I was pricing parts today and someone from Autozone asked me what I was doing with the car (I was asking for some parts pricing).

I described one of the issues which is, I have oil sludge build-on the engine block. (See Pic) ...Basically all over the engine. It is caked on there pretty good. They said that the LIM Gaskets were probably faulty because of some change in the fluid chemicals with the coolant / oil from GM. And that after about 100K miles the gasket was eaten away by it. And probably needed to be replaced. I don't mind doing it if it really is the issue, but i'm not really convinced. They said that if it looks wet, it's a oil/coolant combo. It does somewhat look wet in certain spots, but I guess it never occured to me that it was more than oil.

I thought the LIM issues occured with S/C 3800s not with N/A engines???

Can you gurus please take a look at the pic and give your opinion? I can take more pics if needed. What causes the oil sludge build up on the engine below?