Something in oil / rate my block / remove stuck spacer / sump material

[Romb 0]

Hello,

 

Have 4 q's and would greatly appreciate your advice :

 

- Any idea what the droplets in the 1st pic could be ?

It was only in the leftover oil in the sump, the rest of the old 5 liters didn't seem to have any floating contaminants, although it sure did look like gross worn oil, like a black greyish mass.

 

- In the next pics, is my engine overly brown, like baked in oil ?

It's a 8v, 240k km's, last years rarely used. I did have a trip to Spain with high oil temps on the 1000 mile back home, like continuous oil temps of 125-130 Celsius.

 

- Anyone a tip for removing the sump spacer ?

Car is on the ground and I can't find a leverage point. Tried hitting it a bit with a deadblow but didn't work. Plan now is to remove bumper, fan and rad to create some access and try to squeeze in a stanley blade or thin screwdriver. But hopefully there is an easier way. I could heat it with a 400 Celsius heat gun, but somehow don't feel too comfortable with that.

 

- What is the sump made of, steel right ?

 

Thanks, your feedback is much appreciated !

Edited January 2, 2020 by Romb

[petert 549]

Have you removed the two socket headed cap screws? Also, there is a dowel, towards the back, on the exhaust side. So it needs to come off vertically.  From memory, I leaver off towards the front, on one of the sides.

 

Your engine looks normal for the age.

[Romb 0]

5 minutes ago, petert said:

Have you removed the two socket headed cap screws? Also, there is a dowel, towards the back, on the exhaust side. So it needs to come off vertically.  From memory, I leaver off towards the front, on one of the sides.

 

Your engine looks normal for the age.

Thanks. Yes, screws removed. I was expecting some alignment pins, so hitting it from the side with a dead blow indeed couldn't do much.

 

Just found another post where the tip was to put a bar between a main bearing cap and one of the cross sections of the spacer and pry it off that way. That sounds like a pretty good plan.