Oil Pan removal 99 Q45

[davidevo16v]

Dear all, purchased my Q45 about 1 1/2 ago. It now has about 160,000 miles. My wife and I truly love this car. In the past 4-5 months, we've noticed that the oil was getting dirty pretty quicky. Had to change the oil about every 1000 miles. I suspected sludge breaking down and contaminating the oil. In a way, this was a good thing. We needed to replace both valve cover gaskets last weekend and to our horror, sludge had created a wall about 1/4 inch thick. I have never seen anything like it. My guess was the first owner probably changed the oil once a year if at all. Anyway, we tried to avoid loosening up all that sludge, but I believe some of it broke apart when we separated the valve cover. Make the long story short, I think the oil pump pick-up screen is clogged. I changed the oil and filter twice to flush out the scrap to no avail. When i run the engine, the valves just chatter like crazy. Not sure if I damage the main bearings, but we are going to pull the oil pan this weekend to clean it out. Since the pan is remove, we are also going to chisle and carve out as much of the hardened sludge as possible. At this point I really don't see another option. What else do you guys recommend I replace (oil pick-up tube, chain guide, etc....). Well, wish us luck.

[NightRiderQ45]

Man, our motors are no where near "sludge engines" so for you to have sludge, the previous owner had horrible maintenance practices. Hopefully someone else will chime in because this is my first time hearing about sludge with our engines. If he was too lazy to change out the oil (takes 10-15mins max) with proper oci's, he probably didn't deal with any of the other fluids that needs to be changed (diff, brake, PS fluid, and transmission) either.

This proves that you should have your car inspected before purchase.

[qship96]

Time to unload the abused Q, and purchase a well documented replacment vehicle. Even if you could manage to clean up the SOME of the sludge, the massive excessive wear created by years of neglected oil changes can never be reversed. You have what basically amounts to a winning race horse with a broken leg.

[maxnix]

Call

http://www.envirolution.com

Find a facility that can accommodate your VH41DE.

You might have to run two cycles.

If you are not consuming oi, I would recommend it.

[tfvesquire]

Just my $.02, but I don't think you will find major, caked on sludge in your oilpan, but you should find some trash on the pan bottom that needs to comes out. Your oil pump pick up could be partially clogged, but it can be cleaned out while the pan is off. The major concern is your oil passages that are tiny and can get clogged very easily and be a bear to unclog while the engine is still in the car.

As far as your chattering top end, it sounds like your HLA (hydraulic lifter assemblies) oil passages are clogged, which is preventing proper oil circulation. I think you mentioned you had both VC's off to replace the gaskets and discovered thick, caked on sludge on the inside of the covers. If any of that has broken free and clogged your oil passages, the best option I can think of is for you to run several treatments of BG Quick Clean or comparable product and drain and refill until the oil flows freely again. You could also try a pressurized detergent engine flush, but that could dislodge more sludge and cause more problems too. Bottom line, if you haven't already damaged your lifter faces or cam shaft lobes from running them w/ little to no oil, you may be able to salvage your engine.

Depending on how long the engine was run with the horrible chattering you described, you may have already done permanent damage that only a rebuild or engine replacement would fix.

I agree with the other posters that with 160K on the clock and this issue, you need to also investigate the other fluids for similar neglect. Other members chime in with your thoughts to help this guy out.

Ted

[davidevo16v]

I appreciate everyone's concerns and comments. We really enjoy this car and within reason, we are going to try to save the car. I will post an update in a few days as to the outcome.