turn you would hear "nuts" like the kind you bolt things with not eat rolling from side to side in the tank behind the seat. Occasionally it would "run out of gas" even with a full tank. It was those little pills plugging the pick up tube in the tank. Leave it sit and start back up and go. That was how they saved you gas.o_O I never did tear that engine down to see what was in it. I sold it on years ago and it disappeared.
     
  21. Automotive Stud
    Joined: Sep 26, 2004
    Posts: 4,304

    Automotive Stud
    Member

    I have a 331 that looked like that. Turned out it had a broken piston skirt. I assume the chunk was churned up by the crank and spit through the whole thing. Wound up having to rebuild it.
     
  22. How about a mixture of bearing material and zinc from the additives once commonly found in older oil blends?
    o_O
     
  23. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,713

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    I thought Caddy was supposed to be the gold standard? Looks like they cheaped out and went with silver on this one....
     
    BJR likes this.
  24. 56sedandelivery
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 6,695

    56sedandelivery
    Member Emeritus

    I thought that with the J.C. Whitney, engine-rebuild-in-a-box, the pills/pellets were put into the cylinders through the spark plug hole? Maybe it was another, similar product? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
     
    warhorseracing likes this.
  25. Some went into the cylinders through the spark plug hole and the remainder went in the gas tank Butch. I never used them but remember reading about them and thought that if a rebuild was that easy then why did we need machine shops and engine rebuilders. Apparently some people believed it and spent their money.Probably until they sold out and made their producing and advertising money back anyway.
     
  26. blowby
    Joined: Dec 27, 2012
    Posts: 8,661

    blowby
    Member
    from Nicasio Ca

    I tried it in a worn 283 when I was a teenager. All I remember is it fouled the spark plugs and didn't help the oil burning.
     
    warhorseracing likes this.
  27. Knowing what we know now we can see why. Teenagers are gullible and that is sad to say where they probably made their money at. I know I worked hard as a kid started pumping gas at the local Texaco after school. Mowing grass through the Summer, cleaning out basements and garages, shovelling snow in the winter. Didn't make much money but learned alot. I never did try it but looked at the ads in the monthly J.C.Whitney catalog and dreaming about all of the shiney chrome and fast fixes for whatever problem your car had.
     
    kadillackid likes this.
  28. aircap
    Joined: Mar 10, 2011
    Posts: 1,748

    aircap
    Member

    My little brother was forever and amen buying some wretched non-running POC trying to make a buck on them by getting them running. He had an 80's Caddy that would not respond to his efforts. It would start, but didn't have enough power to pull itself along even at a crawl. He bought some of those pills that went in the spark plug hole, and followed the instructions. I'll be damned if he didn't have it going like a house afire in a couple days, running great. He sold it to a guy he worked with, and about 6 months later it was wrung out and tired again. The buyer complained, and brother gave him some of the pills to get it going (so he could sell it). I looked at them once, and they reminded me of balls of rosin.
     
  29. 56sedandelivery
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 6,695

    56sedandelivery
    Member Emeritus

    The State Fairs here in Washington always have some hacksters selling a device that goes into the coil plug-in on the distributor cap. They even have a six cylinder Chevrolet engine that they pull ALL the spark plug wires off the plugs, and the engine keeps running, used to demonstrate how effective their product is. Truly amazing (?????). A real gimmick, and just like the engine-rebuild-in-a-box, nothing more than a gimmick. My neighbor bought two of them, and had to show me, and tell me all about the engine that ran without spark plug wires. Course I tried pointing things out to him, and even told him the engine had a hidden "second set of plug wires". He would't believe me. Finally, I asked him why none of the auto makers were using the "technology"? I might have said something about gullible people keep these guys in business, as he left in a huff. Anyone else got any of these gimmicks that are used to separate guys from their money, and that's about all they do?
    I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
     
    kadillackid likes this.
  30. Pretty much anything produced by American automakers in the 80's would qualify.
     

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