Oil Sludge

:confused: I have an 05 Dodge Durango, with 100k +, and have been told my engine needs to be replaced due to extensive sludge damege. Is this true or is there a less expensive way of gitting this fixed, than spending $8k for a new engine?

do an oil change and add some sea foam to the oil. follow the directions on the can for adding to the oil. it is in a red and white can at any autopart store. the oil i always recomend is castrol gtx. i swear by it. change the oil at 3000 miles and check the sludge issue. the sea foam should help clean it up. if oil pressure is good, i cant see sludge causing dammage. i recomend oil changes every 3000 miles no mater what the owners manual says. also using good quality oil. it is the best way to keep sludge from happening. i recomend castrol gtx and fram filters.

:confused: I have an 05 Dodge Durango, with 100k +, and have been told my engine needs to be replaced due to extensive sludge damege. Is this true or is there a less expensive way of gitting this fixed, than spending $8k for a new engine?

ViperLeadOne,

If that is so then I'd take a chance and have the oil changed to a synthetic like Pennzoil Platinum and take it for a long two hour drive on the freeway every weekend.

Can you describe your driving habits. Do you do strictly city driving or is there any highway/freewar driving involved. Oil sludge occurs when you drive short trips that doesn't get the oil hot enough to circulate through out the engine. The oil must be hot enough to melt away any sludge build up. A synthetic oil will help minimze the condition.

rimfire,22

Viper:

Update please.

$8000 is a crazy out of line quote for a replacement engine. You can do much better than that.

A number of folks have had to replace engines, and have done much better than that on price.

Don

Viper:

Update please.

$8000 is a crazy out of line quote for a replacement engine. You can do much better than that.

A number of folks have had to replace engines, and have done much better than that on price.

Don


Don,

No matter I've had my truck back for a week now and driving it fine as they did much better I think doing a valve job along with giving me a new water pump for the same price. Anyway for now the story ends here. I'm a happy camper.

rimfire,22

Viper:

Glad you had a good and less expensive outcome here. Sounds like the shop was making a shotgun diagnosis here hoping you would just say yes.

While sludge can be an issue with engines, most can stand up to quite a bit as long as they get good care more so than not.

Year back, I pulled the heads from an old Ford 302 engine, that so much sludge on them that you wondered how the oil was getting back to the crank case.

The machine shop an extra $10 because of the extra labor to get them clean.

Don