This is a pic I took of the inside of my valve cover.

My 05 MR that this is from only has 17 K miles. I was installing the JAM lifters, the HKS cams looked great, like they had wore in well.
I wiped the black off the cast bare aluminum there in the center, what are two small clear round spots by the cam gears? Do I need to be worried or is this normal for a turbo motor? The PO autoxed it but it runs killer and is in mint shape.

 

What kind of oil are you using? How hot is your engine/ oil getting? It looks like the engine/ oil is breking down. How often do you change the oil? Maybe you should change yours a little more often. Just a thought. When my cams were installed mine looked pretty clean. Also you might check to see if theres a clog in the oil lines.

 

In my DSM I was using Mobil Dino oil and that is what my valve cover looked like. Then Mobil came out with a different label on their oil advertising "New Cleaning Action". Yeah, they had been skimping on detergent for new improved profit.

 

Maybe those two spots are "ghosts" in your engine.

 

Blowby causes it. It's the beginning of sludge. The PO didn't change the oil as often as they should have. (every 3k tops) You see that in a lot of VW 1.8T motors, usually a lot worse.
With how rich these cars run from the factory, its no surprise.

 

Well, to be honest with you. . .I have seen cleaner valve covers in DSMs that had over 100k on them. It's so strange to see one that stained with only 17K on it. I agree with what Redbud23 said about it though. This doesn't nessaraly mean that anything is excessively worn or damaged though.

The simple answer for why you have two clean spots is because the oil doesn't get on those areas and bake.

 

That's what I was afraid of. The PO said he used Mobil 1 syn. but he must have let it go a little long. Is there any kind of cleaner I could run through?

I did clean the cover with carb cleaner befor I put it back on. The car is runing richer than Donald Trump, on the PO's mail order flash, which is safer than lean I supose.
I am getting it tunned with the new Cobb AP next week on Tuesday at a Pro Tunner.

 

I think you should invest in a oil catch can asap

 

Short of acid bathing the whole block, you'll never get that stuff completely out of the engine... Im surprised to see that much crud in there with only 17K....

 

Are both sides of the PCV system intact in the car? I've seen engines with 10 times more miles cleaner than that.

 

It dosent really look that bad. I have seen worse. My 1.8t looked like crap and I changed the oil every 2k. with castrol

 

Ew. Deff looks like sludge! Change your oil asap.

 

OK, I will change the oil, it only has about 900 on this oil, he changed it the day befor I bought it ofcoarse. But hit is black.

So I guess it's not worth trying any of the "engine flush" type snake oil engine treatments I see at the store?

 

Nah, Don't bother with that cleaner stuff. Just make you change the oil on time. Oh, and checking the PCV like cfdfireman1 said would be a good idea too.

 

Def...sludge that sucks man, catch can