I have a 2003 Saab 9-5 Linear with 2.3L turbo I-4. The car has 147k miles on it, but I've only owned it about 16 months and put maybe 10k miles on it. I believe the previous owner had it serviced at a Saab dealer. I know from some online Saab forums that this engine has a tendency toward sludge buildup. I had the car in for some suspension work last week and also had the mechanic drop the oil pan to check for sludge. This mechanic is very experienced with Saabs. He showed me some cell phone pics of my oil pan and said the sludge was about as bad as he's ever seen. The oil pump pickup screen was nearly blocked, with a big cone-shaped formation of sludge directly under it on the pan. Anyway, a case of brake cleaner later it's clean, but the mechanic said he's seen engines like this that develop an oil starvation problem a few months down the road after cleaning up the sludge. He recommends changing oil at 2k mile intervals the next couple of times, and perhaps dropping the oil pan again after a year or so to check/clean.
I know the folks on the forum tend to not be bashful about sharing their opinions. What do you recommend I do to minimize the future effects of sludge in this engine? BTW, I'm using Mobil 1 0W-40 and a Hastings LF134 filter, which is oversize for this application.
I know the folks on the forum tend to not be bashful about sharing their opinions. What do you recommend I do to minimize the future effects of sludge in this engine? BTW, I'm using Mobil 1 0W-40 and a Hastings LF134 filter, which is oversize for this application.