How to check for sludge ?

[Tony Hoffman]

I'd love to agree with this statement, and VAG did desigh a great
double oil pressure sender system. However, I have had quite a few
run-ins with these cars with the sludge issues. Every single customer
that would tell me what happened said it like this: I was driving
(usually on the highway) and the oil light came on. I pulled over and
had the car towed here from that point. Only one guy was slightly
different. He let the car cool down then drove it about a mile home,
then had it towed. BTW, I did have customers (usually female) that
said, "I don't know what happened, but the light came on and I need it
fixed". Yea........................

Now, I wasn't there in the car with them, so I don't know for sure.
But, after you hear the same thing 20 or more times, it sounds like a
little more than just a made up story. Although, I never did
understand why a customer would even lie anyway. Do they think I'm
going to take them out back or something if they abused the car. Maybe
if I'm convinced they were nice to the car the bill will be lower? I
don't get it.

Anyhow, on nearly every one I cleaned out (quite an involved precess,
I think) I saw galled camshaft bearings. And, on every one of them I
also saw quite a lot of carbon particles stuck in the oil pump pickup
tube. BTW, it's refered to generically as sludge, but in these
engines, it's actually more like small sand piece sized particles of
what I assume is carbon. They stick quite well into the oil pump
pickup tube. I also clean out as much from everywhere else, and most
of the time on the 1.8T's I convince the customer to replace the feed
line as well. BTW, O'rieley's Brake Parts Cleaner is about the best
thing I've found to break this stuff down. I've had several cars I"ve
used an engine flush in as well, before taking it apart and cleaning.
That also helps, and makes the inside cleaning quite a bit easier.
But, the pan still HAS to come off, and the pickup tube HAS to be
cleaned.

On the subject of how long/what type of oil to use, here are my
thoughts. These newer cars are not comparable to the older cars. In my
personal car, I change the oil when I get around to it, usually about
10k. I use whatever dino oil is on sale, usually mobil. I just had the
oil pan off to fix an oil leak. Nothing, whatsoever in the pickup
screen. 220k, 1986 4000 Quattro.

Having said that, I would NEVER do that on a newer VAG. or anything
else, for that matter. I don't know if the newer cars run hotter, or
if they have too much horsepower compared to what most people use, but
there are definately more problems with them than the older ones. I've
had to desludge Toyota, Honda, and Nissan V6's as well. Anything that
seems to have more horsepower than necessary and driven by someone who
does short trips and doesn't really use much of the available power.

The reason I guess I'm saying all of this is that If I owned a newer
one, I'd pull the pan and clean it before the light ever has a chance
to come on. Probably at about 80k intervals, or there about. This is
just based on my personal experience, though.

Tony


On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 1:15 PM, Arthur Marks <aamarks at cox.net> wrote:
> It depends on how far and to what low pressure the owner might have driven
> the vehicle if the sludge was bad enough to block up the oil suction
> strainer. If it wasn't oil starved to the point of causing damage then it's
> repairable.
>
> A blinking check engine light with an oil pressure warning light will come
> on in plenty of time to warn before damaging the engine. It's a question of
> how ignorant the driver was of such warnings.
>
> Info and pictures of the repair here:
> http://members.cox.net/ambox/audi_sludge/
>
> --Art
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Louis-Alain Richard
> To: 'Scott' ; d_dibiase at yahoo.com ; quattro at audifans.com
> Cc: thejimrose at gmail.com
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 1:52 PM
> Subject: RE: How to check for sludge ?
>
>
> Ok then,
>
> After asking for maintenance records, one should look at the oil cap and
> dipstick, poke a bent rod in the pan via the drain hole and last remove the
> valve cover (if still in doubt).
>
> It means that sludge (if existent) will be everywhere in the engine, not
> just in the pan ?
>
> Next question is : if present, is it "repairable" with engine flush (or any
> other mechanic-in-a-bottle...) or one will have to rebuilt the engine ?
>
> Louis-Alain
>
>
>
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
>
> Wasn't the OP  vehicle about 40K in mileage?
>
> What did the oil look like at inspection (dip stick) or oil change?
>
> Records would help in theory but then again you could get records like this:
>
> http://www.quattro123.com/A4TurboEngineWarrantyExtension.htm
>
> Scroll down and check the photos about the "service records"
>
> I'd go synthetic after a few dino flushes of about 2K with filter change to
> try and dissolve what's in there if you think its sludge filled.
>
> I'd run it hot but do a long cool down too............
>
> My 2 centavos, YMMV.
> -Scott by BOSTON
>
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