Fred,
I am curious to know what the grey stuff is too. Your guess of
composition sounds reasonable to me, though, plus, perhaps, some bearing
material that has worn away.
Nowadays we all use detergent oil and think nothing about our oil. Why
my father bought my TD, 1954, the detergent oils were new if not yet
invented. He stuck with non-detergents in later years, as the prevaling
wisdom was that one did not switch from non to detergent except at a
rebuild (very much like recent discussions of regular oil v synthetics).
In 1968 we had the sump off the engine. The deposit in the bottom of the
pan was just like the asphalt that one paves streets with. It was so hard
that we had to chip it out of the pan; gasoline and kerosine would not
soften it. The layer was at least 1/2 inch thick. The sump held another
pint of oil when put back on the car.
In April, '98, I had the sump off again. All that was present was a
slight accumulation of the grey stuff, fluid though very viscous, and it
rinsed out with kerosine and detergent. It's small wonder that our
engines run better today and last longer than they ever did when new.
That's progress that we accept without giving it much consideration.
Bob
On Tue, 5 Jan 1999 09:22:27 -0500 "Fred Pixley" <fpixley@kingston.net>
writes:
>Nina, I just finished scrubbing up my 77 Marina sump in the laundry
>tub. It
>is an 18V engine and, as Lawrie stated, is black. Surprisingly, it is
>gloss
>black on the inside also. Out of curiosity I checked my 71 BGT sump
>on the
>car which was maroon (don't know about the inside).
>
>Does anyone know what the gray pastey-like material is that deposits
>in the
>bottom of the sump? My guess is that it forms from condensation and
>oil,
>but I'm just curious.
>
>Fred Pixley
>Napanee, Ontario, Canada
>
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