Sludge

In news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com, Chuck being of bellicose mind posted:

Before you buy a used engine, you must inspect for sludge ... obviously. Just have the seller remove the valve cover so you can personally see if it is sludged. Take no one's word for it. Be there. See for yourself.

Absolutely critical to inspect under the valve cover. I stupidly bought a 96 with some sludge in it. I subsequently found the sump had been off,.........no guesses as to why. Fortunately the engine has not failed and goes well.

Jason

So what's to stop him from cleaning out the sludge before you see it?

In news:jTxyb.32511$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net, Art Begun being of bellicose mind posted:

Art: Serously, have you EVER had a valve cover off a badly varnished ... let alone sludged ... engine? Have you ever tried to remove varnish with chemicals or some scraping instruments? Do you have any idea how many nooks and crannies there are in this area? Pretty darned difficult to make the valve train look like new or ... look like an engine that's had recreational oil servicing.

I've never had a sludged up engine but it seems to me that if someone wants to be devious there is always a way.

varnished

In news:zAPyb.599$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net, Art Begun being of bellicose mind posted:

Have you ever removed the valve cover from a double overhead cam aluminum head engine (as if there were any other kind... LOL)? Remember, the orginal poster is thinking of buying a used engine ... in which case he can request a visual inspection under BOTH valve covers. Doing so is easy with the engine sitting there on the ground. Varnish just does not come off all that easy and completely with any chemicals I've ever used ... short of disassembling the entire engine and putting it in a "hot tank" with caustic soap under pressure.

While visiting my brother-in-law during Thanksgiving, he mentioned a nearly identical problem with his '97 Camry ... The car is now parked until a decision is made on what to do.

His daughter was driving the car back from college on an Interstate highway when it began making a noticeable valve clatter noise and also was losing power ... My guess is that one or more valve lifters was causing the noise due to varnish/sludge buildup on the outside of the lifter or possibly internally ... She stopped the car and called her dad who arranged to tow the car home. The oil pressure light did not come on.

Engine definitely sludged after removing the valve cover.

My question is whether any commercial products might help to free the lifters without having to dissassemble the engine?

Chuck D.

was this car a 4 or 6 cylinder? was the oil changed on a regular basis?

In news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m19.aol.com, ROBMURR being of bellicose mind posted:

Every year or two whether it needed changing or not. LOL

At such an advanced stage, NOTHING your can pour in the engine and drive around on is going to dissolve enough sludge to buy you time. When the oil pump inlet screen is clogged... it's over. You're going to be writing a check soon, either for an engine or another car.

4 cylinder

Probably not, but not entirely sure.

Good point! .... However, I seem to recall that running an oil and automatic transmission mixture in the crankcase might be able to fix noisy lifters .... Not sure if worth trying on a sludged-up engine.

Charles D.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Chuck being of bellicose mind posted:

Please understand: ONCE the oil pump inlet becomes obstructed in ANY mechanism requiring pressurized lubrication, the "Mechanic in a Can" approach will only result in more damage if not a thrown connecting rod. While the engine is still in one piece, I would tow the car to a shop and have the valve cover pulled to confirm the levels of sludge.... followed by oil pan removal to inspect the oil pump inlet screen. If loose connecting rods are evident (while the oil pan is off), then you can make an informed decision about what to do next.

It is my understanding Toyota noticed ALL they would go back 8 years on sludge problems and make them right, the 1MFZ or whatever engine if you have regular oil change records.

One should also be apprised between 2002 and prior year models and 2004 models the recommended maintenance intervals have gone down from

6 months or 7500 miles to 6 months or 5000 miles, in writing baby.

Don't tell me the sludge problem does not exist; it seemingly has been "verified" by such manual change.

Gordon

Toyota is not alone in reducing oil change intervals to shorter intervals. I think this was done because people don't understand the concept of the severe service oil change interval and, even if they do understand the concept, they don't believe that their driving pattern is severe service. Personally, I think

3000 mile oil change intervals are too short for any vehicle that is not a taxi, police car, delivery vehicle, or a Toyota. On the other hand 7500 miles is too long for most people except those who rack up 2k t0 3k miles per month. 5000 miles is probably a happy medium value for most typical drivers operating well designed vehicles. I like GMs concept of adding a computer operated oil change indicator light. This seems like this is far better idea than trying to pigeon hole everyone into "normal" or "severe" service schedules.

Ed

In news: snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com, C. E. White being of bellicose mind posted:

Specifically, which auto manufacturers have revised downward their oil service intervals?

There are plenty of other drivers whose driving habits mimic taxi (soccer mom) and police car (pizza delivery, critical medical, etc) service. Any service whose short duration prevents maintaining the oil temperature sufficiently to disperse water vapor and acid from the oil. Think about it. Also, fuel quality (SULFUR in particular) lends decisively to oil contamination.

Severe Service: Soccer Mom Duty Cycle or cold weather.

Normal Service: Commuter Duty Cycle of not less than 30 minutes each way.

Supra-Normal Service: More than 50% interstate operation in warm to hot climates.

I'm ducking as I'm typing because I'm going to recommend an oil additive to remove and prevent sludging. I own a repair shop, as reference my shop is larger and does more work than most dealerships, and we use BG products.

BG's MOA (Motor Oil Additive) is an effective sludge remover and prevents future build-up. BG products are professional strength and actually do work, unlike the weak snake oil you can buy at retail part outlets. If you're familiar with BG products, you know how good they are.

some enterprising people now sell BG stuff over the internet, the best site I've seen is

I know additives are a "touchy" subject because of the snake oil sold at retail outlets. Don't shoot the messenger, please!

How do you KNOW this is an effective product? A website with pictures showing the BEFORE and AFTER views of the valve train of ONE INDIVIDUAL engine would be sufficient.

Only a few BG product reall ywork. The cooling system sealer it excellent, the BG fuel direr is also nice, the auto tranny conditioner. The rest is IMHO, junk and a waste of money.