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Engine full of sludge. What are my options?

13K views 49 replies 25 participants last post by  TerraPhantm 
#1 ·
Today I open my engine as I DIY valve cover gasket. But to my shock the engine are full f sludge.

What are my options?
 

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#31 ·
There's no real clean solution to this (pardon the pun). The best way to fix this would be to pull the head and block and feed the parts to Barneyhyphen's oil-eating bacteria, but you're taking some big mechanical work and/or dinero. But if you wish to do something non-intensive, Seafoam, ATF etc. could work, but you'll always have something left. The 30% could become 25, 20 but you'll never get it all out. Let us know how that Shell Helix Ultra works out. It's a common oil in Europe, so that's a good thing.
 
#39 ·
See the 3rd link below in my signature for how to display the coolant temp on the OBC display. You should run close to 200F about 90C??

The stats fail open in these cars most often. The non M cars the temp gauge is buffered and stays at 12 o'clock over a 50F window.

Cruise on highway and make sure temp does not drop below about 195F.
 
#44 ·
update:

Yesterday made multiple runs and logged some loose temps over the last two days.

Interstate driving after 20 minutes (sat for 4 hours)
131-149F outside temp 55F
Hit Traffic and stop and go for 10 minutes
185F consistent outside 55F
Sat overnight ~35F
On the way to work this morning -no traffic, few lights
104-122F outside temp 38F average 113F while car should be warm @74MPH
On the way to Lunch today (Sat 6 hours)
158-185F outside temp 65F

Radiator Fluid is at minimum level and had it flushed by Stealership on 8/3/12 ~ 4k miles since then.

Theory
I think the flush on the system may have induced a crack in the cooling system. And now there is air in the system not allowing the water to properly flow through the heater core causing these low temps. This does not explain the rough idle unless the crack has been there before and oil has already started to sludge. The two problems could be non related at all, and rough idle be numerous different things.

Plan of attack
Stop by BMW today and pick up thermostat and bmw antifreeze (and distilled water)
Bimmersoftware has been ordered and wire should be in mail soon for true data logging.

CCV needs to be replaced regardless
Cooling System needs to be replaced.
Fuel Pump needs to be replaced.
I am going to do one by one and see if I can normalize my operating temp and idle. They all need to be done regardless, so time to start some winter wrenching. I often work 60-70 hour weeks so Sunday is really the only day I can tackle larger projects. Anyone have any advice or change of plan ideas?
 
#47 ·
I hope that is the case, but this is the perfect time to take a few free weekends and replace some potential threats to the e46 and learn about how they are put together. This is my first BMW of 13 vehicles and the first one that intimidates me about it's engineering. Only way to tackle that is head first. Stopped by BMW to pick up some antifreeze and out of curiosity asked how much to replace just the thermostat....538.20
 
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