Got sludge?

[labman]

So who has gotten sludge and under what conditions? Sludge seems to be a big topic here. I know I never want to see a problem like I once had.

Sludge

1981 Pontiac Phoenix SBC cut down to a V-6. When it was about 8 years old, it was terribly sludged up under the valve covers. It saw a lot of short trips and sat some days. I was doing 6 month OCI's mostly Pennzoil conventional SE/SF 10w30 , but had switched to Quaker State a year or 2 before discovering the problem.

Little or no sludge.

02 Cavalier Ecotec, Pennzoil 5w30 conventional every 3 months. Driven daily 60 miles to work and back plus some short trips.

92 Grand Am HO Quad 4, Pennzoil 5w30 conventional every 3 months. More varied driving patterns, some short trips, some of the 60 mile commute.

77 Chevy LUV 1.8 L SOHC I-4, followed the same regimen as with the above cars. I don't think it had the sludge the Phoneix did on the same OCI. It may have been driven more, perhaps 5-10 miles in town each way to work and back. It now does mostly short trips and sits some days. It does get out on the highway fairly often. I had the valve cover off yesterday, and it was pretty good.

71 Valient, 318 V-8, mostly Valvoline 10W-40. I don't remember how often I changed it, perhaps every 3000 miles. Driven at least enough to warm the engine up good most days.

So what have you had that sludged and what didn't?

 

[tig1]

Had terrible sludge problems in the 60s. In 78 went with Mobil 1 5w20 and various wts. since then and havent seen sludge since even with 10,000 mile OCIs.

 

[addyguy]

Sadly, I strongly suspect my 2002 Cavalier is starting to sludge up. My last 5 OCI's have all been over 8k on dino, and when I was near the end of the last interval, there was a very heavy slime on the d/s when checking oil, and there was also this slime on the sides of the used oil analysis sample container.

I've added Wynn's Engine Tune-Up to this oil fill to do some 'cheap cleaning' (would use MMO, but can't buy it here) and will be shortening this interval a lot....we'll see how it goes!

NO sludge problems with any other vehicle, but I was a die-hard 3k-er before this car.

 

[fsskier]

Our 57 Dodge and 59 Plymouth were sludge generators, sludge stacked up between the valves, etc. Had to pull the pan on the 57 Dodge and clean off the screen, the oil pump was starving and oil pressure had dropped dramatically. Both motors still lasted until the cars rusted away - that happened pretty fast on those cars!

59 Opel, original owner said he only used "non-detergent oil"
burned and dripped oil, bought for salvage value. Pulled valve cover, egads!!! level full, Packed solid. This motor clattered badly as the valves were mechanical lifters and I could not even see them!!! Took the car to the local quarter carwash, pulled valve cover and oil drain plug, cleaned off everything I could see, ran wand down oil return lines, into the drain plug hole, everywhere. Refilled with oil freshly drained from another car for the 2 mile trip home, then refilled with Pennzoil 10W30 - and reset the valve lash, wow the motor was almost silent!! Over the next two years the motor stopped burning oil and was running like new at 95K
when body rust became severe.

Now running Mobil 1, mostly 0W20, some 0W30, no sludge visible anywhere despite 20K OCI and vehicles with 250K miles involved in severe service, towing 4 days a week.

 

[ChiTDI]

Test for a coolant leak. That will accelerate sludge formation in an otherwise healthy running engine.

 

[Herz]

My jeep is sludged I beleive, 2500-3k mile ocis didnt stop it. I am actually afraid of removing the valve cover.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: ChiTDI
Test for a coolant leak. That will accelerate sludge formation in an otherwise healthy running engine.

True.

That is why so many GM V6 engines get killed.

Anyway, nobody in my family ever had an engine fill with sludge, but nobody ever went past 3000 miles to change their oil, unless they used synthetic oil.

The other kind of engine I see sludged is a turbo engine without synthetic oil. In most cases, 3000 miles on conventional is too far.

 

[labman]

Interesting. I forget if I ever had to add coolant to the V-6 that sludged for me.

I think my Grand Am quad 4 came from the factory with a coolant leak, and it never sludged on 3 month OCI.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Modern pCV should control water vapour if you drive far enough to heat the oil. Many folks in very cold winters would be better served by blocking the radiator air inlet area 50% to get better warmup and coolant flow. OTW, sludge would be a intake manifold coolant leak on a "V" or HG issue on a specific engine. Now, varnish issue on the piston ring stack are still a worry.

 

[JohnBrowning]

The only vechile I have ever had sludge in was one that I bought that was like 15 years old sitting in a field. It had sludge when I bought it. No vechile I have owned from new or that I bought from my parents has ever had sludge. My Dad changed conventional oil ever 1300-1800 miles. When I turned him on to synthetics it was a huge thing for him to go 3000 miles on synthetic!!!LOL Now I have finaly convinced him that 6 months on a synthetic reguardless of miles is a no brainer!!