VZ with sludge - best process to remove?

[SteveBones]

Howdy all, first post. Just bought a VZ Executive with 125000k, nice and clean, but badly serviced by woman driver. Runs beautifully (driven it for about 300k now), no smoke, no missing or noise, but there is sludge in engine. I have attached a pic of the filler tube showing the sludge, which I scraped off easily with my fingernail so its not varnished on (the attachment shows where I scraped off some of the gunk). Spoke to mechanic who did service last a few weeks ago (pre-sale service) he said it wasn't affecting the engine but not to flush, rather increase frequency of oil changes to every 5000km which would slowly remove the muck. I have read that a good dinosaur oil like Castrol GTX or Valvoline (not synthetics) has high detergent and will gradually eat away the sludge.

Can anyone comment on this for me? I am more than happy to do oil changes every 5000k with new filter, but will this be sufficient? Or should I add a little bit of additive (detergent) to each oil change? I know my way around cars generally (can change timing belts, replace valve cover gaskets etc) but don't know much about sludge. The mechanic said if I flush it, it may clog the "strainers".

Any suggestions or advice?

[heyitsEnricoPallazzo]

Remove the valve covers and clean them up. Then service more regularly with good quality oil. 10k or 6 months.

As your mechanic has stated. Using a oil flush additive may dislodge any scum and cause more problems.

[VK SL 3800]

If its running fine do nothing, your only going to disturb it and it could clog up oil galleries, just be sure to change oil regularly and use the good stuff.

[one_and_only2004]

I don't really know, but would running a thinner oil for a bit help to soften it up a bit? I have read about people using diesel as oil, and not revving past 2000rpm.

[Sabbath']

Alloytec's are awesome at clogging themselves up with sludge.





The top two pictures are from a Rodeo. Wasnt serviced for 60,000km. Owners mate did an oilchange for him, got less than 1 litre out. Then 3 days later it skipped teeth on the timing chains.

Bottom picture is from a VE, no service in 45,000km

[IPCOlsenVZ]

I would do a few short oil changes (1k-2k km) with a standard 10W30 oil (shell,castrol,valvoline) and changing the filter with a genuine one every time. When things improve switch to a long life syn (M1 0w40, Ultra 5w40) and genuine filter and start to extend your changes to 5k+ km. Change you PCV value and tubing and clean the TB. Change all the other fluids (brake, trans, diff, coolant) and filters(trans, fuel, air).

[SteveBones]

I would do a few short oil changes (1k-2k km) with a standard 10W30 oil (shell,castrol,valvoline) and changing the filter with a genuine one every time. When things improve switch to a long life syn (M1 0w40, Ultra 5w40) and genuine filter and start to extend your changes to 5k+ km. Change you PCV value and tubing and clean the TB. Change all the other fluids (brake, trans, diff, coolant) and filters(trans, fuel, air).

So you wouldn't do short oil changes with high detergent oils because they might clog the filter or oil pan return strainer? I was thinking two 1000km changes with either Castrol GTX or Valvoline XLD (10w-30) then every 5000 until it clears up - do you think that would be ok? Why do I need to use genuine filters? And isn't synthetic oil for high performance engines? The motor runs fine at the moment and doesn't burn oil nor is there any varnish on the oil stick. All other fluids are clean as a whistle including nice light red in the auto trans. Don't know about the diff there is a very slight backlash on the change to second if, and only if, I don't ease when it changes. WHich is ok because I am a featherfoot.

[SteveBones]

Alloytec's are awesome at clogging themselves up with sludge.



The top two pictures are from a Rodeo. Wasnt serviced for 60,000km. Owners mate did an oilchange for him, got less than 1 litre out. Then 3 days later it skipped teeth on the timing chains.

Bottom picture is from a VE, no service in 45,000km

As a point of interest, is the Alloytech a non-interference engine? These pictures are terrible by the way. Did the VE survive?

[SteveBones]

Remove the valve covers and clean them up. Then service more regularly with good quality oil. 10k or 6 months.

As your mechanic has stated. Using a oil flush additive may dislodge any scum and cause more problems.

I don't really want to remove the valve covers as I don't have a torque wrench any more and in any case don't know the torque for the bolts. I'll just go with the more frequent changes with good oil for a while and see if that gradually cleans it up. I will definitely not use detergent or Seafoam or anything like that.

[IPCOlsenVZ]

So you wouldn't do short oil changes with high detergent oils because they might clog the filter or oil pan return strainer? I was thinking two 1000km changes with either Castrol GTX or Valvoline XLD (10w-30) then every 5000 until it clears up - do you think that would be ok? Why do I need to use genuine filters? And isn't synthetic oil for high performance engines? The motor runs fine at the moment and doesn't burn oil nor is there any varnish on the oil stick. All other fluids are clean as a whistle including nice light red in the auto trans. Don't know about the diff there is a very slight backlash on the change to second if, and only if, I don't ease when it changes. WHich is ok because I am a featherfoot.

I would not use expensive oil first up because I believe you would not get the full benefit out of it. It’s not so much the oil you put in first but the filter interval because it will get clogged quickly as shown by sabbath's pic. I would and do use a genuine oil filter because there good quality (US made) and the oil analysis I’ve done with mine have shown they pick up most/all particles greater then 10 microns. You can still go with just will mineral oil if you want but if you’re not vigilant with your changes this will happen again and as things clean up you extend your interval changes even longer 10k+ kms on long life syn. Up to you, just my opinion.

[jr689]

SabathSS can't believe those photo's ay... I guess that's what happens when you leave an oil change for 45,000km's+ !!!

[heyitsEnricoPallazzo]

As a point of interest, is the Alloytech a non-interference engine? These pictures are terrible by the way. Did the VE survive?

Interference design.

[Sabbath']

As a point of interest, is the Alloytech a non-interference engine? These pictures are terrible by the way. Did the VE survive?

Interference. They like to smash valves. I've seen one that snapped the cam girdles in the head because there was that much force. As for the VE, it survived.

[Sabbath']

SabathSS can't believe those photo's ay... I guess that's what happens when you leave an oil change for 45,000km's+ !!!

Exactly. It's a good picture to bring out to show people what being cheap and not shelling out $60 for oil and $12 for a filter once a year could result in.

[oska]

i would drain and change filter

fill with diesel idle for 10 -15 mins ,drain change filter and fill with new oil

repeat again in 1K the do regular oil and filter changes 5K~10k

[greenacc]

Um, the OP said that the cheapo basic oils like Castrol GTX and valvoline XLD have high detergent. Is this true ?
I've always gone by the logic that expensive oils have better / more detergents and therefor do a better job cleaning your engine. Can anyone confirm ?

Back on topic, if your engine is sludged up bad i don't think any number of oil changes is going to fix it. I'd be definitely popping the rocker covers off and scrubbing it if you have the skills to do so. Be carefull and make sure you don't let any chunks fall down the galleries.... plug them with rag before you do anything. A Denstist vacuum would be awesome for this job.

[Boonz]

the best oil to use for "cleaning" purposes is a diesel oil, caltex "delo 400" has the highest detergent rating ive come across, castrol GTX diesel is pretty good too

most alloytecs are too far gone to flush out... usually needs the covers and sump off to do the job properly

[Sharpie]

Diesel engine oil, rally boys use it....il let u figure out why!