Changed oil 2000 miles ago and the oil is allready black. Yesteday I took the valve cover off to replace gaskets and noticed that the inside had black deposits all around. When I touch it i get something similar to fine sand on my finger. This is a '93 lx that has 217k on it and I don't feel like spending to much money on it but is there anything I can do to make it easier for my engine, maybe get some of that gunk out or change oil filter (and oil ofcorse). I'm new with fixing my own car and I could use a good advice.Thanks

 

SLUDGE!
There's some products for that, like BG-44K (I've heard good stuff, never used it myself, don't actually know the brand name...)

If you're comfortable taking off the VC, scrape out all you can. Remove oil pan & do the same down there. Then change oil at really short intervals for awhile.

 

Also, depending on how much you want to mess with it you can grab a couple of cans of sea foam and run that through, a bit in the gas, bit in the oil with change and bit in through the brake booster line (search the forum you'll find out how), then change the oil and change the filter with EVERY oil change and that should go a long way to help it.

 

, be very, very careful when scraping the sludge off from inside the valve cover( rocker arm assembly) if some of that sludge goes into the block it will block the oil pump pick up, thus block oil passages, thus starve engine for oil and ruin the rod--main bearings.......
otherwise do as Jim suggested, remove oil pan and then you can really clean it while pan is off,,

 

Best thing you can do is just drive it, and keep up the regular oil and filter changes.

Those deposits are not doing any harm, so leave them be.

 

Some might say this will kill your engine but I did it at about 90,000 and now have 260,000 so it didn't have any harmful effects. I put a can of motor flush in the oil and it really cleaned things out. You pour it in and let the engine idle for ten minutes then do an oil change. I think the stuff is just kerosene but the bottle only cost $3.99 so it was pretty cheap. What it does is loosen up all the goo and gets it out.

Worked for me.

 

The risk is that a big chunk of stuff comes loose & plugs up the oil pickup.

There is some expensive brand of flush additive, that works more slowly. Put it in the oil for a whole oil-change interval, so you drive 4000 miles with that stuff in there. Never used it, so can't give first-hand information...

 

Try adding a quart of Marvel Mystery oil (in with the rest of the oil already in your engine) about 1000 miles before your next oil change. You may have to drain a quart of old oil out first. That might help as well.
Or you could just put in 3&1/2 quarts of regular oil and 1 quart of Marvel in at the next oil change, drive it 1000 miles, then change the oil again.

 

I would try cleaning what you can out from under the valve cover then run valvoline oil in car ans change oil and filter and regular 3000 max mile intervals should clean up the inside of the engine

 

Thanks for your views on the matter. When changing the oil filter do I really need the special tool for that?