Bill R...you got me thinking....

[George M]

when you posted your pic of your M-30 oil filter displaying sludge in between the pleats comprising the element. I took my car out on the highway today to warm it up good for its annual engine and tranny oil change. As fate would have it, I am coming back on the highway, a 330i followed by a 740iL came up hard in my mirror, so I let them pass and then joined the Bimmer caravan traveling for a short distance at triple digit speed...what fun and great eye candy. Will preface the oil filter pic by saying, in the last year since rebuilding the head I have put 3300 miles on the car..mostly last summer. Also for further perspective, I have been running Mobil 1 since 132k miles and the car now has 149k. When I dropped the oil pan to change the pump almost two years ago, I powerwashed the pan inside and out for quite a long spell..using some Simple Green etc thereby purging all the sludge from the pan and making it sparkly inside and out. My oil filter below shows no sign of sludge what so ever.
The oil was also still a nice color...not dark. The other thing is when I had the head off last year the top of the head was completely cleaned of oil deposits as well...so may explain why I am not accumulating any sludge in
the filter. Thought you may be interested:


[img]http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/OilChange.jpg/img]
In my glory today on a beautiful day in Detroit.

[George M]

Guess syntax does matter...

[Paul in NZ]

how much sludge was there in the pan?.Prior to dropping the pan did you know the oil type/change frequency......

[George M]

I owned a digital camera...would say there was a coating or film of baked on oil...not unlike what the top of a cylinder head looks like on a high miles engine that has been run on dino oil for its life. Oil changes I believe were performed to schedule throughout the life of my car as I knew the owner personally before me and the condition of the engine is excellent with 150k on it with the head reconditioned. Doesn't burn any measurable oil.
George

[Paul in NZ]

i beleive my car would be similar then.I beleive its been well maintained...hoping that the use of castrol 5w 30 synthetic will clean out any excess sludge,give initial start up protection and enable 400 000 ks

[632 Regal]

umm...isnt the buildup from the outside looking into the center of the filter? Redo the pic!

[Paul in NZ]

doesnt the oil come up through the centre of the filter out through the element then out to the engine?.Any crud would be trapped on the inside.

[632 Regal]

wrong...as far as I understand the pressure lines it comes from the outside in, it does seem backwards tho.

[George M]

simply look at Bill's pic of where the sludge accumulated in his filter for your answer to oil flow direction. As to mine Jeff....doesn't matter....the element is clean and looks the same on both sides.
George

[Bill R.]

you've worked on a engine with sludge in it you'll know what i mean.. What is in my filter is more like the coating of varnish you describe, kind of a paint like coating of burnt on oil and varnishes.. Since mine is original without the head or the pan off thats never been cleaned except from the detergent effects of the synthetic oil .. I suspect the previous owner had never used synthetic and this is just the normal builup of varnish thats now getting cleaned out gradually and you see it in the filter..It looks a lot worse in the photo of the filter than it is , its really just a very thin film , I just thought that it was interesting that the synthetic continues to gradually clean up the motor... Like i said each time I adjust the valves i notice a little bit more of the varnish is gone.. Since you have cleaned the head up when it was removed and the pan and inside of the crankcase when it was opened then you've already cleaned up the majority of areas that it will build up, with the exception of the timing cover and gears and chains etc.. So I don't imagine that you'll see too much of it show up in your filter..

when you posted your pic of your M-30 oil filter displaying sludge in between the pleats comprising the element. I took my car out on the highway today to warm it up good for its annual engine and tranny oil change. As fate would have it, I am coming back on the highway, a 330i followed by a 740iL came up hard in my mirror, so I let them pass and then joined the Bimmer caravan traveling for a short distance at triple digit speed...what fun and great eye candy. Will preface the oil filter pic by saying, in the last year since rebuilding the head I have put 3300 miles on the car..mostly last summer. Also for further perspective, I have been running Mobil 1 since 132k miles and the car now has 149k. When I dropped the oil pan to change the pump almost two years ago, I powerwashed the pan inside and out for quite a long spell..using some Simple Green etc thereby purging all the sludge from the pan and making it sparkly inside and out. My oil filter below shows no sign of sludge what so ever.
The oil was also still a nice color...not dark. The other thing is when I had the head off last year the top of the head was completely cleaned of oil deposits as well...so may explain why I am not accumulating any sludge in
the filter. Thought you may be interested:


[img]http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/OilChange.jpg/img]
In my glory today on a beautiful day in Detroit.