Posted on 04/19/2015 5:48:45 PM PDT by gaijin
There are over 100 pre-oil change treatments products for removing engine sludge. Each product endorser swears on a stack of Bibles that IT is the best --the others are all dastardly liars.
But see, I trust Freepers:
Is there a stand-out product, detergent, or some DIY product for gasoline-powered car engines that average Joe's can buy or formulate and run in their engine for 10 minutes right before an oil change in order to free up engine sludge...?
This gasoline-powered Camry has not changed oil in over 10,000 miles, I believe.
Sorry for the Vanity, I think this is almost my first time doing this.
Any other tips that you can recommend..?
Bump for a later read.
No, not in a modern car. This used to be the case 60 years ago, but not today. If you are running modern oils (especially synthetic) in a well-maintained car and you pull a rocker cover, you should see no sludge built up.
If you try to run a lightweight concoction through your motor, you are likely to mess up some seals, risk metal-on-metal contact due to reduced viscosity, or break some odd bit of something sludge (if there is any) loose to block an oil passage.
I can’t recommend a specific brand, but I would suggest after the flush and change, drive it a couple hundred miles and change it again when you have a concern about deposition and build-up in your oil — advice from an old guy who wisely listened to even older guys over the years.
I am not entirely sure that “freeing up engine sludge” is a desirable path. 10K mi old oil is old but shouldn’t be anything particularly horrible. Loosening up sludge has as much chance of causing a piece of crud to lodge in a place where it can produce damage as it does of getting it out of there. I would just change the oil normally and change it again in 1000 miles if you think there’s dirt in the engine. Others may offer a different opinion.
It is very high in detergents which will clean up any sludge and is very good at dispersing or suspending the junk until you can drain it out.
At 10,000 miles the oil in my old Tacoma would just start to darken slightly - to where it looked like honey. And it would still be at the ‘full’ mark on the dipstick.
Can’t speak to pre oil change detergents.
If this is synthetic oil, going 10k miles without an oil change is not a bad sin.
If twer me, I’d change the oil and filter, put in a high quality synthetic, run the engine for about 2K, or so and then change oil and filter again.
There after, use syn oil and change every 6k miles.
Camrys run forever if you take good care of them. Friend has one with 290K miles. Runs like a top.
Just kidding. You've got good advice already! ;)
Pour in a quart of acetone.
Just kidding. Don’t.
I can't keep that thing from trapping gunk. I'm not gonna be any help on you getting out the sludge, if there is any sludge.
Good luck. And don't use nitro-methane and castor oil.
/johnny
I would never put any of that garbage into my engines. Use Mobil 1, which only costs slightly more than non-synthetics at Walmart, and be done with it. I have a car whose engine became notorious for sludging up. But I used Mobil 1 - which doesn’t sludge...and the engine is still pristine.
Best thing for you to do is change the oil with the engine hot. Let it drain for as long as you can or until the engine cools completely down to ambient temperature.
I would not recommend any additives to “loosen” sludge unless you know for sure there is a unusual amount of build up but I seriously doubt there is. If so you can use a product called Rislone. It is formulated to do just that.
In my opinion it is better for you and more beneficial to just use shorter oil change interval for the next 15-20,000 miles with a good quality oil. This will clean up any deposits from neglecting proper oil change interval.
I work on Industrial Caterpillar engines for my living.
Unless someone has went for many many miles neglecting proper oil changes you shouldn’t need to worry about it.
Oil is much much better than it used to be.
Some modern engines are really prone to sludge, even with 3,000 mile oil and filter changes. We had a Toyota Sienna van about 15 years ago that was notorious for sludge and huge battles between Toyota and owners. Toyota would invalidate warranties if you were 10 miles over the oil change interval requirement.
If you are worried about sludge build up, just increase the oil change frequency to 3000 or so.
There are way too many instances of people putting the miracle sludge buster in there and it all breaks loose and clogs the oil pump inlet screen.
If you just ran it to 10K on a recommended 6K schedule, I am not even sure I would worry about it if it is being driven long enough distances to get to operating temperatures.
If you are driving it 5 miles twice a day, you could have significant build up.
I once sat next to a petroleum engineer on a flight from Tulsa to Atlanta.
The guy told me all about petroleum products, most of which I have forgotten. It was surprising how interesting the subject was.
I think improved motor oils are one reason engines routinely last over 200,000 miles now. That is if they are properly maintained.
Depending on how much sludge is built up in the engine I would just add a quart of automatic transmission fluid to the engine and drive it for an hour or so. ATF is high in detergents but also lubricates well.
Best of luck to you. Cleaning out an old engine can do wonders, but there are rare cases that cleaning causes other problems.
Ten thousand miles?
The guys up thread are right, just change the oil. Doing anything else could be damaging.
Use a good synthetic oil, Mobil One has a 15,000 mile oil, less than $30 for 5 quarts at Walmart.
I think your car uses 0W-20W, double check to be sure.
If it does call for that, don’t use anything with a higher viscosity number, as the oil won’t be able to get into the tight tolerances for proper lubrication.
How much of a mechanic are you? I can tell you what one guy I knew tried 35 years ago in his car. #1 He drained the oil. #2 He filled the crankcase with kerosene. #3 Note this is important!!! He started it and shut it off as quick as it turned over. #4 He drained it. #5 He proceeded with filling it with desired oil. Would I do this with mine? No way. Why do you suspect sludge?
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