robyweb

Hello,

I have had a terrible experience with a car that purchased off a lot. To make a long story short, the dealership is no longer in business and I am stuck with a car that I discovered has major sludge issues. The car drove fine for the first couple of months with no issue. When I got the oil changed, the car began to shoot white smoke out of the exhaust.

I have taken the car to many mechanics (including two MB dealers) and they are all telling me that I either need to replace the engine or have it rebuilt. I went to some local guys and they took off one of the covers and showed me how thick the sludge is.

Is there anything that I can do to clean the sludge without replacing the engine? Does anyone have a "how to" on cleaning the engine?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

suicidal4life

I'm not a mechanic but it sounds like coolant is getting into the combustion chambers or the oil pan. Not a good thing if thats the case.

Ausmbtech

There are products which can loosen sludge but here's the problem.......when it comes loose it has a good chance of blocking oil galleries and you won't know it has happened until it's too late!

The damaging area for sludge is when it's behind the piston rings, that's the main cause of the smoke (blue usually). It's near impossible to clean once formed without engine disassembly.

Your best bet on a budget is to remove the rocker covers and sump and clean what you can reach as best you can. Do an oil and filter change every 2000-3000kms for the nest 10000kms with a oil flush additive added before the oil change and hope alot!

gregory13lil

This sounds like the most sounds advice!! It sounds like the dealership might have used the old folk remedy for smoking engines...I guarantee you that they used BARDAHL NO SMOKE OIL ADDITIVE!!!!
This is like THICK BARELY MOVING OIL, it will cause more damage than good but helped them move the car off the lot without smoke.

I would follow the advice posted above and hopefully the engine will be revived with time. If not then lets look at the bright side!! You can always do a 55 or 430 swap and get some REAL power under that bad boy!!! I have seen them for 4K with Tranny on Ebay and your local Indy can do the swap for you. The only issue will be the ECU but thats a whole other subject and we will hit it when we get there.

Hell I want to upgrade so maybe we can do some trade-up program where I sell you mine and I buy my 55 motor finally LOL!!

Greg

MarcusF

I was a wrench, and white smoke is definitely coolant. Burning oil will cause blue smoke. Black smoke is overly rich. Sludge doesn't cause smoke. It causes a spun bearing, which is followed by loud noises and an expensive rebuild.

bobbyjo9

Pull the dipstick.. if it looks like your favorite starbucks latte then you are done. driving further WILL cause things to come apart and damage the block. Kiss that rebuild or core charge goodbye when that happens.

terabyte

It works great! tons of people have success with it!

visit auto-rx.com to buy it and go to www.bobistheoilguy.com to read up more about it.

thank me later

robyweb

I appreciate the responses by everyone. I think I will try the auto rx as a last ditch effort before I replace the engine block. Has anyone else used it before?

Serndipity

Do you have the service record for the car?

Early 208s had a major issue with sludge...because MB did not properly inform dealers (and state in owners manual) that the extended oil change 10K mile service required synthetic oil and the extended service filter cartridge. MB lost a class action suit and agreed to extend the warranty time and mileage on these early 208s (1998, 1999 and possibly 2000 models).

The sludge could be from using dino oil and not changing it frequently. If dino oil was used, it tends to expand and then coat / reseal the gaskets. Then upon switching to synthetic, the dino seals are cleaned and leaks result.

terabyte

What oil did you use? Make sure to only use an MB 229.5 oil such as Mobil 1 0W40. Actually that is the specific oil you should use. Do not use anything else!

robyweb

All,

Just a follow up, I decided to take the engine apart and clean out the sludge myself. Here are some pics of what I found. If you have any ideas what could have caused this, please forward.

Thanks,

Fred

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/65/l_47df6886ae484b61a5ad39139490ce30.jpg

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/66/l_584957adc1764f76b80c79759746d926.jpg

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/23/l_e3da77ab9aa442ca8845dcd6a709bd65.jpg

C43AMG

Link to pictures doesn't work.It says your account is private.

robyweb

Sorry about that, I changed the links to go directly to the photos.

Thx!

C43AMG

.....ummm......try again!

M-bENZ

Dont post pics with your myspace...use photobucket or something else...

Andy