A friend has a 2008 Crown Vic he bought new in late 2007, and always had serviced at the Ford dealer. Recently, he developed a bad valve cover gasket leak and found the dealer's quote rather expensive at almost $400, so he took it to an independent Ford tech who used to work at the dealership.
When the valve covers were removed, the tech informed him his engine was sludged and you could scoop it with a spoon. He told me about it, which I found very odd considering he had oil changes every 5,000 km (3,000 miles) at the dealership. The guy cleaned up the cylinder head, but that doesn't mean to say the rest of the engine is clean.
After a quick look at his receipts and a call to people I know at the dealer, I found out his engine was on Castrol GTX 10w30 for quite a while. Whilst I have nothing against Castrol, their products here are nothing like those sold in North America and Europe. They all 'meet the requirements of API SL' and are not even ILSAC rated (10W-30). They all come out of the same company in Dubai, who also bottle other companies' products and are overall rubbish at best. And considering this engine calls for an SM/GF-4 rated oil, this wasn't exactly the best choice of oil anyway. They used to use Motorcraft, which they still sell, but I think the excuse of a lubricant they bought from Castrol was cheaper for them.
The clean up plan I've come up with is this. His engine takes about 6.5L of oil, so I'm going with 5 quarts of SM rated Pennzoil Conventional 10w30 and 1.5 quarts of MMO. Going to run it for 2,500 km (1,500 miles), then dump in a bottle of Liqui-Moly Pro-Line Engine Flush. Idle the engine for the recommended 15 minutes, dump the oil, replace the filter and refill. Repeat the procedure 4 times, and switch to Pennzoil Platinum 5w30.
Can't beleive this happened to an engine with only 127,000 km (80,000 miles) on the clock.
When the valve covers were removed, the tech informed him his engine was sludged and you could scoop it with a spoon. He told me about it, which I found very odd considering he had oil changes every 5,000 km (3,000 miles) at the dealership. The guy cleaned up the cylinder head, but that doesn't mean to say the rest of the engine is clean.
After a quick look at his receipts and a call to people I know at the dealer, I found out his engine was on Castrol GTX 10w30 for quite a while. Whilst I have nothing against Castrol, their products here are nothing like those sold in North America and Europe. They all 'meet the requirements of API SL' and are not even ILSAC rated (10W-30). They all come out of the same company in Dubai, who also bottle other companies' products and are overall rubbish at best. And considering this engine calls for an SM/GF-4 rated oil, this wasn't exactly the best choice of oil anyway. They used to use Motorcraft, which they still sell, but I think the excuse of a lubricant they bought from Castrol was cheaper for them.
The clean up plan I've come up with is this. His engine takes about 6.5L of oil, so I'm going with 5 quarts of SM rated Pennzoil Conventional 10w30 and 1.5 quarts of MMO. Going to run it for 2,500 km (1,500 miles), then dump in a bottle of Liqui-Moly Pro-Line Engine Flush. Idle the engine for the recommended 15 minutes, dump the oil, replace the filter and refill. Repeat the procedure 4 times, and switch to Pennzoil Platinum 5w30.
Can't beleive this happened to an engine with only 127,000 km (80,000 miles) on the clock.
