I want to start by saying this is not a paid ad, I'm not trolling, I've been on this forum for a while and this is just to show my amazement.


1999 2500 was a DD then I just use it for tasking. I bought it with 6k and factory oil in it. I immediately switched it to "a"(not advertising so not mentioning brand) synthetic oil with a remote mounted full flow and bypass filter. I change the oil and filters annually regardless of miles. It's got low miles, 120k for the first 10 years and ~50k since then.
Last week my radiator tank cracked so I bought a new one and went about replacing it on Saturday. Since I was already dinking around the engine compartment I figured I'd take off the the intake gooseneck and valve cover to wire brush off the corrosion and yellowed lacquer. First time ever removing the cover.
When I pulled the cover I was gobsmacked. It looked like a brand new engine, My YJ with less miles (90% PO driven) was totally varnished and had big chunks of yuck. This was pristine.
Here are the picks with it off and the quicky polish and paint job after.

I contemplated snapping the valves but I needed it this week and didn't want to risk me rushing and screwing it up. This fall I'll pull the cover again and see how much adjusting the valves need.


Clear lacquer and attempting to highlight in red like OEM.

21 years old, first time the cover has been off.
.

 

That is a clean one...Proof positive that quality maintenance pays dividends......Ben

 

Yep.....take of her, she will take care of you

 

Had a buddy with a 440 in his motorhome that had a marvel mystery oil injector on it. The original owner swore by it. When he pulled the valve covers around 100K miles to fix the oil leak the valvetrain looked like yours. Something to good maintenance practices. I'm gonna adjust my valves soon. I hope she looks that good!

 

VADSLRAM your title should have been more appropriately "CHANGING the oil matters".....because it has nothing to do with what oil type or brand of oil you put in there but rather you cared for your vehicle by using the correct oil and actually changed it regularly. Unbeknownst to a surprising number of people who believe otherwise...oil does NOT go bad. It will literally last forever as long as its not oxidized or contaminated. Oil can sit in your engine for years and still be good. What does go bad is the additives can evaporate through use and the viscosity polymers can sheer lessening the range.

Its the people who never change their engine oil when they should and continue to drive their vehicle hard and abusively. Those are the ones you see pictures of their engines full of crap, sludge, and contaminates.
Any old timer will tell you that if you change the fluids in your vehicle regularly then it will likely run forever.

All that said, the valvetrain on these engines is a low pressure, low strain, mechanism which doesnt ask much from the oil. There's so little oil flow up there that you can idle the engine with the valve cover off and oil will not spill out.