[mfoley412]

Wondering if this is normal or indication of something, the drivers side were all the gold color. Any thoughts?

 

[Hertz]

From what I remember mine looked similar. The drivers side looked brand new.

 

[gliznass]

Did you steal my photo?

My 2004 Desert Runner had the same issue. I replaced the valve cover gaskets at about 130,000mi and was taken back a little when I saw the rear passenger side buildup. There are other posts of people having the same issue on CF. I had babied that truck since I bought it with 24k miles. Changed the oil every 5k/6k miles with Valvoline synthetic and didn't drive it super hard. IIRC the consensus on other posts was it isn't a big deal and is related to the oil not getting pumped/moved into that area so it gets a bit of build up. Someone will chime in if I'm wrong I hope.

 

[mfoley412]

Well at least I'm not the only one, haha.

 

[srpotter]

Here is a pic of mine for reference, seems normal to me.

Sent from my Typewriter using Tapatalk

 

[Hertz]

Well I guess when the whole system only has 3.5 qts of oil in it some things are going to get bad coverage. I never understood that.

It doesn't seemed to ever have caused any consistent serious issues. I've never seen any reports of problems with parts in the right side head.

 

[smj999smj]

Hydraulic valve lifters tapping was a fairly common issue on these engines and seemed to be more common on the passenger side. That said, the color is normal for a VG engine and it doesn't seem to cause any problems.

 

[chrisexv6]

My theory is that there is more heat trapped on the drivers side (thank you, seemingly unnecessary upper plenum!) and that causes more crap to "burn off" the moving parts.