SAAB sludge

I've heard great things about autorx . Do a search for it over at bob is the oil guy website.

apeman wrote:

KaZooCruiser wrote:

The pieces will fall to the bottom of the pan, where they won't come out of the drain plug.

I am curious why you think they will not be flushed out of the drain plug. These are not large crusty pieces -- the sludge is the consistency of semi-soft wax. It is not liquid, but with the right solvent, I hope it would become semi-liquid, so that it should drain out the drain plug (I would logically think).

What other solvents should I test before choosing the right one to use?

Hi Apeman. . .

my .02 opinions. . .

What you can see is what you hope will be disolved. What you cannot see is what may flake or get broken off and drop into the pan, where oil flow out of the pan is not going to occur with enough velocity to flush out gritty bits. Oil in a crankcase does funny things inside engines, depending on where humidity and heat affect it. What you are seeing is just one example. There may be others you cannot. So the pan removal is done for two reasons, maybe more.

One is to verify no residue left behind.

The other is to verify no screen blockage. Even though the engine isn't run during a flush. The screen may already have partial blockage from previous use over time.

As far as solvents, I would talk to the Safety-clean (sp?) guys. Industrial suppliers to garage accounts. I think they sell a 12 or 30 gallon mini-barrel. That solvent is probably going to have enough bite to do what you are wanting.

And like you indicated, maybe all that is problematic in your engine is the paste wax you are finding. I can't see inside your engine from here.


:laugh:

added:

After re-reading the posts, I realized that some of the flushes are done with an engine running. So even more of a reason to pull a pan and look at the pick-up screen.

Or do nothing.

Post edited by: KaZooCruiser, at: 2007/07/14 12:21

SAFETY KLEEN solvent is actually kerosene, per my route driver.

I had a car that had sludge from just poor maintenance by the previous owner. I used an engine flush from a reputable manufacturer added to the oil and let idle for a while. Problem solved.

From experience, do not change to synthetic oil in an old engine. Yes it will leak, and more than just a few drops. Oil was weeping out of pretty much every gasket joint and seal, then I lost the rear main seal on a Jeep Cherokee. All of a sudden I had to add a quart of oil to get to work and another to get home. Expensive repair.