Sludge

[Cody Forbes]

It's very hard to really get a great picture unfortunately. A reasonable indication is the under side of the oil cap. If its decent you have a chance that the engine is also decent. If its covered in gooey tar like substance than its likely that everything else is too.  Service records are helpful, high quality synthetic oil at 5000 mile intervals is a must. 

If I were buying one here's what I would do. I would right off the bat plan on some cleaning. I would run some BG engine cleaner for a round trip from the shop to home and back (50 miles), drain it out, fill with the best oil I would feel ok with throwing away, add cleaner again, and do two round trips. Then I would pull the oil pan, replace the oil pickup tube, and clean everything I could touch. Also would pull the cam cover, clean everything in there, replace the VVT gasket, replace the cam cover gasket. Reassemble, fill with Motul 505.01 VW specific, and never worry again. My labor is "free" however so this method isn't for everybody.

-Cody Forbes (mobile)

On May 28, 2013, at 6:14 PM, Steve B <urq at pacbell.net> wrote:

> We're looking for another car, and the early 2000's A4 looks like a fit.  It seems that one of the major issues with these cars is the sludge problem with the 1.8T.  Is there a good way to know whether or not a particular car may be subject to a problem with sludge?  I'm looking at a 2002 model if that makes a difference.
> 
> Thanks!
> Steve Buchholz
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