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How to clean out Sludge?

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Old 01-07-2008, 08:22 PM
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Dude.

If you don't know how bad it is. You may not want to "desludge." Why that sludge may actually have made a seal. So when you desludge, you start burning a whole lot of oil. Change the oil, plugs, wires, tune up, pcv, filters, and enjoy. You may mess around and start something you aren't ready to deal with.

But if you do, I always did an oil and filter change with cheap oil using one qt/lt auto tranny fluid. Run it and idle 20 - 30 min, to get good and hot. then do another oil/filter change with good stuff. We also used Marvelous Mystery Oil the same way.

I never started burning oil afterwards. But I never did it to anything that I knew was really abused.

This is only my $0.02, good luck.
Old 01-08-2008, 05:08 PM
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Thanks guys!!!! This place rocks!!!! I think I will start off with switching to synthetic Mobil 1. Hope it works out!!!
Old 01-08-2008, 05:22 PM
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I have used ATF in my crankcase with great results!

Add 1/2 qt of ATF (any kind) and drive for 100 miles or so. Do a standard oil and filter change.

I've had old engines that start to have all of the old engine noises (rattleing lifters, etc) Did the ATF cleanse and no more noises, engine ran better also. I have had vehicles that I needed to do it a few times a year. 5 years doing this on one engine with no problems.
Old 01-08-2008, 05:25 PM
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I used Mobil 5000 (has 16% more cleaners) on a 1996 Saturn. Believe it or not it's help with the smoothness of that cars engine. Might be worth a shot using some cleaning dino oils, Auto-RX/Seafoam, then switching to synthetic when all the cleaning is done.
Old 01-09-2008, 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted by 111db
I don't ever recall reading in the FSM about adding diesel, ATF, or Seafoam to a Toyota engine. Yikes.
Yeah the FSM never told us to lift the trucks, do SAS, weld to the frame, or put big bumpers on it either.
Old 01-09-2008, 12:44 PM
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Originally Posted by yarosig
Yeah the FSM never told us to lift the trucks, do SAS, weld to the frame, or put big bumpers on it either.
It appears you've totally missed the point. But hey, its your truck.
Old 01-11-2008, 02:17 AM
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I would recommend that after draining the old oil, fill it up with cheapo engine oil and let the engine idle up to 1500 rpm for 20-30 minutes. Then shut down the engine and drain the cheapo oil and replace the oil filter. if the engine is heavily sludged, you can see the cheapo oil come out black and with reduced flowability. then refill with your new choice oil.

Do this after every 2 oil changes until you don't see much sludge any more.

using high detergency diesel engine oil on a gasoline engine is not recommended because that would increase corrosion of the internals of the gas engine. remember, gasoline is many times more corrosive than diesel. gasoline engine exhaust pipes gets corroded easily while that of a diesel engine lasts very long, some even last as long as the vehicle.

Last edited by KZN185W; 01-11-2008 at 02:23 AM.
Old 01-11-2008, 03:13 AM
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Its not dumb to use Diesel oil every so offten... Ive done it a couple times in my dub (gas) and it worked wonders, Diesel oil has more additives, cleans everything up nicely, after a good 1200km swap back to Gas Oil
Old 01-11-2008, 10:37 AM
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It seems that a lot of people acting like running regular oil will cause sludge. Just keep your oil changed. I use Castrol GTX. I change it every 3000 miles.


Old 01-11-2008, 07:00 PM
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Originally Posted by 98runner210
It seems that a lot of people acting like running regular oil will cause sludge. Just keep your oil changed. I use Castrol GTX. I change it every 3000 miles.


That's what I recommend too, it just seems like it's cleaner than the rest of the competition when you drain it too. For instance try filling it up with Pennzoil(Warning not actually recommended, pennzoil sucks) and run it for 3,000 miles, take out the dipstick and get some oil on your fingers and rub it, than try that with Castrol GTX, you will definitely feel the Castrol maintained it's viscosity much longer than Pennzoil.
Old 01-24-2008, 12:02 PM
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Originally Posted by yarosig
Yeah the FSM never told us to lift the trucks, do SAS, weld to the frame, or put big bumpers on it either.
Words to live by when turning to the manual, because it might be true for a grocery-go-getter, but the things we do above and beyonds toyota's call of duty, calls for for maintenance measures above the norm.
Old 01-24-2008, 12:04 PM
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Originally Posted by yarosig
Yeah the FSM never told us to lift the trucks, do SAS, weld to the frame, or put big bumpers on it either.
Words to live by when turning to the manual, because it might be true for a grocery-go-getter, but the things we do above and beyonds toyota's call of duty, calls for for maintenance measures above the norm.
Old 01-24-2008, 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by sfm7315
After reading a few threads here , I went under the hood of my 98 4RNR Limited to see if I could spot any sludge. I removed oil fill cap and some black slugde was caked on bottom of cap. Also when I took a flashlight to the oil fill hole it looked pretty dark and tar like. Am I safe in assuming I've got sluge problems?
I've had the truck for 10months now and everything runs great ,but I suspect the previous owner was careless. Should I be panicing? How can I confirm slugde in motor and is there a safe fix? I now feel my family is driving a ticking time bomb
Please , need some advice
You need bobistheoilguy. Theres a really good product auto-rx that is a pretty mild cleaning product that you add to your oil. Go to www.auto-rx.com to check it out.

