HELP!! Passat 1.8T Sludgebucket

[C4Dave]

I'll throw my 2 cents in. I would not do anything right now. Based on the AutoWeek article, I would just wait until VWs new policy comes out. It sounds like they will cover it if you have performed maintenance in accordance with their schedules. But if you start screwing around with solvents, they won't touch it.

Short story. A local car had a quicky lube place do an engine flush before changing the oil. 100 miles later, the engine locked up. Tear down revealed that the flush loosened up sludge, which clogged the oil screen, which burned up the engine. Instructions on the flushing solvent bottle said to remove oil pan after flush and clean out. This wasn't done.

And just out of curiosity, what oil did you use, what weight, and how often was it changed?

 

[aero nut]

Right, I'm not doing anything drastic right now, waiting for VW perhaps to change their position on how they are going to stand behing the warrenty. Have not heard the turbo recently. Heard it spooling down on the previous from today startup. Thought it was shot. Today I only heard the timing chain groaning from lack of lubrication and it quieted down after it warmed up a little. The 1st 4 oil changes were at VW & they used 20w50 conventional. After that we used 5w-50 Syntec until the last oil change which was dino. The last oil change might have gone a little long. I'm not sure of the milage. That's what threw it over the edge.

 

[aero nut]

Since the oil light hasn't come on lately, I'm thinking maybe going right to the ARX cleaning driving VERY gently. Yeah I'm afraid of blocking the oil screen with some of the other methods.
Most of my oil changes on sythetic were between 5-10 k miles. It didn't call for synthetic so I thought it was no big deal, thinking if dino can go for 5k, what would be the big deal going 5-10k on synthetic. It might have been OK and what did the damage is the dino with changes at 5K. Hard to say, but I think dino is toxic to this engine. Too bad VW didn't know it or let us know. Getting rid of the car regardless. Not a maintainable car in old age. It has more issues right now than I can mention. Lights that light up, dingers that ding & VW can't figure out why. They think it has a vacume leak somewhere. The brakes fail on startup intermitently. Traction control doesn't work etc. etc. Some people live & breath VW. I like the cars. I just don't think they are maintainable at close to a reasonable cost. Imagine a $9,000 engine swap. How much is the transmission? You can't put those kind of figures into a used car and justify it on a balance sheet. If the car had been maintained by the new 2005 standard, maybe the engine would have lasted till out of warranty. I've driven too many cars 250-300k to put up with this kind of hullabalou from an expensive Euro-Weenie car.....just venting a bit here.

 

[C4Dave]

ARX is a very good product. I'm in my 1st rinse phase right now, and I've alread seen benefits. Having said that, I would not tell VW that I've put anything in my crankcase that VW didn't approve of in the owners manual. If it were me, I would start ARX just in case VW doesn't agree to fix the engine. VW will never know its in there unless you tell them. Contact Frank at ARX to get his advice on how to proceed.

One thing to think about, though, is that VWs extended warrantee may only cover engines that have low oil pressure. You have already documented this through your mechanic and VW. But if ARX starts to clean up the sludge, oil pressure may return to normal and VW may refuse service.

 

[427Z06]

Does your mechanic have a good borescope? Maybe he can check the pickup screen without removing the oil pan? He can also get a good look inside the oil pan and see what's in there too. Just a thought, good luck.

 

[aero nut]

No, I don't know of anyone with a borescope. I added the recommended amt. of Sea Foam (on recommendation of another mechanic) to the synthetic oil in it now and ran it for about 15 min. I'm now
draining it and starting the Auto-Rx treatment for heavily sludged engines. If it works, I will be singing the praise of ARX. If it doesn't work, well maybe the engine was just too far gone. Only time will tell now. I'll be changing the oil filter quite
frequently, anticipating lots of crude coming loose.
I'll keep you posted.

 

[wavinwayne]

aero nut,
Are you gonna cut open the filters & take pics?

 

[aero nut]

Sure. Why not.

 

[TooSlick]

I think the passive kerosene soak (4-5 quarts) and drain is an excellent idea. I'd pour it in while the engine is still warm to the touch; avoiding the exhaust manifold - we lose more listers that way.

