Perhaps they tried to use some of that engine stop leak stuff, doesn't it leave a nice coat of sludge on the inside of the engine to prevent leaks?

 

Maybe but this engine was never washed and had no leaks to be found. I think it was more the 2 oil changes in 155000 miles of run time method.

 

Damn.... Thats nasty, its a shame how some people neglect things.

 

It's funny as I have the heads torn down off of this thing. As nasty as they were, the guides show minimal wear and the play on the stems of the valves is probably in spec. Hell the valve stems themselves show nothing for wear. I never realized that these have stainless exhaust valves and then just steel intakes. Figured that both would be iron. I am pretty sure you could slap springs on them and new valve seals and just run them. I will be rebuilding them though however.

 

I bought a 6.0 from a junkyard one time that looked like that on the inside and it had water in it too lol. It wasn't locked up but I def got my money back on it

 

Yeah I would have been pissed if I didn't pay $100 for it knowing full well all I might get is an intake manifold/throttlebody. It seems overall to have been a pretty damn good buy!

 

This one ???












Cyl 5 & 6 had alot of water in it.

Needness to say we didnt end up puttin the cam in it and decided to look for another motor for the swap.
Supposedly only had 100k miles on it too.
I dont think that 100k without a oil change would look like that.

 

The OP's engine had a coolant leak. It probably was well maintained as the original owner said - they most likely did not pay attention to all of the signs.

The same thing happened to my 5.3 - it went from clean to crud in about 3 months (it had 252,000 miles on it)

 

I've got a 55gal drum of varsol that I would take an entire block and sit down in it when they looked terrible like that. Bring it up and shake it around every day or so for a few days, then when you pressure wash it, the thing comes out looking almost new

 

It might very well be coolant..... But without having the sludge analyzed all I know is this. The heads are crack free and the head gaskets are perfect. So unless the block is leaking I really don't see how it had a coolant leak.

That said, have analysis kits booting around I never use I will take some sludge in and see what is in it. Might pressure test the heads myself to be sure, but the shop I go to is pretty trust worthy.