What is the best method to this madness? I'm helping a friend and his oil filler neck has sludge all inside of it. I took it off and cleaned it out but I'm sure this white jelly stuff is all inside the motor. Removed the valve covers and sure enough it was on that as well. I'm guessing he hasn't changed the oil in years

I was originally told to heat up the engine and then change the oil hot. Heat up the engine with the new oil and then change it again. The last oil change would be very fresh. I don't think this will take care of the white stuff or will it?

 

Some engines are just predisposed to condensation/milky sludge (4.7 Mopar comes immediately to mind). That said as long as its not excessive I`d leave it alone. Flushing *can* do more harm than good, esp if the overll internal condition is sludgy/gunky. Make sure the pcv system is clean, not clogged and the valve is fresh, maybe run a crankcase of some diesel spec oil for addl detergents but unless theres some type of problem the milky stuff is causing, OR is causing the milky junk to begin with (head gasket/coolant getting into the oil???) I wouldnt loose sleep over it.

 

I would agree with Chris. What kind of vehicle/engine is it? Like he said 4.7 chryslers were well known for condensation build but it doesn't seem to cause major issues. In 3.1 and 3.4 GM v6s it tends to mean the intake gaskets are leaking and need to be replaced asap.

The oil cleaners tend to loosen sludge and let it block the oil pump pickup on high mileage engines.

 

As said above be very careful doing a flush on a high mileage engine. Friend of mine, who dosen't know one end of a wrench from another, took his Mazda through one of the quicky oil change places and they recomended an engine flush, not knowing any better he said sure.
Within a couple hours his tappets started rattling so he brought it over to another friends shop.
Pulled the valve cover off and there was no oil getting to the top end of the engine. Checked the oil pressure, idiot light didn't work, and there was2-3 PSI pressure.
Pulled the pan off and the pickup tube screen on the oil pump was plugged solid with black gunk. Burned the gunk out of the pickup tube and bench tested the pump with an electric drill, oil every where. Got a new pickup tube just to be on the safe side put everything back together and oil pressure up to 45PSI and car ran fine.
Moral of the story stay away from quicky oil change and sometimes it is better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Del

 

The vehicle is a Subaru Turbo-charge engine. This is good information, I didn't know this. I did some more digging online and he's getting a code of a P0011 so I have a bunch of stuff to check. I've heard some guys with 12V cummins dumping ATF into the motor.. I just don't know if that is a good idea honestly.

So the only way to de-sludge a engine would be to manually clean it out? This stuff is thick and I helped him with a oil change not too long ago. The oil now has a copper look to it, I might do it again.

 

Usually the sludge is most prominent in the valve train. Good advice given by all above. Shorter oil change intervals help immensely. My 2012 Subaru calls for 7500 mile intervals on 0W20 synthetic, 5W30 synthetic for turbo models. The first 2 changes were done by Subaru at the required interval. I did the 3rd oil change and will do them here on out at 5k.

Cheap insurance even though for a filter and 6qt of oil cost more than it does for my truck.

 

On older engines (early 70's or older) we would buy cheap oil and filter put 4 quarts oil in plus one quart of diesel.
We would than start it for a minute until it got oil pressure and stop it. Let it sit for an hour start it for a minute and drain it.
We would repeat until it was sludge free.
I would not do this on newer engines esp one with a turbo.

Like he and others said. Heck, its running now.

 

May not help you out, but shorter oil changes and a 1/3 of can of sea foam a few hundred miles before you change oil will help clear it out. altho, if its bad, you may introduce problems from clumps of the stuff breaking off, plugging passages, or opening gasket leaks that were previously sludged over.

The best solution would be to tear the engine down, run the components thru the parts bath, and rebuild.

 

All good tips above. I had a 2002 Ram w/the 4.7L that I purchased new. After the first oil change I started using MobilOne Synthetic Oil. Through my normal course of checks, I noticed the oil fill had sludge in it. Took it in thinking there may be problems w/the head gasket, chrysler said it was normal, I called b.s. sludge is not normal. I discovered AMSOIL, decided to give it a shot after researching it for a couple weeks. Not once for the 70K+ miles that I had that truck when I traded it in (in '08) did it experience sludge after changing to AMSOIL.

Moral of the story, as long as the engine is mechanically sound, the type of oil could be the cause of the sludge. I recommend if the sludge isn't too bad to do an engine flush using the Engine Flush from AMSOIL, put on a cheap new filter, run the engine slightly above idle for 10-15 minutes, then change the oil and filter, I recommend trying out AMSOIL, but the engine flush will help break down, most, if not all of the sludge. The chemicals in synthetic oil will oil help clean up anything that may be left over.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

He needs to shorten up his oil change interval to 3,000 miles. Run a can of BG MOA with ever oil change. It will clean it up slowly. If it has been that neglected over the years with poor oil change intervals it's a crap shoot. I wouldn't run synthetic.

 

My 97 Tahoe was full of waxy stuff probably from the Original owner running Pennzoil thru it for 80K miles.

When I did the intake gaskets I drained the oil/antifreeze mess out and changed the filter with a napa filter, added 5 qts of 5w30 and 2 qts of diesel and let it idle for about 20 minutes.

I drained off a mess of dirty oil out of it, replaced the oil and filter and haven't had a problem with it. I only run valvoline thru it.

Its at 160K miles now...

For a turbo charged newer rig, I can't say this would be a good idea.

 

You're blaming Pennzoil for the mess caused by the intake gaskets?

 

Throw some amsoil in it, I know clean amsoil will take dirty oil stains off my hands..

 

I have been told that pennzoil has a parrafin based additive in it that causes this by a few engine builders/race guys...not sure how the rig was driven by original owner, but had 80K miles of Pennzoil quick lube rec'ts.

I helped a co-worker fix his 98 last summer, his lifter valley was clean while mine was full of pasty black grease like stuff...

Not trying to start an oil war, just don't use it...

 

It is an old wives' tale that will not die. Pennzoil actually makes quality lubricants that are widely available. How would they have ever stayed in business if they made junk? Pennzoil was the most popular engine oil many years ago and therefore was associated with engine buildup issues albeit many other manufacturers were utilizing the same refining processes. I recommend those interested in reading more about the parrafinic base oil debacle go to Bobistheoilguy.com.

One must also consider the prior owners maintenance history or lack thereof. Many individuals simply do NOT check the oil level and then they let it go too long between changes. The oil level gets low, overheats and voila! You have sludge. Add to that to a short distance driving routine and not allowing the engine to heat up enough where condensation does not burn off. The other times, not changing it as often as one should due to driving routine or laziness. And of course, the oil composition of yesteryear and you have a sludge storm that can be blamed on Pennzoil.