If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
2000 Passat (2.0 V6) Has Sludge
Symptoms:
1. Smelly exhaust. 2. CEL on. 3. "STOP ENGINE NOW" warning every once in a while. 4. Rough idle. I looked in the hole where the oil filler cap goes. There's a dark brown gel all over everything. I think this is sludge. I've had this car since new. I have the car serviced regularly according to the maintenance schedule. What do I do now? Has anyone been in this situation? Thank you, AABob |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
2000 Passat (2.0 V6) Has Sludge
On 13/02/11 09:35 PM, AABob wrote:
> Symptoms: > 1. Smelly exhaust. > 2. CEL on. > 3. "STOP ENGINE NOW" warning every once in a while. > 4. Rough idle. > > I looked in the hole where the oil filler cap goes. There's a dark > brown gel all over everything. I think this is sludge. > > I've had this car since new. I have the car serviced regularly > according to the maintenance schedule. > > What do I do now? Has anyone been in this situation? > > Thank you, > AABob Have a look at the plugs, which may be the solution to the rough running, not the sludging. I recently took a car for statutory inspection. It ran perfectly on the way there. Whilst in the inspection it developed a misfire, and the engine attention light came on. It was nothing more than dirty plugs! In my opinion VW are guilty of extending the service intervals (oil changes) beyond the capability of even modern oils. Personally I use "fleet" oils from bulk. They have the requisite specifications and if they're good enough for commercial vehicles, with the rough treatment they receive, they're good enough for my vehicle. The advertising hype, and prices for "premium" oils is a load of ballyhoo, far better to change your oil more often as a way of avoiding sludge. Forget flushing oils also. They will come out dirty, but the main body of sludge needs a full strip to remove, it's far too persistent to rinse out. I'd change the oil, drive it for a couple of thousand miles, give it another change and forget the extended mileage nonsense. You have only to see the numbers of persons experiencing the modern phenomenon of sludging becoming a problem area, then compare it with the extended mileage regimes in order to identify the root cause. Hope this helps put things in perspective a little, as well as helping. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
2000 Passat (2.0 V6) Has Sludge
"AABob" > wrote in message ... > Symptoms: > 1. Smelly exhaust. > 2. CEL on. > 3. "STOP ENGINE NOW" warning every once in a while. > 4. Rough idle. > > I looked in the hole where the oil filler cap goes. There's a dark > brown gel all over everything. I think this is sludge. > > I've had this car since new. I have the car serviced regularly > according to the maintenance schedule. > > What do I do now? Has anyone been in this situation? > > Thank you, > AABob Exhaust odor may mean your ruining your catalytic converter Driving with CEL on for extended period is know to ruin catalytic converter STOP ENGINE NOW (or blinking CEL/MIL on many vehicles) basically means "warning, catalytic converter damage imminent". Rough idle... so your saying your engine is definitely not running correctly, while driving or idling, and it's to the point of smelling it in the exhaust. This, I expect has led you to. 1. Look down the oil fill cap... sorry, that's not going to help you much. 2. Ask here about oil sludge... also not a subject that's going to help you much. Sounds like you need to get your car fixed for the 4 symptoms you've listed. Looking down the oil cap means nothing. If your dip stick shows oil level correct and it doesn't look like a milk shake from water/coolant in it, your fine. Don't know what you have for mileage on it, but about any 11 year old car will have some brown tarnish looking coating on the top end. It's not sludge. Sludge is what you dig out of the lower pockets... places where it settles out of the oil. You may just need a tune-up, or some component has failed, (or a combination of problems) which can be found by diagnosing the problem. Codes that can be read from the ecm are very useful for this, but do not tell you what the fix is unless you want to blindly throw parts at it and hope you hit the problem. But if your trying to fix this yourself (often the case for people asking questions here), start with posting the codes here and be very specific about symptoms. Unfortunately, a typical DIY code reader isn't enough because you often need to look at some of the engine data. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
2000 Passat (2.0 V6) Has Sludge
Also, the V6 engines aren't as sludge prone as the 1.8Ts. Sludge is actually
