Meaningless - since there is no combustion or fire going on, oil isn't gonna burn or collect carbon (which is what turns engine oil black)madmantrapper wrote: Anyway drained oil and it looked like new.
also means nothing - much of these are *aluminum* which will score and wear quicker than the steel motor blocksNo slivers in it of any kind. Magnet picked up nothing.
could have been. they're generally sealed with something like Loctite Ultra Grey RTV sealantOnly thing I found was a piece of stuff that looked like gasket sealer that oozed out somewhere.
I suspect that will turn out to be a mistake - you can't tell if the unit is damaged without tearing it down and going over the motor block surfaces and inspecting the aluminum valve body blocks they run on - there are slots/holes for the oil passages and even a "hairline" score between holes will cause the problem you are having with the unit. - Both motor blocks should have been removed and their mating surfaces with the valve bodies inspected.Refilled with 20W50 and put back in.
I'm going out to try to purge it and get it going in a minute or so. I'll let you know how it turns out. I can't see it being any better just by changing the oil but as easy as it is to remove I figured I'd try it.
Paul
Good luck, but if the problem is what I think it is, you probably missed it by making assumptions based on the oil quality and lack of visible debris.