sludge 2005 pontiac vibe lk toyota corolla matrix

[KitaCam]

Originally Posted By: kwikrnu


My personal opinion is that sludge is dangerous. It can build up and slough off causing an oil blockage at an inconvenient time.

I like these little Toyota engines. I was running 10K + mile ocis back in 2004 on a '03 corolla. Now with most of the big sludge removed I think 5k ocis are going to be no problem, but to be cautious I will change the current oil out at 225k as I said in the op. If the 5k change looks good at 230k I'll extend to 10K mi changes.


The 1st sentence here is so reasonable and the last is so unreasonable...okay maybe not dangerous, just wishful thinking that one or two OCs will clean that up an engine so full of sludge..."sludge is dangerous"...why go to 10k...to save, what, $15....?

 

[kwikrnu]

I've pictures of engine with much more sludge than this one. I cleaned a lot of the junk out and over this oil change interval of 2k plus another at 5k I think most of the garbage will be gone. I've been cutting the filters open, so if the next two filters are completely full I definitely won't extend the change interval.

 

[circuitsmith]

The engine cleaning products on the store shelf are mostly kerosene.
The key to avoiding harm is to run the engine for a short time with no load (ie, idling) then drain.
Add some lacquer thinner and you have a more aggressive solution for soaking pistons.
Just don't run the engine and get it on the rubber seals.

 

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
The car has over 200k miles on it and you feel the need to run kerosene through it, and scrape sludge off the valve covers with a screw driver and a shop vac? What exactly is it that you are trying to accomplish?


What's you're point?

He's obviously trying to get rid of stuff that shouldn't be there.

 

[hattaresguy]

Just drive it if it runs good. Why are you wasting so much time and money on an old motor?

If you just use a good oil and change it, it will clean up a bit over time.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Just drive it if it runs good. Why are you wasting so much time and money on an old motor?

If you just use a good oil and change it, it will clean up a bit over time.


LOL, old? Heck that's newer than anything we own.

Different strokes for different folks... If it saves him money in the long run, then why not?

 

[bvance554]

Originally Posted By: MarkM66
Originally Posted By: bvance554
The car has over 200k miles on it and you feel the need to run kerosene through it, and scrape sludge off the valve covers with a screw driver and a shop vac? What exactly is it that you are trying to accomplish?


What's you're point?

He's obviously trying to get rid of stuff that shouldn't be there.


My point is are there any performance issues? He hasn't mentioned any. Lets assume it is running fine, but he doesn't like the way it looks under the valve cover. He is afraid of sludge sloughing off and clogging something. What better way to do that than with a screwdriver and some kerosene. The thing will continue to run just fine as is. Probably for another 200k. Sludge or no sludge.

 

[kwikrnu]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
Originally Posted By: MarkM66
Originally Posted By: bvance554
The car has over 200k miles on it and you feel the need to run kerosene through it, and scrape sludge off the valve covers with a screw driver and a shop vac? What exactly is it that you are trying to accomplish?


What's you're point?

He's obviously trying to get rid of stuff that shouldn't be there.


My point is are there any performance issues? He hasn't mentioned any. Lets assume it is running fine, but he doesn't like the way it looks under the valve cover. He is afraid of sludge sloughing off and clogging something. What better way to do that than with a screwdriver and some kerosene. The thing will continue to run just fine as is. Probably for another 200k. Sludge or no sludge.


You would rather take a wait and see approach. As in, wait and see if engine damage will occur if someone is driving the car who does not pay attention to the low oil pressure light. Wait and see if when driving the car cross country on vacation and the low oil pressure light comes on 1000 miles from home.

I would rather take care of the problem. I carefully scraped the sludge while using a vacuum to suck it up. The car continues to run fine and now I don't have to worry about the sludge caused by a previous owner. No sludge is always a better alternative to sludge.

 

[yesthatsteve]

What about running a HDEO on short OCI for cleaning? T-5 in 10w30 looks like a viable option to me.