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There is no proof that my car produced any sludge at all in its 9+ years of existence. However, chances are that it has, especially given its routine short-distance driving in the last 5+ years after my last relocation to my current home. That's why I'm looking for a non-invasive and inexpensive solution to the problem/non-problem. Sending the car to the mechanic for pan dropping and inspection/cleaning in my area can cost close to 10% of the remaining value of the car, whereas the probability of the engine dying of sludge clog up is far less than 10%. Dropping the pan wouldn't make sense as a preventive/maintenance measure in the absence of diagnosis of severe oil sludging.
I'm not too worried about sludge in the oil galleries in the engine. The car gets regular oil change every 5k miles since brand new, and has been on "full" synthetic Mobil1 since 2002. I'm mostly concerned about the possible carbon/plastic particles at the bottom of the oil pan clogging up the oil take-up screen and cause oil pressure drop leading to oil starvation at the top side of the engine. That's why I do not want any engine flush to bring debris from the rest of the engine down to the pan in a big hurry. I only want dissolving and removing the debris already at the bottom (and probably will continue to fall down even with regular oil change using full synthetics) on a routine/low-cost basis. I'm concerned about the oil pickup screen getting clogged by debris already at the bottom and in most likelihood will continue to accumulate even with routine oil change using "full" synthetics. PAO "full" synthetics has high temperature tolerance, which makes it great for use in turbo and reducing the rate at which new sludge/debris is formed. However, PAO is also a poor carrier of detergent additives, so its ability to keep what little new debris suspended and remove old debris is also limited. That's why I'm looking for ways to remove debris at the bottom of the pan and the pickup screen on a regular basis, prior to filling the car with new synthetic oil.
posted by 71.184.95...
, Sat, 14 Aug 2010 08:04:17
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