danxp

took the ride over to the valvoline oil change place last week... i hadn't changed it in about 7k miles... yeah, i know, i know...

anyway, he claimed my oil had turned to sludge and wanted to sell me on an "engine flush" to get the sludge out... oil actually looked totally fine to me... anyone know what this engine flush is?

he also said i needed the fuel-injectors cleaned and all these other different fluids changed...

how would they go about cleaning the fuel-injectors? i promptly said no to all but i threw'em a bone and said ok you can change the air filter (non-oem) for $26...

i think i probably need a throttle body/maf cleaning or something... gonna have to read up on that thread again...

DDLexus

I'm no expert on OIL...

But i did own a 2002 RX300 that had engine sludge and the whole engine was torn down and rebuilt at the Lexus shop. This car probably didn't have an oil change for 30,000 or more miles. And, the RX engine was prone to engine sludge.

I really doubt that sludge appeared at 7000 miles. This sounds like a scare/scam. I assume this was not at Lexus?

Jabberwock

Take it to Lexus or Toyota instead to have it evaluated. My guess is what he was recommending was a wallet flush.

caddyowner

Get a second opinion. I recently took my new (to me) Subaru to a local oil change place that I had used before. My mechanic son-in-law had to delay doing the full 30K service on the car due to caring for his sick father. I figured I'd get the oil changed and have him do the other work when he could. During the oil change, he showed me a card with some oil and shiny specs on it, saying that he recommended changing the rear diff fluid as it had metal shavings. I told no, I'd have my son-in-law look at it.

Fast forward about two weeks, and my son-in-law took the car for the 30K service. He said that not only were both diff fluids fine, the rear diff didn't appear to have been opened since leaving the factory.

danxp

yeah, thanks for all the responses... not too worried about anything the valvoline oil change guy said... just wanted to know what the actual process of "engine flushing" might do... would they send fresh oil through the engine then drain it again? prolly just as jabberwock said, "wallet flush"...

thinkin

It sounds ridiculous to me that simply going 7k between an oil change will actually cause any measurable amount of trouble. Some people will go twice as long or more as they should, the whole life of the car, and still drive them into the ground with a ton of miles with no trouble. Aside from oil with flawed chemistry, or engines with known circulation design flaws that tend to make themselves known fairly quickly in the lifecycle (some late '90s Toyotas for example) sludge just doesn't "build up" that quickly.

I'm guessing you said something apologetic about having gone 7k since the last change or mentioned something to them that they picked up on to take advantage of your fears. Definitely agree they were just looking for things to charge you for. I hate most of these joints, don't know how anyone could work in one and look at themselves in the mirror.

waijai

iTrader: (9)

Just your typical upselling of products and services.

fergo308

Most engine flushes are an additive the mechanic will put into the oil and run the engine for 15-20min or so to loosen up and flush any gunk out of the engine,before dropping the oil and filter and replacing with fresh. I've done quite a few of these on customer's cars over the years (I'm an ex mechanic) and they won't hurt anything.

MZ series engines (older RX,ES,camrys etc)are notorious for sludging up,they MUST be oil changed every 10,000km(6,000Miles) at the MOST or they will suffer in the long run. Failing to look after them will often result in oil starvation issues,severe sludging in the top end and possible bearing failure.
I haven't seen a UZ suffer from a sludge buildup,but then,the small number I've worked on were generally well taken care of.

the injector clean was most likely the same thing - an additive they'll put in the fuel tank,something you can easily do yourself after buying the same stuff from your local auto shop. Something more involved like a Wynns induction AND injector clean treatment IS worthwhile IMHO,but costs a lot more.


Justin...

lex2001

Probably BS on the salesman's part but there is a definitive way to find out. The sludge problem was primarily on Toyota products from 1996-2000 with V-6 engines. Toyota made the oil drain holes smaller to increase horsepower. There are some documented cases of V-6's in that time frame with oil sludge even though the owner changed the oil at 3,000 mile intervals. Toyota extended the engine warranty on vehicles produced during that time frame to 8 years from date of new car purchase. Symptoms are loss of power and oil leaks.

You can find out yourself by taking off the valve cover and looking at the valves. If you see a black cottage cheese type product in there you have a sludge problem. If everything looks like a golden brown you are okay. (Go to Google and choose images at the top then type in "oil sludge") Takes about an hour and you should replace the gasket when you put the valve cover back on. If you aren't mechanically inclined take it to a mechanic and pay him for an hour's labor and $10 gasket to find out. It might give you peace of mind.

Bryan858

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like Upselling to me.. Thats what happens when mechanics work on commision.

CarGuy89

Just for a reference point, the 3 series I had before this car (see sig for more info) didn't need an oil change until 15k miles. I got it changed after using it for 1 yr/8-9k miles. Newer cars running synthetic oil can probably go pretty long until an oil change. Lexus does say every 5k miles, but they always schedule everything early as a preventative measure.

lexuslspro

You've coined a new phrase...thanks alot I'll keep that saying in mind!