YOUR WHEELS / RALPH VARTABEDIAN : A New Solution for That Black Engine Sludge?
You may wash and wax your car. You can vacuum the dirt off your bucket seats. If you are really fastidious, you might even use a degreaser to clean under your hood.
But what about engine sludge, that black tar that coats the inside of your cylinder block and shortens the life of your engine? Like fat cells blocking arteries, sludge can impede the lubrication system in your engine. Is it worth fretting over?
For worried motorists who are intent on preserving the lives of their cars, controlling engine dirt is an obsession. Some change their oil every 2,000 miles. Others use unconventional filters that have toilet paper as their medium. And still others run their engines with kerosene periodically to wash out dirt.
It is not clear that any of these extreme measures will really increase the engine’s longevity. A new service has come on the market with the promise that it can solve the sludge problem.
A number of quick oil-change shops, including some locations operated by the Jiffy Lube chain, are offering a service in which an engine sludge cleaning machine is attached to the engine during an oil change.
The machine is made and marketed by Sludge Free, a Van Nuys company. The machine is attached to the engine where the oil filter screws on and pumps 24 gallons of a silicon-based cleaning fluid through the engine. The fluid is run at 110 degrees and at 42 pounds per square inch pressure through the oil passages inside the engine.
Sludge Free says the treatment can reduce engine operating temperature, repair bills and engine friction, leading to an increase in horsepower. Independent oil experts dismiss such claims.
Ted Titmas, a former professional race driver who owns the company, claims that the device will remove loose sludge but not disturb caked-on sludge that typically coats cylinder block walls and upper valve cover. So the idea is that it dilutes and washes away liquid sludge but not hardened sludge that does little damage.
Traditionally, most oil experts have advised leaving sludge alone, because disturbing it can result in blocked oil passages that will cause extensive damage. Titmas claims that his system leaves the engine running very clean and that after a treatment, the oil does not discolor in use.
Bill Runkle, a Valvoline oil expert, dismisses the Sludge Free claims and faults the system on several counts. First, sludge tends to be very hard, and the only way to dissolve it is with chlorinated hydrocarbons, which are environmentally hazardous and possibly injurious to an engine, Runkle said.
Second, the Sludge Free machine does not operate while the engine is moving, so that the cleaning fluid can not pass through valve lifters that often suffer the most from sludge. As for oil remaining clear, that may be of dubious benefit.
“Oil is supposed to get dark,” Runkle said. “That means the detergent is doing its job.”
Titmas replies that most of the lifters do get some cleaning fluid through them and that his machine is not intended to remove hardened sludge. He faults oil companies for an attitude that only more of their oil can help motorists.
The service is not cheap. At $39.95, it is a cash cow for service stations. The machines cost $10,000 and the profit amounts to $32 per car, Titmas said. After 312 cars, the machine has paid for itself. Sludge Free promotional literature claims that a station can make $1,598 a month with its machine.
“It’s a good deal for the service station,” Runkle said.
Vartabedian cannot answer mail personally but will attempt to respond in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Do not telephone. Write to Your Wheels, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA. 90053.
