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Engine Sludge
I have got 2003 Corolla LE, 91K miles on it. About a 8-10 days back I saw my "low engine oil pressure" light flickering a few times. It was not continously flickering but it used flicker every once in a while. I also could hear some low noise knocking. I checked my oil level and as one would guess, the oil level was very low and I could feel some gelly substance at the end of the dipstick. Oh Oh!!
I filled it up with Engine Oil and drove around a block to see if I get any indication of any knocking (like before) or if the low engine pressure light comes on. I heard some of the knocking...but didnt see the light coming on. Eventually decided to open the oil pan and valve cover to see whats going on. Found out that the galleys, the bearing caps...etc was sludged up pretty bad. It looked quite nasty.
Anyway, the reason I am writing here is...I wanted to understand the reason of why this could have happenned. My mechanic buddy is working with me on this. So the first thing that came up was oil change frequency....I have changed oil...every 3000-4000miles....regular valvoline oil (atleast since I bought the car at 60K miles). So that cant be a problem. However, I dont drive my car a lot on interstate. My work is 1.5miles away and thats chunk of the portion of my drive...along with short trips to grocery stores and such (I have put on 31K miles on it in 3.5yrs). We were wondering if all these short-stop and start trips could have been the reason for this sludging situation (?!)
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