Engine sludge? What to do?
(2010-05-30 09:59:31) 1. Says: Basically, I have a 1998 Ford Escort SE Wagon. It was my dads, and he was a little careless with it. I'm taking it as a first car, and thus I want to put some work into it. What I'm afraid of is that because it was hardly (and I mean hardly) maintained there's going to be a lot of sludge in the engine. I took it to a Valvoline a month ago -- the oil was BLACK. Got high mileage oil. Also had the air filter replaced. Basically, this is my question:How do I diagnose whether my car has engine sludge or not? Will just using something like Castrol High Mileage Oil next time I change the oil fix it, or... am I going to have to pull off the engine cover and actually clean it by hand? And if I don't, is the engine basically going to die? What do I do?2. Says: NO NO NO ENGINE CLEANERS, OR ANY OTHER CRAP IN A CAN!!!! the best thing you can do, is keep the oil in the crankcase clean. I would go to walmart, and get their house brand oil, it is going to get dirty quickly, when ever I had gunked up engines, if you try to clean out all of that crap all at once you can have some major problems, so fine you changed the oil check it in a hundred miles, if the oil is black, change the oil and filter again. If you are doing this yourself fine, you do not need to lube the front end every time you change the oil, drive the car, this is the best way to get the motor clean, put good gas in it, and take it for a drive, check the oil if you cannot read the lines on the dipstick, the oil is dirty. I usually had to change the oil once or twice pretty quickly, then after that it would go five hundred miles before having to change it again. you will be surprised at how well the car will begin to run with clean oil in it. eventually the intervals get longer and longer, but the one thing I look for, is if I can read the lines on my dipstick through the oil. oil is clear and light colored when new, it gets dark from heat, that's ok, but black is dirt, that is not ok, I had a old dodge charger that someone did not do an oil change on much. It took me two years to get the oil so it was clear enough to read the marks on the sticks, I was sitting in a gas station, (the people at the gas station knew when I pulled my 440 in it rattled all the windows with that 3/4 cam!) and some guy came up and asked me if this used to be so and so car? . I said yes and as he sat there listening to the cammed up idle he said MAN!! THAT THING NEVER RAN THIS GOOD!! WHAT DID YOU DO?????!!!. I just smiled and drove off, the only thing I had done up to that point, was change the oil six times. so no sludge degreasers, just clean fresh oil, clean gas, nice drives on the freeway on the weekends. best of luck3. Says: Get a can of Seafoam, it's like ten dollars at autozone, and look up online, or youtube How to Seafoam, and that will clean your engine out really well. You might be cautious to do this, because when you do it it shoots white smoke out of your tailpipe, but that's all of the carbon deposites in your engine breaking up and going through the exhaust, no worries. but it works wonders.4. Says: Not sure if engine flush is still sold or not. Basically, it was a quart of diesel fuel that you put in your oil. You would run it in the engine for about 20 minutes then change the oil. This would brake up deposits in the engine. If big chunks let go, they could clog the oil pickup. Not a good scene.
If the engine is running ok, and the oil light isn't coming on, I wouldn't worry to much. You could give it a couple oil changes in a row to help clean things up.
I've got a 97 chevy tk with about 260,000 miles and I only change the oil about every 12,000 miles. Not the best thing for it, but doesn't seem to be killing it either.
If it is concerning you that bad, have it torn down, all parts inspected, cleaned and new gaskets installed. Tag: Engine sludge? What to do?