HELP Sludge found in my 97 Accord. What to do????

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Nashville, Tennessee
I've got a 1997 Honda Accord (4 cyl) with 110K miles. Driven mostly in stop-and-go commuter traffic. Embarrasingly, I haven't had the oil changed since 93,000 miles. (gasp). And at irregular intervals before that. (Another gasp) Not proud of it, and I knew better.

While driving this afternoon, the oil light came on. I immediatly pulled over and turned off the engine. Remembering I had a quart of oil in the trunk, I lifted the hood and took the oil cap off only to see, to my horror (and not complete surprise) that it was full of sludge. Gunk.

I am mechanically iliterate, so this could be a completely unrelated problem, but recently, the temperature needle rises about 1/2 way to the red line while stopped at a red light. That is probably just the thermostat, but didn't know if that was at all related or not.

I've been on the 'net all day looking, reading. Found this site, read about Auto-RX. I am uncertain what direction to take.

Take me through this step-by-step. While I realize I have significaly shortened the life of my engine, what steps can I take that will maximize the life left in it?

Is there any hope?

Thanks all for sharing your knowledge.

Michael
 
Well, several treatments of auto-rx will probably help out. The best, and most costly thing to do would be disassemble the engine and clean it by hand that way, but that would cost a bunch. If your oil light came on from blockage of a pressurized oil gallery where oil from the pump couldn't get to a internal engine part, you may have problems. If it was simply from a low oil level, then check it more often! Your coolent temperature (which is the temp displayed on the dash) could potentialy be affected by oil sludge not allowing fresh oil to do it's role of additional cooling of the engine. I'd start bychanging the oil and filter to a good quality 10w-30 conventional oil, and add a full bottle of auto-rx. Run that for 500 miles, then change oil and filter again and do a longer interval of auto-rx, say 1500 miles, with a filter change 1/2 way through (750 miles). Then change oil and filter again, and then stay with 3,000 mile changes from there on out with small 3 oz doses of auto-rx for several oil changes. You may want to have your cooling system fully serviced with a new thermostat and fresh coolent/full system flush just to make sure your temp woes are under control. If you haven't serviced your cooling system ever, it'll need it by now. I know, all these things are expensive, but so is a new engine. Doing at minimum these things will surely add longevity to your car.
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You didn't change the oil for 17,000 miles
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, & now there's trouble?
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Hmm...

1st: change the oil & filter *NOW*! Immediately, as in yesterday. Use a good 10w30 or even 5w30 dino oil, I'd probably choose Pennzoil or Chevron. If you're still driving the car don't wait for the few days it'll take for Auto-Rx to arrive by mail. Drive your new dino oil a few hundred miles, when AutoRx arrives, install new oil filter, add auto-Rx, & drive. Get at least 2 bottles of it, sounds like you're gonna need it. Or Schaeffer Neutra would help, too.
 
Michael,
I've been guilty of this same thing on my 91 camry(almost a year on dino). Your cooling fan might not be kicking in, and that would cause you to overheat at a stop. And that would then cook your oil. I would check it out. Definitely use AutoRx, it's great, my 91 camry stopped smoking in 400 miles. If you see gobs of sludge in the oil fill hole then I would at least take the valve cover off and clean the top of the engine off, it will give the AutoRx a real head start.

JOe
 
I agree with Stuart. Change the oil NOW!!! Then when you get the AutoRX change the oil and filter again. You will need to change the oil and filter after about 500 miles with AutoRx then one more treatment with AutoRX and drive about 1,000 miles and change the oil and filter again and then from that point on change your oil and filter about every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. You could also order Neutra 131 from Tim Mills (site supporter) and it would most likely work just as well as AutoRX. The engine coolant also should be changed and possibly the thermostat. Any good conventional 5w-30 or 10w-30 (SL GF-3) oil should be OK. If there is an AutoZone near where you live you can get an oil change reminder sticker from them free of charge when you purchase oil. They gave me three of those stickers when I was there last. Good luck and let us know what happens.
 
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