Sludge/Auto RX

[Andy Chase]

So last winter in my ?05 F-150 with the 5.4L my wife was rear ended. Shortly after getting the truck repaired ($800 from being totaled) I started having some engine problems. I was having a shuttering issue when at low oil pressure (primarily in reverse and idling when in Drive ? idling at park no issue and at 10mph or higher no problems). I brought the truck in to my mechanic and he told me that I had some engine sludge that got dislodged probably from getting rear ended. He told me to clean it all out was about $500 short of buying a rebuilt engine so he recommended trying a cleaner. I figured I?d give that a try as it was a cheaper option and I might as well drive it until the engine blows either if it?s going to cost me the same either way. The cleaner the mechanic put in didn?t really work well. I tried it for about 1000miles but didn?t seem to be doing much. I figured out how to get the shuttering to go away though. 99% of the time it would happen when I was backing into a parking spot so I learned to put it in Reverse, shift to neutral and rev it up (this was because the sludge would get caught in a filter screen and if I built up a little more oil pressure it would push through ? I know probably not the best thing in the world). I did some research and read a bunch of different reviews for Auto RX so I gave that a shot. It says it works better in conventional oil and will take a longer time with Synthetics. So I did the Fast Trac Sludge removal which was 1 bottle added when doing my oil change, then after 1500miles, replace just the filter and add another bottle. The shutter started to become less and less frequent to where by the time I had to do my next oil change I had no shutter whatsoever. At the next oil change you just run conventional oil thru so it can finish draining/filtering any sludge balls leftover. Again I had no issues with any sludge/shuttering issues. I was very happy to only spend about $160 with the cleaner and oil changes instead of the $6k for a rebuilt engine. Knock on wood the sludge issues are a thing of the past, just in case they recommend adding 3-4oz of the Auto RX for all future oil changes to prevent it from happening again. :haveabeer:

 

[EddieS'04]

I dont know what to say. Oil sludge is a thing of the past, in modern motors and modern oil. I would have suspected a wiring issue on a sensor or controler. That finnaly made better connection.

How did you know low oil pressure. Fords gauge is acctualy a idiot light.

IMO if sludge was blocking oil pick-up tube. Pressure would stay low at all speeds.



Glad your problem went away. But I havent seen sludge problems since the '70s and '80s. Ususally from lack of oil changes and cheap non-detergent oil.:supercool:

 

[Johnny O]

Some engines today are known as "sludge monsters", notably some V-6's from Toyota and Chrysler. The Ford 4.0 SOHC is not one of them. I have used Auto-RX as a preventative in some used cars I have bought and the engines ran noticeably smoother afterward. I would simply use a quality oil, preferably full synthetic, Motorcraft filter, and change it not longer than every 5000 miles.