2001 Saturn SC2 1.9 DOHC Sludge

[4GRFSE]

My parents recently inherited my Grandma's 2001 Saturn SC2 Coupe. The car had 17K miles on it and I know she had the oil changed every 4 months (completly unecessary, I know). I checked the oil, it looked fine. Then, I opened the oil fill cap and looked inside, Sludge on the cap and obvious inside the top of the engine. This suprised me as I did not think the Saturn DOHC 1.9 was known to be a sludger. That, and the overkill in changing the oil for 6 years. Thinking about it, I think the sludge was caused by starting the car and driving it short distances.

My parents plan to keep the car for a while, so I am wondering how to fix the sludge problem. My concern, is that if I treat it with a flush product that it may dislodge sludge and clog oil passages. Any advice would be appreciated. BTW, the car runs great and still returns excellent fuel economy.

 

[Colt45ws]

http://www.auto-rx.com/

 

[simple_gifts]

x2, the way to go in this circumstance.

 

[Donald]

I would pull the valve cover and get a good idea of the sludge. Is it all gooey or hard and crusty? If its gooey then use Amsoil Flush according to the directions. If its more than gooey, the Auto-Rx will do it. Order 3 containers and go for 2 treatments and then a maint. diet.

Have you driven the car at highway speed for 30 minutes and then looked at the areas you mention to make sure its not condensation related?

 

[The Critic]

On a Saturn 1.9L DOHC engine, opening up the oil filler cap will only expose the oil fill area. That area receives zero oil flow. It is normal for the oil filler cap area to have crusty, rust like stains. It's normal.

I have the identical stains on my '96 SL2's oil filler cap. It has 107,000 miles on it and it gets changed with dino every 7-10k. I removed the valve cover last year at around 95k miles and there was only a very light coat of golden varnish on the valvetrain.

 

[Lonnie]

With only about 3k miles a year living in an area that get cold during the winder I'd consider this engine a good candidate for an Auto-Rx clean and rinse cycle. It's safe and easy to use and you can expect a good result. Modern engine oil does a good job of preventing sludge but after a few years it's not uncommon for the sludge to get ahead of the oil. Oil itself is not good at catching up and solvents are unnecessary. You are not in a big hurry as if you had the car at a shop that wanted you in and out in one day.

 

[4GRFSE]

Quote:

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I would pull the valve cover and get a good idea of the sludge. Is it all gooey or hard and crusty? If its gooey then use Amsoil Flush according to the directions. If its more than gooey, the Auto-Rx will do it. Order 3 containers and go for 2 treatments and then a maint. diet.

Have you driven the car at highway speed for 30 minutes and then looked at the areas you mention to make sure its not condensation related?

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I was debating about taking the valve cover off to determine how bad it is... as the critic mentioned, I cannot see inside there too well, but there appears to be sludge oozing from the visible metal piece. Also, when I ran my finger over the back of the oil fill cap, the sludge remained on my finger and I could see where I removed the sludge from the oil fill cap.

I don't believe what I saw was condensation as the car was driven about 22 miles before it was turned off.

Thanks for all you replies. I am thinking about going with the AutoRX.

Mike

 

[The Critic]

Quote:

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Quote:

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I would pull the valve cover and get a good idea of the sludge. Is it all gooey or hard and crusty? If its gooey then use Amsoil Flush according to the directions. If its more than gooey, the Auto-Rx will do it. Order 3 containers and go for 2 treatments and then a maint. diet.

Have you driven the car at highway speed for 30 minutes and then looked at the areas you mention to make sure its not condensation related?

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I was debating about taking the valve cover off to determine how bad it is... as the critic mentioned, I cannot see inside there too well, but there appears to be sludge oozing from the visible metal piece. Also, when I ran my finger over the back of the oil fill cap, the sludge remained on my finger and I could see where I removed the sludge from the oil fill cap.

I don't believe what I saw was condensation as the car was driven about 22 miles before it was turned off.

Thanks for all you replies. I am thinking about going with the AutoRX.

Mike

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That's normal. Mine has the sludge like coating on the valve cover as well and a valve cover pull showed a very clean engine.

Spend the $25 and replace the valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals. If you don't they'll probably leak on you within the next year or so anyway. It's a common problem on these cars supposedly.

BTW, remember to replace the automatic transmission fluid AND spin-on filter with Dexron-VI and a new GENUINE SATURN filter. It is very important to do this as the valve bodies aren't very durable.

 

[kgb007stb]

2001 sc2 DOHC, good to have a cousin out there!

 

[daves66nova]

Try running 15w40.All the extra detergents and such should clean it out.

 

[XPR]

Quote:

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My parents recently inherited my Grandma's 2001 Saturn SC2 Coupe. The car had 17K miles on it and I know she had the oil changed every 4 months (completly unecessary, I know). I checked the oil, it looked fine. Then, I opened the oil fill cap and looked inside, Sludge on the cap and obvious inside the top of the engine. This suprised me as I did not think the Saturn DOHC 1.9 was known to be a sludger. That, and the overkill in changing the oil for 6 years. Thinking about it, I think the sludge was caused by starting the car and driving it short distances.

My parents plan to keep the car for a while, so I am wondering how to fix the sludge problem. My concern, is that if I treat it with a flush product that it may dislodge sludge and clog oil passages. Any advice would be appreciated. BTW, the car runs great and still returns excellent fuel economy.

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Switch to a synthetic oil. If you want you can use Auto-RX before you switch. I like Amsoil oils, but there are other synthetics.

 

[Quest]

Quote:

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Try running 15w40.All the extra detergents and such should clean it out.

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Good gawd? What next? 20W50 for the extra cushioning?

 

[Maritime Storm]

4GRFSE As the The Critic mentioned the brown stain on the bottom of the oil cap is normal. Don't ever pull the valve cover off a DOHC 1.9 unless the gasket is leaking as you will have a fun time getting the o-rings sealed around the plug holes again. Do an oil change on her, and give her a good hard run on the highway(my sisters favorite excuse is to go for coffee in Halifax, which is about 2.5 hours from here). That give it a chance to clean itself out, then another oil change and should tbe good to go. Don't add any additive to your oil, they generally cause more harm then good.

 

[MrCritical]

Looks normal for an engine with lots of short trips. I wouldn't worry.

 

[Donald]

All cars can benefit from an Auto-Rx maint cycle (3 oz per oil change). I would certainly do that. The only question is should you go through a clean & rinse with Auto-Rx first given low mileage.

Since any sludge in there is most likely gooey given low mileage, you might consider using Amsoil flush then onto the Auto-Rx maint cycle. Do not consider any other flush products.

 

[The Critic]

Quote:

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4GRFSE As the The Critic mentioned the brown stain on the bottom of the oil cap is normal. Don't ever pull the valve cover off a DOHC 1.9 unless the gasket is leaking as you will have a fun time getting the o-rings sealed around the plug holes again. Do an oil change on her, and give her a good hard run on the highway(my sisters favorite excuse is to go for coffee in Halifax, which is about 2.5 hours from here). That give it a chance to clean itself out, then another oil change and should tbe good to go. Don't add any additive to your oil, they generally cause more harm then good.

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I've pulled mine before and it isn't difficult at all to reseal the o-rings.

Most of the DOHCs will have leaks at the spark plug tube seals after 60k miles or so for some reason. Replacing it with a new OE gasket will solve the problem. The job is fairly beginner proof IMO.