not a goop but more of a cristalline substance. And roughg running isn't from sludge unless it's happened for so long something else broke. "In2hoppn" > wrote in message news:7_KdnRrPgvsq0__QnZ2dnUVZ_omdnZ2d@metrocastcab levision.com... > > > "AABob" > wrote in message > ... >> Symptoms: >> 1. Smelly exhaust. >> 2. CEL on. >> 3. "STOP ENGINE NOW" warning every once in a while. >> 4. Rough idle. >> >> I looked in the hole where the oil filler cap goes. There's a dark >> brown gel all over everything. I think this is sludge. >> >> I've had this car since new. I have the car serviced regularly >> according to the maintenance schedule. >> >> What do I do now? Has anyone been in this situation? >> >> Thank you, >> AABob > > Exhaust odor may mean your ruining your catalytic converter > > Driving with CEL on for extended period is know to ruin catalytic > converter > > STOP ENGINE NOW (or blinking CEL/MIL on many vehicles) basically means > "warning, catalytic converter damage imminent". > > Rough idle... so your saying your engine is definitely not running > correctly, while driving or idling, and it's to the point of smelling it > in the exhaust. > This, I expect has led you to. > 1. Look down the oil fill cap... sorry, that's not going to help you > much. > 2. Ask here about oil sludge... also not a subject that's going to help > you much. > > Sounds like you need to get your car fixed for the 4 symptoms you've > listed. > Looking down the oil cap means nothing. If your dip stick shows oil level > correct and it doesn't look like a milk shake from water/coolant in it, > your fine. Don't know what you have for mileage on it, but about any 11 > year old car will have some brown tarnish looking coating on the top end. > It's not sludge. Sludge is what you dig out of the lower pockets... > places where it settles out of the oil. You may just need a tune-up, or > some component has failed, (or a combination of problems) which can be > found by diagnosing the problem. Codes that can be read from the ecm are > very useful for this, but do not tell you what the fix is unless you want > to blindly throw parts at it and hope you hit the problem. But if your > trying to fix this yourself (often the case for people asking questions > here), start with posting the codes here and be very specific about > symptoms. Unfortunately, a typical DIY code reader isn't enough because > you often need to look at some of the engine data. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
2000 Passat (2.0 V6) Has Sludge
Thanks for the tips.
As a follow up, here's the latest: The car is at the dealer now. He says I probably need a new engine. He wants $500 to remove the oil pan and other covers to fully diagnose the cause. He says the sludge is either due to me not changing the oil or from a faulty part inside the V6 engine. On average I change my oil every 7500 miles. What do you think of this? |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
2000 Passat (2.0 V6) Has Sludge
"AABob" > wrote in message ... > Thanks for the tips. > As a follow up, here's the latest: > The car is at the dealer now. He says I probably need a new engine. > He wants $500 to remove the oil pan and other covers to fully diagnose > the cause. He says the sludge is either due to me not changing the > oil or from a faulty part inside the V6 engine. On average I change > my oil every 7500 miles. > > What do you think of this? I think it sounds insane... unless there's far more information you're not sharing... Is the "sludge" your describing supposed to be causing quote: > Symptoms: > 1. Smelly exhaust. > 2. CEL on. > 3. "STOP ENGINE NOW" warning every once in a while. > 4. Rough idle. Maybe someone else can chime in here... what would be the "faulty part inside the V6 engine" to cause sludge??? I have no VR6 experience. But given that it's a VW, I'd guess all your external rubber stuff is junk if not replaced yet. Prime for vacuum leaks galore. I can imagine many things to cause the symptoms you've described. I can't think of any symptoms of oil sludge, except a seized or knocking engine due to lack of lubrication. Sludge doesn't cause a problem unless is blocks a passage. But if you really do have a sludge problem... maybe you want to find out how much more you'll be spending on top of the $500 and consider junking it sooner than later. And no doubt, if you've been going that far between oil changes and it's been not running right... misfire really causes fuel and crap (those nasty emissions) to build up in your oil. Sounds like a good way to make sludge. Unless your are getting coolant into you oil, but your description didn't sound like that. Pictures of the "sludge" would be nice! Good luck with it! |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
2000 Passat (2.0 V6) Has Sludge
Is your car a turbo? The extended service intervals for turbo's were a
mistake; the oil gets hotter on turbo's and the combination of that and 5000+ miles on the oil caused a lot of them to gell and crater. Like others have said, the gell itself isn't a real problem. Whatever caused the gell/sludge may have caused other problems. You can treat the sludge problem with a high detergent additive, like Marvel Mystery Oil or others on the market. I've heard of using tranny fluid to clean an engine out. These are to be added to the oil and run for a SHORT TIME ONLY. Goot Luck with you Dubber. HDK |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
2000 Passat V6 coolant | Tim Taylor | VW water cooled | 1 | August 27th 07 01:58 AM |
2000 Passat getting weird | [email protected] | VW water cooled | 3 | August 4th 07 01:12 PM |
2000 Passat, clutch, too short? | Asker | Technology | 4 | April 21st 06 02:21 PM |
2000 VW Passat Problems | sultimo | VW water cooled | 3 | February 11th 06 12:57 AM |
2000 VW Passat problems | sultimo | Technology | 5 | February 10th 06 10:59 PM |