Engine full of sludge. What are my options?

That looks terrible btw lol

I just did the engine flush today and most of the sludge was cleared. But estimate around 30% sludge still intact.

I drained the oil and fill with Shell Helix Ultra which I read has Active Cleansing Techology.. "I hope it will work" after the engine flush. Should I drained the oil after 6,000km?

Or should i do another flush at the next service interval at 11,000km?

I would plan on changing the filter every 1500KM or so for the next 3000KM, then do a full oil change at 6K. If your Helix is what I think it is, I would only run that in a short interval, then switch back to an approved LL01 oil.

Thanks for the oil filter suggestion. Will do that.

Shell Helix Ultra is LL-01 certified.
http://www.shell.com.my/home/content...x_ultra/ultra/

gotcha - I was thinking that was a diesel oil. We will use those in the states because they tend to have a higher detergent value. Excellent for a job like this, but probably not something you want to run extended intervals on.

Either way for you, for piece of mind, I would plan on a short OCI for this one, with at least 1 filter change inbetween. What weight did you use out of curiosity? Not sure your climate there, but I would run something thin this time around to mitigate any potential blockage that may occur.

Oh yes I read about the diesel oil as detergent but I' not too sure I want to try that.

Weight is 5W-40.

Be careful, if the engine is running fine you dont want to lodge any pieces of sludge in oil intake tracts or something and clog stuff up. What the hell have you done to your engine? Mine was spotless after 200k miles

Personally, I feel the best way to do this would be to remove the head. Then you'd be able to soak the whole thing in anything you want as well as clean the valves.
This is the least risky way to do it IMO. You really don't want anything in your engine.
Keep in mind that a new head gasket is like $100 though

Well, I'd remove the oil pan too, I bet a lot of sludge is there too.

Originally Posted by peytonracer4

Personally, I feel the best way to do this would be to remove the head. Then you'd be able to soak the whole thing in anything you want as well as clean the valves.
This is the least risky way to do it IMO. You really don't want anything in your engine.
Keep in mind that a new head gasket is like $100 though

And a full day's labor.

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.

I would never put a solvent like Seafoam in my oil. The ATF idea isn't so bad, but I doubt it would heave very positive results.

I think the damage is done here, unless you want to disassemble and have the parts hot tanked as mentioned....that isn't worth it.

Originally Posted by WDE46

And a full day's labor.

If he can pull a valve cover he can pull a head. Yeah it's somewhat time consuming but what needs to be done needs to be done. If he wants to take short cuts and clean it out with windex and a paper towel feel free. But the safest and most productive way of going about it is to pull the head. Might as well do it right the first time if he plans to keep the car right?

Doing the head still leaves sludge in the bottom end.

Originally Posted by lcoleman

Doing the head still leaves sludge in the bottom end.

There shouldn't really be sludge anywhere in the block. Probably some in the oil pan. But he should really drop that and clean it no matter what after finding this

Can try sea foam, however that is more of a quicker harsher solution. Look into auto rx as well. Removes sludge over the course of oil changes and would be something I would definitely try with all that sludge.

Originally Posted by lcoleman

I would never put a solvent like Seafoam in my oil. The ATF idea isn't so bad, but I doubt it would heave very positive results.

I think the damage is done here, unless you want to disassemble and have the parts hot tanked as mentioned....that isn't worth it.

I've really never heard of anything going wrong with Seafoam in the oil for a bit, then an oil change very soon after.

Originally Posted by jfoj

Also check the thermostat using the Hidden OBC Menu in the 3rd link below in my signature.

Have seen many problems with engines running slight cold and bad CCV causing this type of issue.

Sorry to hi jack, but relevant. It has started to cool off here in SC, and I have noticed that even on a 30 min drive to work in the morning (35-45F) my thermostat still is on the dot to the left. see below. (Car in picture is obviously an M3 and I have a 330ci - just a reference)



With other cars I have owned after 30 minutes the thermostat is right in the middle. This is my first BMW and I am paying attention to all small details to make sure everything is squared away. I have a laundry list of things to replace by 100k. I have an 04 330ci with 75k and have not done the ccv yet. I was planning on tackling the cooling system and suspension in the early spring and I am wondering should I spend some time over the holidays replacing the ccv before it starts getting colder? Other symptoms are very VERY slight rough idle for a few seconds at start up. My MPG are crap (~21) but I am rarely light on driving. 3k-4k RPM Shift Points.

I am going to start keeping track of outside temp and internal temp with the OBC Hidden codes over the next few days. I have had it in the high 40's and by the time I am at work the thermostat is right in the middle, so it can kinda go either way.

Bottom line is I would like to catch this in the early stages if possible and avoid the OP's problem. Please advise.

Brian

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.

Originally Posted by |2eckLesS

Sorry to hi jack, but relevant. It has started to cool off here in SC, and I have noticed that even on a 30 min drive to work in the morning (35-45F) my thermostat still is on the dot to the left. see below. (Car in picture is obviously an M3 and I have a 330ci - just a reference)

With other cars I have owned after 30 minutes the thermostat is right in the middle. This is my first BMW and I am paying attention to all small details to make sure everything is squared away. I have a laundry list of things to replace by 100k. I have an 04 330ci with 75k and have not done the ccv yet. I was planning on tackling the cooling system and suspension in the early spring and I am wondering should I spend some time over the holidays replacing the ccv before it starts getting colder? Other symptoms are very VERY slight rough idle for a few seconds at start up. My MPG are crap (~21) but I am rarely light on driving. 3k-4k RPM Shift Points.

I am going to start keeping track of outside temp and internal temp with the OBC Hidden codes over the next few days. I have had it in the high 40's and by the time I am at work the thermostat is right in the middle, so it can kinda go either way.

Bottom line is I would like to catch this in the early stages if possible and avoid the OP's problem. Please advise.

Brian

Your thermostat is stuck open. My car does the same thing. I am replacing my thermostat on Sunday. I also have a 2004 330Ci with 70K on it :-O