Crap! Oil Sludge
- Thread starter smallfry
- Start date
shouldbeasy
New member
Oh jebus - that's a can of worms there Shibby!...
I run Amsoil in the good vehicles ('01 4Runner and '10 Tundra) and cheaper Mobil 1 synthetic in the other two ('99 Civic and '97 4Runner).
I run Amsoil in the good vehicles ('01 4Runner and '10 Tundra) and cheaper Mobil 1 synthetic in the other two ('99 Civic and '97 4Runner).
I asked this because 98% of "full synthetics" are not full synthetics.
Marketing for the masses. Most are synthetic blends.
Two of the most common FULL synthetics are German made Castrol Edge 0W, and Mobil 1 0W. The others (10W-30/40, etc) are NOT full synthetics even when they say they are.
I bet most people don't know this.
shouldbeasy
New member
You can probably count me as one of the ignorant...
What am I to be looking for on the labels to indicate that it is a true 'Full Synthetic' and not simply a blend?? Anything specific?
What am I to be looking for on the labels to indicate that it is a true 'Full Synthetic' and not simply a blend?? Anything specific?
Nunyabiz
New member
I run Amsoil 99% of the time, have bought one of the few versions of Mobil 1 that is actually 100% synthetic though I only used that in my Jeep and my Power Washer.
The only other full synthetic I would buy would be Redline.
BrianSD_42
New member
Well said
Yes. I will pull the valve cover off in another 10k to follow up with the progress.
For what it is worth. The sludge is more like a jelly. There is nothing gritty or crusty about it. It is pumpable. So if you did do a motor flush with a cleaner. It would dissolve the oil jelly and resuspend it in solution.
Just keep an eye on the oil light. If it comes on, stop and drain the oil, refill and continue to flush.
I have done a lot of research on the subject. Sludge is caused short trips. IE People that live really close to work or school. The motors do not get hot enough the evaporate any moisture that might have condensed in the motor over night or through the combustion process itself.
When your engine is cold, the emission control stuff does not work very well. And a lot mot of the combustion byproducts gets through the rings. The block and rings aren't at operating temperatures to form a perfect seal. Combustion byproducts include H2O, Unburned Hydrocarbons, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen oxides and sulphur.
Sludge can happen with synthetic or Dino oil.
Some say the sludge is more prevalent in paraffin based oil such as Quaker State or Penzoil but it might be that it happens more often with those because it is cheaper and used more often.
Some say that if the engine gets to hot, it happens. The only problem with this scenario is that oil does not break down before the engine would overheat so this theory is thrown out. Now Turbos, right after the motor has been shut off will cook the oil at the turbo if it has been run hard. The substance that it left is hard and crusty. This is where synthetic oil really shines. It has a much higher operating temperature.
Long oil change cycles might cause sludging. But there are many semi trucks on the road that go 20k before oil changes. Mind you - They have 5 gallons of oil in their engines.
Some say that a plugged PVC valve is the culprit but that leads us back the short trips and not burning off any vapor. Once she is clogged up, It is no longer evacuating the crankcase vapors. When the vapors can't leave, sludge occurs.
Now there is always the perfect storm. IE - Short trips, using Quaker State, with 10K plus mile oil changes and a plugged PVC valve. This motor would be
Nunyabiz
New member
I don't think there is anything actually, basically they are lying and everybody except most consumers know it. Some "complaint" that Mobil filed with the National Advertising Division of the BBB tried to stop Castrol from marketing what is a PETROLEUM based Group III oil as a synthetic.
The NAD/BBB for some ridiculous reason sided with Castrol so Castrol continued to market Group III base stock as 100% Full Synthetic as their "Syntec".
As far as I am concerned only Group IV and V base stocks are actually synthetic.
I think Mobil is the only major oil company that sells 100% synthetic with Group IV base stock. Even then only a couple of their oils are actually group IV.
All the others are marketed by companies such as Amsoil, Redline.
Even though I believe it is some major refinery of some sort that actually makes the base stocks for those companies.
This is just the usual oil company greed taking advantage of zero regulations and lying to consumers.
