Water seems to have gotten into the oil of my wife’s '98 VW Jetta.It apparently got in through the broken dipstick tube (thank’s Jiffylube).The result is a light colored pasty mess on the inside of the valve cover and most likely everywhere else.What is the best way to clean this sludge from the eng…

This water/oil emulsion officially known as “mayonnaise” can also be the result of repeated short trips that never get the engine hot enough to evaporate the water that naturally condenses in your engine when it is running cold. A coolant leak can also cause this. I would do one oil change to get …

Will the sludge clear up after the water is gone? I think I’ll try The SeaFoam,change the oil,then the long freeway ride.

You may need another oil change after that, but that’s cheap compared to taking the engine apart. Agree that strong emetics can loosen big chunks of crud that can plug your oil passages. If your oil was not regularly changed over the lasy 10 years, be prepared for increased oil consumption once you…

Actually the oil has been changed every 3000 to 5000 miles since it was new. I don’t think there’s much crud.

Good! Then you should be OK after doing what the other posters recommnded.

I didn’t have the valve cover off I just ran my finger around the inside of it.That’s more ambitious than I was hoping to get.

I will only add that you should be using a high quality full synthetic oil. That will not fix it, but it can reduce future slugging.

Tester, I have seen SeaFoam mentioned on these forums many times. If a car with 80K miles on it is running fine with no problems will SeaFoam produce any benefit or should it be used only to correct a noticeable problem? In other words is there any preventative benefit to its use?

Personally, I would just change the oil, drive it 20 miles, and change the oil again to get out any of the remaining mess. If sludge was really your problem there are products you can buy and use to remove sludge form your engine. You drain a little oil, pour this stuff in, idle the engine for a f…

Best way to remove sludge from engine

Maintenance/Repairs

keith February 4, 2008, 12:15am 8

Since you apparently have the valve cover off all ready, I would remove the mayonnaise mechanically, that is brush, rags and solvent, from the inside of the valve cover and the top of the head. I would also check that the return passages are clear so that the oil drains back to the pan ok, then do an oil change.

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Best way to remove sludge from engine

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