Consumer Reports & Sludge

[Market525]

For you out there who follow Consumer Reports, the August 2005 issue has an interesting full page article on page 49 about the "sludge" problem in certain engines. At the end of the article, it even plugs synthetic oil. It lists the known sludge monsters as:
1997-2004 Audi/VW 1.8 Turbo, 1998-2002 Chrysler 2.7 V6, 1997-2001 Toyota/Lexus 3.0 & 2.2, and 2000-2002 Saab 2.0 turbo, and 1999-2003 2.3 Saab turbo. It also speaks of the manufacturers extended warranty on these engines. Interesting reading for the general public. Sadly, how many people out there will read that article, having already spent thousands of dollars on engine repair? The dealer never mentioned anything at all about the problem, especially in the earlier years of the problem. It pays to be informed.

 

[greenjp]

Saab, to their apparent credit, is notifying the owners of the affected models about the problem and the extended warranty, which is retroactive to cover repairs an owner has already paid for.

jeff

 

[AndyH]

Some other recent threads on this:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011383
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011412

quote:

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Originally posted by greenjp:
Saab, to their apparent credit, is notifying the owners of the affected models about the problem and the extended warranty, which is retroactive to cover repairs an owner has already paid for.

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Audi is doing something similar. I rec'd a notice in the mail regarding my long-gone 1997 A4 1.8T.

 

[Sid]

Those 2.7L Chrysler V6 engine were horrible.

 

[Market525]

Oops - sorry to bring up old news. I missed the earlier posts on the subject!
Steve

 

[railball]

I now have 32000 on my 03 Toyota Camry 4cyl.If its not a sludge engine it is very close to it.I have been running 3oz of ARX with every OCI and adding at 6 months.Even with the filter change and a qt of RL in the their the oil is very black all the time. The last OCI I overfilled it by a half qt by accident and after just running it for 5 min. before taking out the pint the new oil was already very black. Just the RL alone should have cleaned it up by now.So whats the scoop on the newer Camry engine is it better or not.The oil report looks good I just wonder why the oil stays so Black.

 

[johnd]

Unusual to hear about really black oil with a fuel injected gasoline engine. In the past, this malady was usually caused by an over-rich condition caused by a carburator. It sounds almost like your engine isn't going into closed loop. Have you ever had it scanned, does it show a "check engine" light? Is the temp range ok during operation?

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

"The oil report looks good I just wonder why the oil stays so Black. "
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Well, the oil is doing a good part of its job.

 

[1sttruck]

Evidently any sort of aereation in the engine will also increase sludging, in addition to small sumps, high temps, and wimpy oil.