There are a bunch of products to add to your oil right before you change it that claim to clean out your engine of sludge. My friend at work says that the stuff is basically just kerosene and if I want to save a few bucks to skip the expensive pepboys products. Is he right?
It’s not uncommon for those types of products to have kerosene.
Most common professional advice you will find: Just change the oil.
Curiously, even people who have terrible oil changing habits are never going to experience oil related problems with their engines. Few people will drive their car long enough to see any lubricated part suffer because they changed their oil late every time. If you fear a loss of compression at 180,000 miles, go nuts on oil changes.
There are some ‘flush out’ services that are ‘‘recommended’’ for some engines as occasional treatments. These are ‘‘professional’’ services. Refer to cartalk.com, as they’ve mentioned them as scams.
Very informative link about motor oil. A must read/reference:
This is not 100% true. Read down on your cite to Toyota Sludge
There exists a problem with engines being filled with sludge. Not doing the regular maintenance is one way to sludge an engine and there is also the problem where the customer has changed the oil on time, and the engine gets sludged anyway. There have been cases of cars with as few as 20,000 miles with sludging issues. A number of car makers currently have this issue, to a greater or lesser degree, and all are working toward a solution.
The funny part is that the sludging issue seems to temp related, but not in the way you would expect. It seems to be a cold weather problem, when you might expect it to be a hot weather issue.
One school of thought is that it is somehow gasoline related, as gasoline is blended different in different parts of the country, while a can of oil is a can of oil. The bottom line is nobody is quite sure just what the root cause is.
Sludge causes issues in two ways.
first off it blocks the very little oil passages in a modern engine and things like lifters, cam bearings and variable valve mechanisms don’t get oil causing an oil related failure.
The second is when the entire crankcase turns into jelly, the pump can no longer suck up this guck and the engine has zero oil pressure.
Getting back to the OP:
Why do you want to flush the engine? Some products do contain Kerosene or diesel fuel. Others don’t. On a modern engine, I might be leery of putting anything with Kerosene or Diesel in the engine. This is because as the engine heats up the hydrocarbons are going to evaporate and go through the PCV system. The cars computer will then compensate for a rich mixture. If the concentration of hydrocarbons is high enough, the compensation program might hit its end stop and trigger a check engine light. While this is not the end of the world, it does complicate your life somewhat.
So what exactly is the issue here?
Those “sludge removers” can also create longer lasting mayhem than just triggering a Check Engine light.
Many years ago, a friend bought a used car that was barely more computerized than the aftermarket digitally-tuned radio that someone put into it. They figured the car was far behind in its maintenance, and was just loaded up with sludge. (His complaint was that it ran poorly and had no power.) IIRC, it was a Dodge Omni, so it barely had enough power to get out of its own way. Guess he thought ten bucks’ worth of kerosene would turn it into a Porsche 944?
After two cans (the oil level was already low) of the local auto emporium’s finest Sludge-B-Gone, the engine just started bleeding oil from seemingly every seam - not only did the stuff work on internal gunk, it tore into the old gaskets and ruined the PCV valve, so the crankcase was under more pressure than normal, forcing out oil.
You can save yourself a few bucks by changing your oil when your supposed to. Following the recommended maintenance schedule will keep sludge from forming in your crankcase for the most part unless you live in an extremely harsh environment.
p.s. I like your user name.
Some of the sludging is from areas that I don’t consider to be “harsh”. I have heard of cases in places like Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver BC.
If you’ve got a sludged-up engine, I know some qualified professionals who highly recomment the Auto-Rx product. No kersone involved!
Look it up, but PLEASE read the directions if you plan to use it!
It just so happens that I have a 1996 Toyota pasoe. I did not know about the Toyota sludge problem before reading the above article. The last oil change I noticed oil coming out in globs. I know there I a build up of sludge, what I would like is a fix that won’t cost me more money then the car is worth.
:eek:
When you make that face in a car thread I get scared.
not all the oil came out in glops, but enough to let me know somethings not right. 
I’m back with a little more time.
If it were me, and my car, I think I would remove the oil pan and clean it, the oil pump pickup and scrape the big pieces off of the inside f the block.
I think then I might give that Auto Rx that Mr. Slant recommended a try.
My reasoning here is that I want to be sure that the crap is not clogging the pickup tube and starving the engine for oil. Also by mechanically removing the crap in the pan the chemicals can concentrate on the rest of the crap that is not easy to get to.
If you do get the engine cleaned up, I would strongly suggest that you need to upgrade the quality of oil that you are using. Also If it were me, I would pay very close attention to the oil change intervals.
It’s so hard to tell. You have to trust people to tell you the truth. Nobody wants to look like their not smart enough to change the oil in their car.
::: Shrug::: when the people telling me are the technicians that work on the car, and they have the service records noting dates and mileages, I tend to believe them.
They have no horse in this race.