sludge

[Jefarm1]

I was changing the valve cover gasket this weekend and came across this sludge in the crankcase ventilation pipe. Any ideas? I'm guessing it's oil and either water or anti-freeze mixed together. Could this be an indication of a bad head gasket?

[Thymeclock]

How old is your car? How many miles on it? When did you last change the oil?

[Jefarm1]

It's a 2004 with 121000 miles on it. The oil was changed about 2000 miles ago. I'm beginning to think it may not be a head gasket issue or may just be the beginnings of one. The car has plenty of power still and I don't smell a sweet smell in the exhaust. After talking to a couplepeople, it's been suggested it may just be a condensation issue. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Thymeclock]

It's a 2004 with 121000 miles on it. The oil was changed about 2000 miles ago. I'm beginning to think it may not be a head gasket issue or may just be the beginnings of one. The car has plenty of power still and I don't smell a sweet smell in the exhaust. After talking to a couplepeople, it's been suggested it may just be a condensation issue. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

I've found over the years that most my cars developed sludge as they accumulated high mileage on them. It's basically caused by breakdown of oil and often due to not changing the oil frequently enough. I had read that service cars such as taxis change their oil on a time based schedule. If you do a lot of stop and go driving and short trips (as I do) the recommendation is to change the oil on a time basis rather than wait for 3,000 miles, or whatever the usual recommendation is. So now I change my oil every 6 months regardless of mileage and the sludge problem is less than it was with previous cars I had.

There isn't anything you can do about the relatively high mileage on the engine. You could try an engine flush product to see it it helps. As long as the car still runs well you needn't lose sleep over it.

Here's an interesting article that provides a lot of information about it. (click here)

[avguy]

You didn't mention if you're losing any fluids. You probably wouldn't have been losing too much from the old VC gasket, so if there is only minimal oil usage and no coolant being lost, that would indicate no current HG problems. You did replace that plastic thermostat, right? How about timing belt changes - 2 already, or the second one coming up soon? Did you replace the PCV valve when you did the VCG? I changed PCV on my '05 at about the same mileage when I did the VCG, and it was free of sludge and still clicking like new.

[Jefarm1]

I was losing a little bit of oil but the new VC gasket has seemed to take care of that. The PCV valve was replaced too. I am losing a bit of coolant. The thermostat housing is still plastic. It seems to be leaking a bit. I ordered a new metal housing and thermostat. The timing belt will be changed when the thermastat is replaced. I'll be hunting for anymore coolant leaks this weekend.
Thanks for the help.

[kevin7898]

I highly recommend not doing any kind of engine flush, a lot of them will ruin your engine and may even state in the users manual not to.

[Jefarm1]

No, I'm not going to do a flush. I'm afraid it'll clean out all the gunk that's keeping it from leaking any worse.