My wife's 1.6 8 valve, '97, 55,000 mile Astra is carrying quite alot of cream sludge, in the rocker cover and also on the dipstick which suggests pretty well covered in the crankcase.
With just the pottering type mileage she does it is to be expected - but should I be concerned about it?
Is there an easy way to get rid of it, such as me using the car for my long journey runs or should I use an engine flush or......
Be pleased to hear suggestions/observations
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Firstly are you using/loosing and coolant. If not then it is a combination of short runs and the type of oil you are using. Change to a Semi synthetic Good deal at National at the moment or use Castrol Magnatec and a new filter. However before running off and doing that go for a 50 mile drive to get rid of the water that is in the engine so you do not pollute the new oil. Have the oil changed the same day as the run. Regards Peter
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But beware, if it is just caused by short journeys it will soon be back...
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Thanks, seem to remember using Castrol GTX on last change.
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Change to a Semi synthetic
Will this help prevent the mayo? My 2.2 litre Vectra is suffering a case of this at the moment around the filler cap as I'm only using it to travel 7 miles to work and back each day. It does however get a blast out at w.ends. I assumed the Vaux dealer put in either full synthetic, or at the very least semi at the last service. Judging by the price they charged me for the oil (£25.38 for 4½ litres) I was wondering if they had used liquid gold instead!
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an engine flush goes extremely far these days in modern cars with low tolerances and hyraulic tappets and increased service intervals. i think its worth the extra tenner if you going to stick in 25 quids worth of oil at the very least.
Don't you just love it.....
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Wife's '97 55,000 mile Astra 1.6, 8 valve. As advised on here took it on 400 mile round trip on motorway at speed. Still considerable amount of sludge in rocker box. No loss of coolant or any other sign of leaking etc.
Should I do something about it or just leave it, will it do damage to the engine?
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As most people in this forum would advise, it would not do any harm to change the oil and oil filter and then again after 1000 miles. This should clear or significantly reduce any sludge residing in the engine.
Thereafter, oil changes every 6 months or 5000 miles will avoid this happening again.
HTH
Charles
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This seems a problem common to Vauxhall 1.6L engines used for short runs.
My friend has a 1.6L, 8 valve, Cavalier.
His car never had any sludge, until this winter, which is when his car use changed to exclusively short journeys. He has changed the oil, tried "italian tunes", but the sludge problem persists as the car is still used for short runs. Now, once every week, on return from his last short run of the week, he allows the car to run on standstill to a high temperature (such that the cooling fan cuts in) for 10 - 15 minutes. That gets rid of the weeks "mayo" that has built up.
Incidentally, he used to run a Rover/Honda, 1.4 litre, 12 valve engine over the same jouney for 6 years, and t never had even the slightest sign of "mayo". His wife used to run the Cavalier for the previous 8 years on long journeys without any sign of "mayo".
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