I think my truck had MORE dirt under the intake than that. You couldn't even see the top of the knock sensors. The guy that had it before me was a construction worker or something... But it wasn't sludged up like that at all.

 

the little foam inserts were still in place on the intake when we took intake off. It just blew my mind that it had so much gunk under intake and in the heads. Cylinder walls still looked good though.

 

Lol, my 89 rcsb Shortbox was bought of a local shady auto body shop owner. Its a good thing i got a decent deal on it saying the engine/transmission were shot right off the bat, among many other things. Its completely apart and getting redone.

I cant believe people dont do oil changes, i bought a 1970 440 from a fellow years back that had always done regular maintenance, i've never seen a cleaner looking engine internally than that ever.

 

My 4.8L looked like that under the intake when I pulled it out at 136,000miles, maybe even dirtier. But the heads looked way, way better almost like new...

 

My engine had 70,000+ when it was disassembled and had no sludge in it, just that ugly reddish-brown color. I always had synthetic since the first oil change, and changed it less than ten times. If yours always had synthetic, then it for sure got overhet at least once.
Oh, yeah, mine had leaves, no dirt though.

 

I thought the grill under the wipers was for collecting leaves.