So, I have a 2005 Saab 9-5 aero wagon (~160k mi) that I bought used in 2012. For those of you who are familiar with these cars, you know that they can be especially hard on oil, and certain model years are prone to sludge. My understanding is that they updated the pcv system on them in '04 and revised the oil type and oci recommendations, which largely fixed the issue. I've seen people drop the pans on '04 and later models, and they're sparkling clean.
I have an '05, have been very conservative with my oci's (~3-5k) and have used good 0w-40 synthetic oil, so I should be in the clear, right? Well I decided to give myself some assurance when I changed my oil over the weekend, so I bought a USB borescope and looked into the pan and discovered something that approximated this. (I don't have any actual pictures.)
I could see parts that looked to be fairly clean metal, but some parts were black as night. It sure looks like I have some sludge.
The only thing that I can figure is that the previous owner was pretty careless about oci's and maybe didn't use good enough oil. It did come to me by way of a sheriff's auction.
So, what do I do? I know that the obvious answer is to drop the pan and clean it myself, but that's probably not going to happen. I'm fairly handy, but I have two young kids and a wife who will only tolerate so much "tinkering" with the car, no matter how important. I also don't have a garage.
I could take it to my mechanic, but I'm thinking that this could be a fairly costly thing to have him do. Are there other options? From what I've read, the biggest concern is build up on the pickup screen. If this gets clogged, then the engine is toast. Oil cleaners seem a bit snake oil-ish, but could something like that work here? My biggest concern with this approach is that the cleaner would dislodge some crud, and that would clog up some critical component, doing more damage than just leaving it alone.
I really like this car and want it to last for as long as it can. Thoughts and/or suggestions?
I have an '05, have been very conservative with my oci's (~3-5k) and have used good 0w-40 synthetic oil, so I should be in the clear, right? Well I decided to give myself some assurance when I changed my oil over the weekend, so I bought a USB borescope and looked into the pan and discovered something that approximated this. (I don't have any actual pictures.)
I could see parts that looked to be fairly clean metal, but some parts were black as night. It sure looks like I have some sludge.
The only thing that I can figure is that the previous owner was pretty careless about oci's and maybe didn't use good enough oil. It did come to me by way of a sheriff's auction.
So, what do I do? I know that the obvious answer is to drop the pan and clean it myself, but that's probably not going to happen. I'm fairly handy, but I have two young kids and a wife who will only tolerate so much "tinkering" with the car, no matter how important. I also don't have a garage.
I could take it to my mechanic, but I'm thinking that this could be a fairly costly thing to have him do. Are there other options? From what I've read, the biggest concern is build up on the pickup screen. If this gets clogged, then the engine is toast. Oil cleaners seem a bit snake oil-ish, but could something like that work here? My biggest concern with this approach is that the cleaner would dislodge some crud, and that would clog up some critical component, doing more damage than just leaving it alone.
I really like this car and want it to last for as long as it can. Thoughts and/or suggestions?