Sludged Frontier
- Thread starter tojo1968
- Start date
- Status
I'm also in the don't touch it camp. That stuff is insoluble at this point and will clog the pickup screen. Put the valve covers back, change the oil and make sure the oil light works. Check the oil regularly and keep it full. If you were In Love with the truck you could tear the engine down and have it cleaned, but a good used engine is likely more cost effective.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
- Messages
- 29,558
I'm curious,how in the world does this happen? Just from people never changing the oil?
Order Kreen put a quart and drive 100 or so miles before oil change. I am speaking out of my experience on my 96 E300 diesel with almost 300k mile. It will clean out most if not all sludge. And do it for 3 more OCI.
My car has a morñing injector knock even that disappeared along with blowby. Best $65 dollars ever spent.
My car has a morñing injector knock even that disappeared along with blowby. Best $65 dollars ever spent.
Holy cow
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I'm curious,how in the world does this happen? Just from people never changing the oil?
Yep, and a lot of short trips with little warm up time to burn off condensation and acids in the oil. I distantly knew a lady who bought a brand new Buick and drove it 70k miles on the factory oil until the engine seized up one day. There was no oil left, it had all turned into caked black tar, I pulled the drain plug and nothing came out! Once I got the valve covers off you could barely see the top of the rocker arms and that was it, the rest was just packed in with sludge.
I'm curious,how in the world does this happen? Just from people never changing the oil?
Yep, and a lot of short trips with little warm up time to burn off condensation and acids in the oil. I distantly knew a lady who bought a brand new Buick and drove it 70k miles on the factory oil until the engine seized up one day. There was no oil left, it had all turned into caked black tar, I pulled the drain plug and nothing came out! Once I got the valve covers off you could barely see the top of the rocker arms and that was it, the rest was just packed in with sludge.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
- Messages
- 29,558
Originally Posted By: jongies3
I pulled the drain plug and nothing came out!
Man that would've tripped me out! Haha
I pulled the drain plug and nothing came out!
Man that would've tripped me out! Haha
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2015
- Messages
- 1,462
Originally Posted By: mazdamonky
I would put an engine flush in it just to see what happens. Or i would switch to the cheapest synthetic oil I could find and change it every 4k miles til it dies or PYB every 2500. For all you know, the sludge might not be affecting the parts that need the oil the most. Who knows, if you start the slow cleaning process, it might last another 50k miles.
Plugged oil passages/strainer is what would happen.
It's running right now. Leave it alone.
I would put an engine flush in it just to see what happens. Or i would switch to the cheapest synthetic oil I could find and change it every 4k miles til it dies or PYB every 2500. For all you know, the sludge might not be affecting the parts that need the oil the most. Who knows, if you start the slow cleaning process, it might last another 50k miles.
Plugged oil passages/strainer is what would happen.
It's running right now. Leave it alone.
Originally Posted By: DemoFly
I don't really see the issue.
Clean it with a solvent, and then flush the oil return passages of debris. Drop the oil pan and clean the pan and oil pickup and then fill it with oil and drive it. If there is sludge left after flushing the passages it will be small and either not block the oil pickup screen or pass through it and go to the oil filter. If it does get caught in the pickup screen the detergents will eventually dissolve the sludge.
Don't let someone on the internet saying "sludge will clog the oil pickup if you clean it" scare you.
With a mess like that I wouldn't think oil is flowing very well through that engine. Cleaning that mess isn't going to do much for the wear caused by the neglect it took to get an engine to look like that in the first place. I'd be looking into a rebuild or replacement engine if I liked the car.
I don't really see the issue.
Clean it with a solvent, and then flush the oil return passages of debris. Drop the oil pan and clean the pan and oil pickup and then fill it with oil and drive it. If there is sludge left after flushing the passages it will be small and either not block the oil pickup screen or pass through it and go to the oil filter. If it does get caught in the pickup screen the detergents will eventually dissolve the sludge.
Don't let someone on the internet saying "sludge will clog the oil pickup if you clean it" scare you.
With a mess like that I wouldn't think oil is flowing very well through that engine. Cleaning that mess isn't going to do much for the wear caused by the neglect it took to get an engine to look like that in the first place. I'd be looking into a rebuild or replacement engine if I liked the car.
I have always wanted to buy a car with an engine in this shape, just so that I could try a couple of things to see if it would clean up well.
BC.
BC.
Wow, those Nissan 3.3's are pretty tough engines and not prone to sludge. I had one with about 140k miles and was clean as a whistle under the valve covers.
Ok, it is a car that I hope is paid off. I would take the oil pan out and clean it with kerosene, or the like, put PYB in with a cheap filter for a few hundred miles. Run it into the ground again. Why not. He doesn't have anything to lose at that point.
From the amount of parts he's already put in it, he seems to want to keep it going ...
Originally Posted By: Bladecutter
I have always wanted to buy a car with an engine in this shape, just so that I could try a couple of things to see if it would clean up well.
BC.
Me too! Well, maybe not buy it but I would like the challenge if someone gave me a car like that.
I have always wanted to buy a car with an engine in this shape, just so that I could try a couple of things to see if it would clean up well.
BC.
Me too! Well, maybe not buy it but I would like the challenge if someone gave me a car like that.
Last edited:
Looks like a fun project.
That's not even dirty.
You should have seen under the covers of some of the old Slant Sixes I pulled the cover on to adjust the valves for the first time in 200,000 miles. Its a good thing I knew rockers were under all that tar.
You should have seen under the covers of some of the old Slant Sixes I pulled the cover on to adjust the valves for the first time in 200,000 miles. Its a good thing I knew rockers were under all that tar.
I'd love to know how this happened. The OP says his mother owned the car for awhile. So they must know if it had regular oil changes. maybe a shop is to blame?
either way I'd physically clean it the best I could, then do as others are saying and run something to finish dissolving it. do some real short changes with cheap oil making sure to get it up to temp.
either way I'd physically clean it the best I could, then do as others are saying and run something to finish dissolving it. do some real short changes with cheap oil making sure to get it up to temp.
that had to run like [censored]!
that is actually not that bad. its not camshafts baked under all that mess so its not a huge deal. that said, i've done a headgasket job on a vg33e and really really hate how poorly designed the plenum is, never again.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked