baked on sludge??

[jerzey]

I have Baked on sludge/oil on my bmw 528i 2000. I had a small valve cover leak. So I decided to change the cover gasket, plugs, and vanos seals all once. Wen doing so I noticed my head had black crusty stuff all over but not on the moving parts like the cams and such. . my motor runs like a champ but knowing I have black crust all inside it. Im guessing the previous owner did the recommend 15k oci the bmw says to do but prob not that long of and interval and never got on the car to get the oil pressure up high enough, or a lot of short driving. Which is stupid since ive owned it ive been doing 5k with mobil 1. But I haven’t had it long just one oil change so far . what should I do to get that crustation off. Or should I not worry about it. No sludge atleast from what I saw.

cliff notes
saw balck crusty Residue on my bmw head. want it off. no Liquidy sludge that I saw what to use.
MMO?
Pennzoil ultra?
sefoam?
flush?
auto rx?
shell rotella t6?
keep running mobil 1?
anything else?

 

[c3po]

Can you post us some pics.

 

[jerzey]

similar to this just not quite as bad

i can get pics later tonight i have them on my computer at home

click here to see small photo

 

[ahoier]

That thumbnail is hard to see - may need to save it, and re-upload it to tinypic or imageshack In that pic, all I see is brown/black lol.

As far as treatment; it's up to you, you will find mixed reviews here; some like ARX, some like Seafoam, some like MMO. Personally, MMO to me is more of a "maintainer" and slow-cleaner. You may have better luck with a ~30 mile highway drive of Seafoam in the crankcase, 1.5 oz. per quart of oil in the crankcase, then go through with the LOF while the oil is still very hot/warm for best flow.

 

[jerzey]

whats a LOF?

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: jerzey
whats a LOF?


Lube, Oil, Filter

 

[jerzey]

close up

 

[Panzerman]

Thats bad but no where near the worse I ever saw. I would just use the MMO and a oil of your choice, Mobil 1 if you prefer and just run your 5000 mile oil changes. 15,000 mile oil changes are crazy. They are Great for people that trade evry 4-5 years and never see the car again(sorry, I guess that would be you) But really to do that on your own auto just to prove you can, does not make much sense to me. A oil change takes me about 20 minutes, evry 4000 miles and the feeling of a clean engine and the freedom to use about any oil at that interval is better than being the tough guy doing 15,000 miles to prove my oil can.

 

[jerzey]

yea i was looking around the site and ive seen alot worse im thinking mybe some seafoa or B-12 Chemtool for 1000 miles (im due for an oil change in 1000 miles) and then shell t6 or Pennzoil ultra and MMO for 5k then drain and fill with T6 or PU.... sounds like a good plan?

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Make sure your PCV system is working properly. I believe that system uses a cyclone separator which is probably packed with sludge. This will further complicate your problem.

 

[mechtech2]

Take the cam cover off and clean it manually.
Then use whatever engine cleaner you want.
I like MMO because it is a good cleaner, and is safe. It will take some time, it's NOT a 15 minute flush.
In summer, consider a qt or 2 of heavier oil to compensate for the thin MMO.

 

[jerzey]

so no seafoam befor hand?

 

[Geo_Prizm]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Thats bad but no where near the worse I ever saw. I would just use the MMO and a oil of your choice, Mobil 1 if you prefer and just run your 5000 mile oil changes. 15,000 mile oil changes are crazy. They are Great for people that trade evry 4-5 years and never see the car again(sorry, I guess that would be you) But really to do that on your own auto just to prove you can, does not make much sense to me. A oil change takes me about 20 minutes, evry 4000 miles and the feeling of a clean engine and the freedom to use about any oil at that interval is better than being the tough guy doing 15,000 miles to prove my oil can.


If the oil used is a real synthetic 15K miles OCI is not a long driving before a change.In Europe people change their oil once in 30-35K kms (20K miles)with real synthetics.And no problems.

 

[jerzey]

id do 20k oci with real synth. but the closest to that would be amsoil. right ?

 

[saberz]

Yeah but in Europe they got some crazy fast highways(specially those wonky Germans! )

Seriously though, just because an oil says 15k, why bother? Tone it down and get a peace of mind(7-8k synthetic OCI's) specially with the BMW Vanos system. The engines love high rev's and who knows how the previous owner treated it. Any time I buy used I run low OCI's(3k) back to back sometimes with MMO to undue possible neglect then go about my normal 5-6k OCi's(now with OLM!)

 

[Texan4Life]

HDEO in your fav weight and brand!

my first pick would be rotella.. but then again i'm bias since i have a boner for rotella oil.

 

[jerzey]

update

during the last 1000 miles of my M1 i ran seafoam
now Pennzoil Conventional is in the car for 3k
then i will do another 3k run with either Pennzoil Conventional or rotella t6
and then the last 3k i will do either Pennzoil Conventional rottela with a QT of MMO mybe just run penn ulta.........

will post new pics wen all is done

any one have any other ideas???