Oil sludge, engine shot?

Alarm bell [1] - 64k is waaaay to yound for a chain replacement.

What?? What explanation have they given for the sludging up?

You said it was a chain - is it a belt (I4) or a chain (V6)?

Not really - missing one or two oil changes is not to be recommended, but it will by no means ruin an engine.

The whole thing stinks. You need to get someone who knows what they're doing to look at your engine.

As I said - missing a couple of oil changes is bad, but not disastrous. As long as the engine is not so sludged up that it doesn't run, the standard solution is not in fact to throw it away, but two flush several gallons of flushing oil through it.

I think you intended to write "is it a chain (I4) or a belt (V6)".

Skipping one or two oil changes combined with a clogged up crankcase ventilation system and many short trips has been known to cause oil sludge in some cases.

I think you may be right :-)

Sure - a bit of sludge, but nothing to the extent of having to strip down the engine - at least not that I've seen.

Thanks all for your thoughts.

OK, so I headed out the the shop & took a look at this thing, and it does look like an awful mess, though I have no experience w/ engines & the like.

I put a call in to Saab customer care on the long shot that they will help me out in this matter.

Is there some sort of mechanical failure that could have caused the condition? Even a remote possibility may help me out w/ them.

thanks c

I don't know what kind of sludge you are looking at, but the thought of water mixing with oil comes to mind. Did the car overheat at some point? Might be simply a head gasket?

The whole deal sounds a bit odd though at 64K unless something really went wrong. Even if it's the headgasket that's not worth replacing an engine. I'm wondering if your mechanics are named Larry, Moe, & Curly...........