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>You see many posts about the sludge here, but my dealer said the issue
>is very rare, especially the oil change was done frequently with
>synthetic oils.
I think that line of thining is classic 'spin doctoring' by Saab. My 2000 Aero had a lot of highway use and supposedly synth oil used by the dealer (unconfirmed) and had some degree of - not sludge as such - but carbon deposits. My dealer answered my concerns much the same way by blaming any sludge on "poor maintenance" which is pure rubbish in my opinion.
I would be VERY surprised if ANY 4-cyl did not have some degree of crankcase carbon deposits unless oil was changed like every 2000 miles. The only exclusion would be cars which do exclusively highway miles, though mine did a lot of highway trips (2-3 per week) and still had a small degree of carbon.
In regard to the original poster - check out my link below, it shows my car when I inspected it. There was basically no threat from the deposits that were in there, but I cleaned the sump anyhow. It is easy to get the valve cover pulled and compare the state of that area of the car you are considering with mine, then you can estimate what the sump might be like. The main threat from this carbon deposit is that it eventually blocks the fine mesh screen in the oil pan and the motor starves for oil.
Apparently the Mitsubishi turbocharger used on the Aero is less susceptible to premature failure than the garret used on the lpt motors, in any case get the Aero because it's much more fun.
Don't take my words as negative, I'd still buy the car again and am very happy with it, but it is imperative you do some checks before purchase - notably the valve cover removal. If the dealer doesn't want to do that, walk away and find another.
Cheers
Steve
PS There is now yet another revision to the PCV system which may (or may not) improve the oil health of the earlier engines.
posted by 150.203....
http://www.breganzane.com/saabsludgecheck/
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