Last edited by ARB1977; 01-24-2008 at 01:28 PM.
Old 01-24-2008, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by KZN185W
using high detergency diesel engine oil on a gasoline engine is not recommended because that would increase corrosion of the internals of the gas engine. remember, gasoline is many times more corrosive than diesel. gasoline engine exhaust pipes gets corroded easily while that of a diesel engine lasts very long, some even last as long as the vehicle.

I did fleet maintenence at a company where we used 15w40 valvoline diesel oil on EVERYTHING from detroit diesels in tractors to v6 and v8 gas engines in Ford vans. The gasser Ford vans had 200, 300, and even 400 thousand miles on them, and they all ran great. Never did see any internal engine problems.
Old 01-24-2008, 03:00 PM
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Originally Posted by 98runner210
It seems that a lot of people acting like running regular oil will cause sludge. Just keep your oil changed. I use Castrol GTX. I change it every 3000 miles.


She looks so purdy.
Old 01-24-2008, 03:34 PM
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Originally Posted by 5-spd for life!
To confirm that there is sludge in the motor would require you to take the oil pan off. But to fix the problem if there is one is to run half of a can of seafoam in the oil about 100 miles before an oil change because it will clean out the crank case regardless if there is sludge. If your motor has a bunch of sludge you might want to take baby steps as to not clog oil passages. You can run a 1/4 can of sea foam for a couple of weeks and check your dip stick periodically to see if there is heavy contaminants and if there are, change oil immediately. Sea foam is very effective and if you have a sludge problem, you can take care of it too quickly which can harm an engine.

A different but milder option is to switch over to a fully synthetic oil which will clean your engine slower than sea foam.


synthetic does not carry contaminants to the filter as well as conventional. but does lubricate better
Old 01-25-2008, 04:27 AM
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Penzoil does not suck, GET AN EDUCATION.. its actually one of the if not THE best dino oils out today. it battles fuel dillution much better than GTX. nothing wrong with GTX but from UOA's that i have read Penzoil beats it hands down. the key is to change the damn oil like you are supposed to. go no longer than 5k on most oils and that includes most syns also (except maybe amsoil, redline, and some M1 motor oils).. if you drive lots of city and 4 wheel like crazy, or idle a lot then 3k mile OCI's are a must on most oils..

btw you cant really clean sludge out. you may get some but most will stay caked in there.. dont worry about it too, many many sludged motors driving around with 150k + miles on them
Old 01-25-2008, 04:28 AM
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Originally Posted by toy89yota
synthetic does not carry contaminants to the filter as well as conventional. but does lubricate better

where do you hear that from?? synthetics do not HAVE nor PRODUCE contaminants like dino oils..
Old 01-25-2008, 04:32 AM
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Originally Posted by yarosig
That's what I recommend too, it just seems like it's cleaner than the rest of the competition when you drain it too. For instance try filling it up with Pennzoil(Warning not actually recommended, pennzoil sucks) and run it for 3,000 miles, take out the dipstick and get some oil on your fingers and rub it, than try that with Castrol GTX, you will definitely feel the Castrol maintained it's viscosity much longer than Pennzoil.

BAHAHAHA.. OMG I have heard it all now... you need to open up your own lab so you can test oils by just using your fingers.. omg thats about as dumb as 2 monkeys screwing a basketball.. hahaha thanks for the laugh. i hope that was a joke..

have your oil tested by Dyson or Blackstone Labs. they both have websites. they will educate you more than your fingers

Last edited by mkgarrison5; 01-25-2008 at 04:33 AM.
Old 01-25-2008, 04:52 PM
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No need to get rude in here. It doesn't matter what oil you use. If you don't change it you are going to get sludge. Sludge is from lack of maintenance; not from using regular oil.


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