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Sludge existed in automotive engine oil for decades before 9-5 ever came along. Back in the 70's, when things got bad it was called "engine black death."
Every single engine produces oil sludge during its operation. Moisture and combustion byproducts are part and parcel of any internal combustion engine's normal operation. Because the thin film of engine oil is what seals the contact between the piston rings and the cylinder walls, some of that contaminants get in the oil ever since the internal combustion engine was invented. If the car is always used on short trips where the engine oil is never warmed up enough to boil off the moisture, you end up with the soft sludge stuff. Some of that will plasticize and form solids. The GM engineers who came up with the idea of placing the catalytic converter under the oil pan probably thought they were geniuses, and it indeed was a great idea for heating up the oil quickly. My 9-5 engine warms up much quicker than most other cars that I had previously; that's great for owners who routinely make short trips . . . that is, most urban and suburban dwelling Americans using their cars for commute and shopping trips that are less than 10miles each way. There is a trade off to higher oil temperature after the warming up advantage however: the need to change oil often and with the right kind of oil that is more heat and oxidation resistant. That means, not taking the car to the cheap oil change places at all where they may put in SA grade oil for you to save a few bucks. What percentage of Americans change their own oil? and actually read the API labels on the oil bottles?
After sludge and especially solids form, a loose tolerance engine from yore would not even notice the difference, as the crud would just circulate around various passage ways. Modern engines with tighter tolerance, in order to meet new and upcoming government emission/fuel consumption mandates, as well as delivering higher engine specific output, would have tighter oil galleries and lighter components . . . and that means not dealing with the crud as well.
I too am glad that Saab is no longer part of GM, however that's mostly because then the folks who harbor blind hatred for GM can now leave Saab alone. Toyota/Lexus and Audi/VW cars from the same time period have similar sludge clogging tight-tolerance engines. BMW's VANOS failure in cars from the same vintage (early 2000's) is far more prevalent (like almost every E46 car has stuck VANOS unless after-market modification was made) and that was actually due to the use of a cheap part (rubber O-ring) to save a few dimes.
posted by 71.184.95...
, Mon, 2 Aug 2010 10:49:24, Sun, 1 Aug 2010 13:21:40, Mon, 2 Aug 2010 12:12:49, Mon, 2 Aug 2010 17:28:30, Sun, 1 Aug 2010 20:28:33, Sun, 1 Aug 2010 20:27:34, Mon, 2 Aug 2010 08:58:24
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