6.0PSD

Fresh out of motor
I should have brought out the welder to tack up that flange to braket... How close to being a sludge problem?

I had done the front cover gasket and plug seals a while back and finally made time for the rear this past weekend... It's a bit of work especially for a first timer but is doable by a backyard mechanic... I was having a hard time removing the throttle body as I missed a bolt on backside of it that I never read about it being there so there were 3 nuts and one bolt in back of it holding it in place... The bolt in back of manifold took a little time too but I got it off and back on

I didn't have any oil consumption problems and didn't think it is necessary for my truck to have it replaced with the newer style cover so I cleaned it up and put it right back on with new seals and gasket...

Now how bad does the sludge look to you guys that have seen it more out there? I've been doing quite a bit of low mileage oil changes and the last I did about 800 miles ago and used 5w20 semi syn... Gonna change oil and filter in about 200 miles since it was done more than 6 months ago..

hypervish

No sludge there at all, just a little more build-up than ideal. But, definitely not a huge concern especially considering it's the rear bank which runs hotter; how many miles on it?

6.0PSD

Honestly I believe there are more miles on it than what the odometer shows... Odometer is @109k but I believe that it has closer to 200k because I have a feeling that the previous owner tempered with the odometer

Just want to add that I reused the old valve cover bolts and just slipped in one stainless steel washer to each bolt and had no problem torquing them... Washers where not that thick either, actually thinner than the standard steel washers