5.4 Sludge and smoke
 

Hey guys,
Well I've only had my truck for about a month now and have changed the oil b/c the sticker said it was time. Well today I'm leaving the BBQ restraunt I ate lunch at and start to blow grey smoke. Needless to say I'm pissed. After about a 1/4 mile it stops. The oil was changed weeks ago and I have never noticed this before. I immediately take it to my mechanic and he only has time to look at it and see what he thinks. He has to let it sit for a when he takes it for a spin it smokes again. I'm not sure where he looked but he said something about feeling down in what I think he said was one of the pistons. I'm not really sure on that. He said that he could feel a lot of "gunk", so I assume he means sludge. He said he can pop off all the covers and really clean it out but said at least $500 for it. I'm a little irritated even though it's not terrible news. Anyone else had this happen? I switched oil brands but kept the same 10W30 I believe. Truck has 96K on it.

seafoam the top end and dont pay $500.

Do a BG engine Purge on it. Then change the oil every 1 k for 3 oil changes using bg MOA. Then go back to regular oil changes using BG MOA. That stuff is awsome.

Well my mech. talked about doing the engine flush but the only thing that concerned him was that some of the "gunk" may drop to the bottom of my pan and end up getting sucked into the oil pump. Any concern?

This is a forum of questions and opinions. I thought the days of sludge were gone. I've seen some awful looking engines on the inside. Its too bad that I am wrong. Just can't stand people who labor an engine trying to safe its life. Wind that thing up and go for it, not chug chug down the road, never down shifting or giving the auto trans the options of doing that. Am not going to support any products on the market to restore an engine to life because of poor maintenance or the chug chug abuse. Sorry guy, dump the Bitch! On a lighter side, my boat is named, "The Fifth Lady". You can guess what I call it when its acting up, Yes, "The Fifth XXXXX" You should have seen the looks I received with my temp name plate attached to the transom.

Don't really understand what you're trying to say, Bill, but as far as a decision goes we're just gonna have our mechanic "labor" on her till she shines like new. I think the $650 bucks (estimate) will more than likely be worth it in the long run.

On a lighter note, I popped the cap of my oil fill tube and reached in to see if I might see what my mechanic was talking about. Upon running my finger along the side of the tube I see what looks like little paint chips (I assume they are little dried/baked bits of oil). I'm guessing that's the "gunk" he was talking about.

why dont you just spend $7 on a can of seafoam, and run it through a vac line? it does the same thing. $650 to wipe off the pistons and combustion chamber is a frickin joke. You can pay me $650 and ill seafoam your truck.

Well I'm only concerned with seafoam b/c he's not 100% sure that's what my problem is. He only had a few seconds to drive the truck and look in my oil cap. Another reason I may have him just clean everything is b/c I'm getting him to fix some other stuff on it and just get it tuned up on everything. Need the 100K mile tune up so I'm thinking I might as well. I'll ask him about the Seafoam though and see what he thinks.

the chances of him letting you step out of a $650 service charge in favor of a $7 bottle is unlikely. Why not just run the seafoam, put in a new belt, new plugs, and new coolant yourself?

if he only had "a few seconds" and said the problem is "sludge and gunk" he wouldnt get a dime of my money.