You also need to replace the oil lines running to and from the turbo unit. The carbonacous deposits are probably insoluble and really baked on.

Do these two things and I think there's hope!

TS

 

[bulwnkl]

I was thinking class-action until the thing about VW contemplating doing the right thing.

It's too bad about your engine/car. It's tons more too bad for the poor sucker who's going to get it next. He has absolutely no way to know that he's about to pay a small fortune for a rolling disaster money-pit. The dealer involved in the transaction will NOT be harmed.

Just too bad...

 

[aero nut]

It's so nice to hear that VW is contemplating about doing the right thing. It's just a matter of them doing the right thing a to stop contemplating about doing the right thing. There is a slight difference.
There are tons of bad cars out there including brand new Passats. It comes down to buyer beware. No one held my hand through the purchase of a $22,000 car and VW new of the problems at that point. I am not the end-point for consumer morality.
By the way I now have 200 miles on the ARX treatment
and it SEEMS to be going well. The oil light is not coming on and there SEEMS to be less turbo lag. Maybe the de-sludge process is taking place.

 

[aero nut]

Oil filter change today at 200 miles. Nothing unusual. Just relatively clean oil (for this car at least) came out. Is there an easy way to cut the filter open????

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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Originally posted by aero nut:
Is there an easy way to cut the filter open????

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Depending on the diameter of your filter, you may be able to borrow a exhaust pipe cutter from AutoZone or the like.

 

[aero nut]

Bad news today. My wife was driving the car very
gently and the oil light came on again. I thought we had gotten past this. It was 70 degrees today which maybe cause the oil to thin out?? It now has 400 mi on the ARX treatment. Maybe I need to change the oil filter again. Last did it 200 mi ago. She let the engine cool down for 1.5 hours and then drove home. The light didn't come on again. I'm using 10w-40 Castor oil. Don't know whats going on, but it was not a good sign.

 

[Christopher Jefferson]

sounds like there is definete oil pump issue here. maybe even that and other galleys are clogged causing some pressure at low load and waaaaay too low at high loads?

 

[Sin City]

Sorry to hear that. It can't hurt to put on a new filter. Please keep us updated.

 

[aero nut]

Took it for a good long drive today. All kinds of driving, high speed highway, in town etc. Oil light never came on. My wife said the oil light came on yesterday when she came up to a stop sight at an idle. Maybe it was just a fluke. Or maybe the temp made the difference. It was 70 degrees when it came on and today it was 38 degrees. I am going to change the filter again as soon as the weather is a little better.

 

[aero nut]

Did a 40 mi. (each way) interstate highway trip. The 1st leg was climbing a mountain on interstate. After about 30 min the oil light came on (36 deg outside temp.). Over the next hour I made it to the exit, stopped for about an hour and added about 1/2 qt of 20w-50 (10w-40 was put in last oci). Made it home (downhill) with no other problems. Today I changed the oil filter and opened it up. This filter had 500 miles on it. The fist filter was changed at 200 mi. There was nothing in the filter. Just dirty oil. No sludge no carbon. So the test continues.
Can a moderator move this thread to ADDITIVES???

 

[427Z06]

Thanks for keeping us updated.

This is exciting! Kind of like:

quote:

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CSI: Sludgebucket

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Keep in mind, I wish you the best of luck, and I'm empathetic with your situation.

 

[aero nut]

UPDATE:
Finished the cleaning phase. Used 10w-40 castoroil.
The oil light came on occasionally while driving, sometimes at high speed, sometimes at an idle. No real pattern to it. I changed oil filters several times & cut them open. Did not see anything!! I'm 1,100 miles into the flush phase now. I've left the same filter on. I'm now using 15w40 Rotella for this phase.
Now the oil light never comes on. I climbed a 3500 ft. mountain on interstate at 80 deg. ambient temp. I figure if the oil light is going to come on it will be with this drive. I don't know if the engine is getting better or the higher weight Rotella is just holding up better.
Also the gas milage is up noticably. Even my wife commented on it. I'll let you know how it ends up after I finsh this flush phase. I'll then have an oil pressure test done so we can quanitify this thing. The pressure will be the the real test.