dipstick tube sludge

[friendly_jacek]

this is RE: my teenager son's car, 03 saturn ion with nearly 140,000 miles.
i noticed this:

i wiped out and and reinserted a few times and no more sludge surfaced. nothing unusual under the oil cap, but hard to see due to a baffle.

he admitted he didn't check oil lately, i suspect not in the last 3-6 months.

i bought the car with about 136,000 miles and changed oil with synthetic 5W30 (G-oil brand) at that time. the previous oil change was done 3,000 miles before by a fast lube place (there was a sticker) and oil and filter looked great. no oil consumption.

i removed and checked the oil filter (very easy in ecotec 2.2 engine) and it's clean with no sludge or other problems. so, i reused the filter and will change it with oil when oil change message lights up or about 5,000 miles.

so, i assume this is a harmless dipstick tube sludge. Has anyone seen it before in ecotec?
BTW, my son mostly drives it in city/suburbs. trip length is 7-15 miles.

 

[AKhan87]

looks bad on the dipstick.

I have seen slight varnish build up before but with proper maintenance and oil changes, the dipstick cleaned up like new, probably serious neglect from the owner before.

 

[friendly_jacek]

thanks for replying.
i thought it was weird as i've never seen that before and i've been doing my own car maintenance for a long time now.
i guess i'll do kreen flush next oil change and maybe i'll even pour kreen through the dipstick tube to clean it.

 

[simple_gifts]

My toyota has a yellow plastic dipstick with a hatchmark; the last OC, I thought the new oil looked black soon. I ended up taking a paper towel to the dipstick only to realize the blackness was stuck to the stick, not in the oil.

I have owned the car since mile 11 and it has always seen regular OC.

I wouldn't sweat it, just have him take a look once in a while

 

[SR5]

I don't think you or your son did anything wrong.

The previous owner went way too long on an earlier oil change.

It's had two recent oil and filter changes, which is good. Keep going with regular oil changes and the system will slowly clean itself. Maybe change a bit early to enhance the cleaning.

You could also use a HDEO oil for one or two changes, these help clean the engine. Always a new filter.
http://www.pqiamerica.com/June 2014/consolidated HDEO 2015.html

I think it should be OK.

 

[gallydif]

Time for some MMO

 

[Rolla07]

Pennzoil Conventional and clean filter for a few short OCI's.

 

[dlundblad]

Is that a water droplet just above the "MI" in the word min?

My girlfriend's turbo car had a little of this going on, but the synthetic seems to be cleaning things up very well at just under a year of use.

That clump of mud/ crime makes me wonder about your air filter or PCV.

 

[Blinker]

I have that engine in my car and i have never seen that. Time to do a few short OCI's because that is the beginning of sludge. Is it losing coolant or blowing blue smoke?

 

[Blinker]

I see clean oil on the dipstick as well so it looks like you caught it in time and its slowly cleaning.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Is that a water droplet just above the "MI" in the word min?

My girlfriend's turbo car had a little of this going on, but the synthetic seems to be cleaning things up very well at just under a year of use.

That clump of mud/ crime makes me wonder about your air filter or PCV.


no water, just a reflection.
no mud, just sludge.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: stower17
Is it losing coolant or blowing blue smoke?


no coolant loss, i checked that too.

 

[Blinker]

If no coolant loss and not blowing smoke just run a couple shorter OCI'S and keep an eye on it. The 2.2 Ecotec is known to be very easy on oil.

 

[splinter]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
this is RE: my teenager son's car...

Is he a 'car guy' like his father?

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: SR5

You could also use a HDEO oil for one or two changes, these help clean the engine. Always a new filter.
http://www.pqiamerica.com/June 2014/consolidated HDEO 2015.html


good idea about the 10W30 rotella. however, i jumped on the 10W30 High Mileage Walmart deal (6 pack at the price of one) and if that goes through, i'll use it for a few short cycles. Will open the valve cover too.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: gallydif
Time for some MMO


yes, i'll use some between now and oil change.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: splinter
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
this is RE: my teenager son's car...

Is he a 'car guy' like his father?

i wish. he is more interested in washing it and fitting bigger speakers than mechanical things. However, we did a lot of things together on this car like replacing lower control arms/end links/swaybar bushings (very problem prone in this car), new alternator, new head unit and speakers, and some other minor things. the biggest accomplishment was rebuilding a starter and refishing alloy wheels, so yes, there was some quality bonding time.

 

[TFB1]

Like the OP says that's dipstick TUBE sludge... That didn't build up on end of stick in use but rather reamed sludge out of tube when removed... I can guarantee there was no crud on end of stick till it was removed... No sonny boy hasn't been checking oil...

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: TFB1
I can guarantee there was no crud on end of stick till it was removed... No sonny boy hasn't been checking oil...


no one said otherwise, so i'm not sure i follow you.
i started this because i wanted to know if it's normal to have sludge in the dipstick tube in this particular ecotec engine.

 

[raytseng]

The car is fine. If it's running OK with a little sludge in the corners, there's no benefit to doing something specifically to de-sludge it at this point.

If you also had other symptoms, then I'd say do something different then normal maintenance.

If you bought it at 136k, and it has 140k on it now, any need to check the oil, with your meticulous oil changes already done within 4k miles, so not his fault.