This is where the US Tax Code comes from, in case anyone is curious. Look just above and to the left of the central gap; you can see the tax code in all its glory right there. Nasty, ugly, shocking - and not likely to get any better in the future unless big changes are made.
Two things, no three things:
1) First, that’s one hell of an engine that can still operate to get to that condition.
2) Second, was it Synthetic Oil. I doubt it. There have been life tests with Synthetic Oil and they note two things - no sludge and no deterioration of the engine, even after lots of miles. I’m going to look that up again.
3) I have a vehicle with an engine where the manufacturer made a slight change to comply with emissions. Seemed very minor, except that it is now causing engines to sludge-up and die. I checked mine. Spotless - I attribute that to using Mobil 1 (synthetic). It was a combination of luck and being smart on my part. And go to Walmart - Mobil 1 is only slighting higher than the cheap oils.