Sludge in 2000 Nissan Quest 3.3L

[Stephen_G]

It seems i have become the "oil Guy" to my friends and family, i checked my grandfathers 2000 quest with 130k on the clock after i ran seafoam through the intake to remove the carbon (it never goes on the interstate, he has odd phobias) and the oil cap had thick sludge under it.

My theory, his short trips at 50mph or less are killing the engine, due to it never going on the freeway. He is 78 years old and hates driving on it, he has fears of stuff, so he never goes on it.

Friend reccomend running 1Q of MMO through it, idle for 25 mins, then drain the oil and replace it. I am trying to convince him to let me change his oil instead of the goodyear place around the corner.

Planned Oil/Filter combo if i do it myself. Mobil Super 5000. Or Shell Rotella T in 10W30, and Purolator filter, unless i can find the motorcraft filter for the mercury vilager FL-822.

What do you guys reccomend to remove the sludge?

 

[spasm3]

nothing!! He is 78 years old. If a lot of sludge plugs up the oil screen, he is out a vehicle , he might not be happy with you. I would change it for him, and not try and clean it. It will probably last longer than he will need it.

 

[oggb]

The oil cap having sludge doesn't mean the entire motor is sludged. If you can't see the heads through the oil fill and it isn't making weird noises leave it alone.

If you have proof the engine has some sludge, use something cheap/high detergency and change it more often so that it's "cleaned" gently. Rotella 10w-30/PYB 5w-30/Mobil Super 5000 sound great.

 

[Stephen_G]

Originally Posted By: JRed
The oil cap having sludge doesn't mean the entire motor is sludged. If you can't see the heads through the oil fill and it isn't making weird noises leave it alone.

If you have proof the engine has some sludge, use something cheap/high detergency and change it more often so that it's "cleaned" gently. Rotella 10w-30/PYB 5w-30/Mobil Super 5000 sound great.


Sorry, i meant that i poped off the cap, and there is rather thick residue beneath it

 

[scurvy]

Pour in Rotella 15w40 and a quart of MMO in the crankcase, a bottle of Techron to the fuel tank, warm it up well, take it out on the interstate and CANE THE SNOT OUT OF IT! 200 miles, minimum.

If gramps won't get on the beans once in a while, 'borrow' it for a trip to the hardware store to pick up something.

 

[Stephen_G]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
Pour in Rotella 15w40 and a quart of MMO in the crankcase, a bottle of Techron to the fuel tank, warm it up well, take it out on the interstate and CANE THE SNOT OUT OF IT! 200 miles, minimum.

If gramps won't get on the beans once in a while, 'borrow' it for a trip to the hardware store to pick up something.


getting him to let me borrow the van is like pulling teeth, i am 23 and his insurance won't let me leagally drive it. I might manage taking it to work to do the oil change there, if i bug him enough.

 

[artificialist]

Buy some high mileage oil in the viscosity that the van specifies.

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: Stephen_G
It seems i have become the "oil Guy" to my friends and family, i checked my grandfathers 2000 quest with 130k on the clock after i ran seafoam through the intake to remove the carbon (it never goes on the interstate, he has odd phobias) and the oil cap had thick sludge under it.

My theory, his short trips at 50mph or less are killing the engine, due to it never going on the freeway. He is 78 years old and hates driving on it, he has fears of stuff, so he never goes on it.

Friend reccomend running 1Q of MMO through it, idle for 25 mins, then drain the oil and replace it. I am trying to convince him to let me change his oil instead of the goodyear place around the corner.

Planned Oil/Filter combo if i do it myself. Mobil Super 5000. Or Shell Rotella T in 10W30, and Purolator filter, unless i can find the motorcraft filter for the mercury vilager FL-822.

What do you guys reccomend to remove the sludge?


I recommend doing nothing and letting him learn the hard way! It sounds like it's driving you crazy when he doesn't give a hoot.

 

[yonyon]

There are plenty of county roads out your way where he can do 45 to 60 MPH. It's not as fast as the interstate, but it's not putting around town either, he's just got to run it a little longer. If 45 is all he's willing to do, how about running with the trans in 3rd for the last 5 minutes of a half hour drive? He can probably make a nice ride like that during the middle of the day once every week or two if you can explain why its needed.

