Dirty Thick Oil

[William Sario]

Dirty Oil , I am putting back together a basket case 2011 Ram 2500 Cummins. The kid took it to the shop with I think was a head gasket issue (211,000 miles). He took it to the dealer and they took it all apart - very badly. Then told him he needs a new engine or they will fix it without any warranty. They claimed the no 6 cylinder had a score... Anyway, I got the truck brought it home - no score with a lot of damage from dismantle.
I drained the oil and it barley would come out, looks like syrup. No signs of water.

Any ideas why it is so thick?

 

[smiley]

My guess is they had head gasket issues then added something like blue devil? Maybe not but I know people who don’t know how to fix things often panic and buy a fix in a bottle.

 

[Dennis Shellito]

I had a friend that was a mechanic and an older woman brought her Olds into the shop where he worked for oil change service. When he pulled the drain plug only 1 drop of oil came out, and the rest had to be scraped out of the pan while it was off the engine. Her husband had died and she knew nothing about car maintenance. He reinstalled the oil pan, filled it with good oil and fired it up. It ran like a top. Having told this story I suspect the crankcase oil has been in that Cummins engine for a very long time.