oil sludge pics

[RSK540iA]

I recall similar scenes after opening up old Jaguar XJ6 engines due for an overhaul in the 80's.

My second car, a '85 Peugeot 505 GTi gets its oil changed every 10,000 km or 6 months. I use normal 20W/50 multi-grade, not synthetic. I've now done over 240,000 km and when setting the tappets everything still looks as good as new. I did the head gasket at 180,000 and could still clearly see the honing marks.

I think I'll take my 540i's tappet cover off one of these days just for a look. Maybe I should follow the same 10,000km/6 months routine. At the last oil change I was advised not to use a fully synthetic as this was apparently too thin for such an old engine.

[BillionPa]

10W60 fully synthetic is too thin!?!?

not that he was suggesting that grade, but come on!

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

Simple answer to reason for sludge.Temperature.The reason my 525TDS has done 270k untouched is that it gets warmed up gently and then cruises flat out! My M5 does pub runs or race tracks and sludges up.My only tip to reduce it is not one for all but it works for me.Before changes Idrain oil and add 50/50 oil/diesel, run up and drain.It could be argued that this dislodges **** and blocks oilways but it has`nt in my case.The M5 has done 170k so in my case it works.High Sulphur Supermarket causes a friends Elise to blow black smoke and run rough,and contaminates the oil.

[Ausmpower]

O.k Most of you know I work for a dealer In Western Australia.

A couple of points:

My own E34 ('90) has always been serviced as per service light intervals.

The previous owner to me was employed by the same dealership (service manager = free servicing).

My point is, the car has always been dealer serviced (we do it ourselves after hours) and I have ZERO sludge in the top end, minor varnishing (normal, just discoloration) on the underside of the rocker cover (did the tappets last friday night)..... I always use the Castrol Softec LL01.

My M30 is the original with 280,000 km on it.

Head gasket was done @ 100,000 km as a precaution.

Major contibutors for sludge formation are:

Condensation (short drives or cold weather combined with short drives)

Poor fuel quality.

Owner added fuel additives.

low quality oil / incorrect grade.


My dealer is the only dealer in my state, we operate with a constant booking lead in of 2 weeks for oil services, we have 60 technicians.........

Yet I cannot for the life of me remember an engine rebuild being done through sludge formation....I've seen 2 severely cooked (owners kept driving after cooling system hose or radiator failure) motors replaced in the last 12 months and one other with a sheared crank (manual- 5th to 1st at 110kph!).

But then again we don't have sub zero winters and gridlock is minimal....

Seeing the sludge pictures that have been posted.......All I can think of is cheap crap no name multigrade oil........ Missed services (like a few!), non functional PCV system (more likely) or overheating conditions (pics in original link-baked on black crap).

Re: The oil pan with semi-solid gunk: How could a service technician not spot the reduced oil pan capacity when refilling during a normal service?????

[Ausmpower]

bummer, i once had a massive argument with a dude about the nature of lifetime fluid. he was one of the "bmw knows better than you" kinds of people.

personally i would change it every 100 000 kms, I can't see any lubricant lasting longer than that without a change of filter or water seperator.
what are your thoughts/experiences on the subject?

Bmw recommends lifetime trans flush IS carried out every 100,000 km of 'normal' driving, but most owners don't want to fork out for the flushing costs.

[winfred]

no mixing here all shitty oil, coolant sludge is a different animal

I remember seeing the exact sludge on a 70's Volvo 164E my father had, but not in the sump, on his car the chocolate mousse flowed out the coolant system expansion bottle!

I think what you have here is a case of water mixing with the oil, be it through a cracked water jacket or leaking head gasket.

id go with that but every m52tu and m54 i've seen looks like someone **** down the oil cap, on the older motors you'd get clean ones and dirty ones showing you that oil was to blame, as you could find decent looking engines with the same miles, the bosses kid's 2000 323ci is the cleanest later engine i've seen at 100k miles (just did the valve cover gasket) and it still looks like ass, we've been mobil oneing it for about the last 20k every 5-6k miles. when the pcv dies on the later units the engine runs like **** due to the huge vacuum leak or it's sucking oil so theres not much ignoring that

Seeing the sludge pictures that have been posted.......All I can think of is cheap crap no name multigrade oil........ Missed services (like a few!), non functional PCV system (more likely) or overheating conditions (pics in original link-baked on black crap).

[rob101]

Bmw recommends lifetime trans flush IS carried out every 100,000 km of 'normal' driving, but most owners don't want to fork out for the flushing costs.

oh okay, I didn't know it was bmw's recommendation. On another board a had a huge shitfight about it with some jerk with an e46. From my perspective it would make sense to do that, but as you said there are alot of people who prefer to live in denial.