If he can't, well, maybe he's got a good reason for it. Maybe his eyesight or reaction times are off and he's not seen a doctor about it. If he's very resistant to the idea of a good drive see if you can get him to tell you why. If all he needs is a pair of glasses or a change in diet to be both healthier and a better driver that's something worth knowing about regardless of the benefits to the van.

 

[Stephen_G]

Originally Posted By: yonyon
There are plenty of county roads out your way where he can do 45 to 60 MPH. It's not as fast as the interstate, but it's not putting around town either, he's just got to run it a little longer. If 45 is all he's willing to do, how about running with the trans in 3rd for the last 5 minutes of a half hour drive? He can probably make a nice ride like that during the middle of the day once every week or two if you can explain why its needed.

If he can't, well, maybe he's got a good reason for it. Maybe his eyesight or reaction times are off and he's not seen a doctor about it. If he's very resistant to the idea of a good drive see if you can get him to tell you why. If all he needs is a pair of glasses or a change in diet to be both healthier and a better driver that's something worth knowing about regardless of the benefits to the van.


How to explain it, he has a lot of phobias, for a while he was afraid to drive over water, and is afraid of going through tunnels. He had to go a long way around to avoid river crossings at one time. Freeways just make him uncomfortable to be on, i told him to run it in a lower gear once in a while at 45-50.

 

[yonyon]

That probably falls into the category of things a doctor can help with. Antidepressents or anti-anxiety pills... but then there's the side effects you can sometimes have to deal with before they find one that works. If he's the stubborn sort who won't want to see a doctor about that or if he tends to do badly with medications when he's sick it might not be worth it.

Did he agree to try running it in a lower gear?

 

[John_Snyder]

Although I know you're trying to be helpful, I'd recommend not touching it yourself. You've already said he's reluctant to let you, so why push it? If ANYTHING goes wrong after you're worked on it, you know it will somehow end up being YOUR fault.

If he's already got a "favorite" place to take it for service, I'd simply recommend that based on what you've seen, it needs to be serviced more frequently based on his driving habits.

I have several family members that do almost no freeway driving whatsoever with their cars, but the car's eventual demise has never been from engine failure. Age and/or rust will likely get to the rest of it before he wears anything out engine-wise. More frequent oil changes is probably all it needs to help get it cleaned up to a healthy level.

Years ago I bought an old Plymouth that obviously hadn't been properly maintained by the previous owner - but I got it almost for free anyway. It was consuming oil, so I bought some new valve guide seals to put in (it was clearly a top end issue from the clouds it created when started). It was winter, so I didn't rush into the job - but then got the opportunity to work indoors, so I went ahead and pulled the valve cover. I had noticed that it hadn't really gone through any oil in the past couple weeks, but figured maybe the cold weather had something to do with it. WRONG. I had run various additives (MMO for one, I forget what others now from 20 years ago), but something had disturbed a large enough chunk of sludge to completely block the oil passage to the rocker assembly - so it was BONE DRY up top. I'm sure if I had driven it for too much longer I would have seen some really serious immediate damage. I still ended up having to replace the head within the year as the valve guides were severely worn from that little issue.

Fortunately though it was MY car and I could fix it myself for minimal cost - although a bit of inconvenience. If it had been someone else's car, they probably wouldn't have let me touch it again, since that problem was most likely "my" fault. I'd then have felt guilty that they had to spend big $ getting it fixed somewhere else - even though the original "source" of the problem was clearly from previous neglegence.

The last time I took a family member's car and gave it "the beans" to clear it out for an emission test, the pulley on the harmonic balancer decided to separate while I was driving it. Of course you know who ended up fixing it, and them being without a car for a couple of days while the part was on order didn't make them very happy either. Of course it had been fine as long as they were the only one driving it...

With a vehicle like that, I'd just steer clear. When people have set routines and habits, "help" isn't always appreciated - no matter how good the intentions. Not trying to be negative - just speaking from personal experience. I'd only get involved if Grandpa asked.

John

 

[phenix78_99]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
Pour in Rotella 15w40 and a quart of MMO in the crankcase, a bottle of Techron to the fuel tank, warm it up well, take it out on the interstate and CANE THE SNOT OUT OF IT! 200 miles, minimum.

If gramps won't get on the beans once in a while, 'borrow' it for a trip to the hardware store to pick up something.


Man, I almost wet myself when I read this post...

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: Stephen_G
getting him to let me borrow the van is like pulling teeth, i am 23 and his insurance won't let me leagally drive it. I might manage taking it to work to do the oil change there, if i bug him enough.

Your Grandpa has bizarro-world insurance. Where I come from, the insurance is tied to the vehicle and not the driver.

Take it to work via the scenic route. The Catskills are pretty this time of year, I hear.

Originally Posted By: phenix78_99
Man, I almost wet myself when I read this post...

I didn't know such excellent advice could cause incontinence, but now I know better! With great power comes great responsibility...

 

[Stephen_G]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
Originally Posted By: Stephen_G
getting him to let me borrow the van is like pulling teeth, i am 23 and his insurance won't let me leagally drive it. I might manage taking it to work to do the oil change there, if i bug him enough.

Your Grandpa has bizarro-world insurance. Where I come from, the insurance is tied to the vehicle and not the driver.

Take it to work via the scenic route. The Catskills are pretty this time of year, I hear.

Originally Posted By: phenix78_99
Man, I almost wet myself when I read this post...

I didn't know such excellent advice could cause incontinence, but now I know better! With great power comes great responsibility...


His insurance won't cover anyone under 25, i forgot to add that.

 

[D189379]

Originally Posted By: JC1
Originally Posted By: Stephen_G
It seems i have become the "oil Guy" to my friends and family, i checked my grandfathers 2000 quest with 130k on the clock after i ran seafoam through the intake to remove the carbon (it never goes on the interstate, he has odd phobias) and the oil cap had thick sludge under it.

My theory, his short trips at 50mph or less are killing the engine, due to it never going on the freeway. He is 78 years old and hates driving on it, he has fears of stuff, so he never goes on it.

Friend reccomend running 1Q of MMO through it, idle for 25 mins, then drain the oil and replace it. I am trying to convince him to let me change his oil instead of the goodyear place around the corner.

Planned Oil/Filter combo if i do it myself. Mobil Super 5000. Or Shell Rotella T in 10W30, and Purolator filter, unless i can find the motorcraft filter for the mercury vilager FL-822.

What do you guys reccomend to remove the sludge?


I recommend doing nothing and letting him learn the hard way! It sounds like it's driving you crazy when he doesn't give a hoot.


You should definitely teach that old man nearing the end of his life a lesson!!

 

[Bladecutter]

Originally Posted By: Stephen_G
How to explain it, he has a lot of phobias, for a while he was afraid to drive over water, and is afraid of going through tunnels. He had to go a long way around to avoid river crossings at one time. Freeways just make him uncomfortable to be on, i told him to run it in a lower gear once in a while at 45-50.


Oh don't worry.
He's just a vampire.
I bet he doesn't have very many mirrors in his house, nor any garlic, or sharp, pointy sticks just laying around, pointy side up.

Definitely no holy water, and he only drives at night, otherwise he's a daywalker.

BC.

 

[Maxima97]

I have a 95 Mercury Villager and looking clean through the fill hole. Before I always do 3K dino OCI and now i am doing 10K OCI on PP in winter and 5k OCI on Maxlife in summer.

 

[addyguy]

Don't stress your grandpa, just leave it alone.

Sounds like he has lots of 'issues', and if you start bugging him about doing stuff to his van, it will just make him worse.

He sounds like he shouldn't be on the road anyways, so if the van fails, it's probably for the best.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
Pour in Rotella 15w40 and a quart of MMO in the crankcase, a bottle of Techron to the fuel tank, warm it up well, take it out on the interstate and CANE THE SNOT OUT OF IT! 200 miles, minimum.

If gramps won't get on the beans once in a while, 'borrow' it for a trip to the hardware store to pick up something.


And what happens if he blows it up doing this? It isn't his vehicle.