Sludge

Three months ago, a 2006 Audi came in for an oil change.  We’d never worked on it before.  We did an oil service and some other routine work.  The car left, and we didn’t hear from its owner until today.

After lunch, I got a call from a garage in Colorado who had the car in for service.  The mechanic told me the car had 54,000 miles on its odometer – 4,000 more than when we had it here.  He said the car came in with a cam adjuster fault code, and the engine oil was very dirty.  In response to that, he drained the oil, ran BG engine flush through the motor, and changed the oil again.

The mechanic said that the oil was very black, which caused him to think we must not have changed it.  He alleged this supposedly overlooked oil change caused the customer’s present problem, which he believed to be sludge buildup causing the cam adjuster to act up.

In response to his allegation I reviewed the internal shop ticket for the car.  The ticket showed the technician worked on the car a total of 5.1 hours on March 22, and the materials charged on the final bill were pulled from stock.  An oil change was indeed on the list of tasks.  There was absolutely no reason to doubt the oil was changed from the records I saw.

However, it raises a good question.  When someone comes in for a service like an oil change, and then says “you charged me for it and never did it,” what do you say?  When you put a new tires or wiper blades on a car, they are plain to see.  However, new oil looks pretty much the same as old oil, much of the time.  

You can recognize new oil right after it's installed, but in some engines it will be black the very next day.  Unfortunately, those tend to be the engines whose owners generate complaints.  To answer, I first say we are presumed to have done what we say we did, in the absence of evidence to the contrary.  When a bill says "change oil" most people accept that the service was provided as described.

The “black looking oil” cited by the Colorado mechanic is not evidence that we hadn't changed it.  It was just black oil.  No more, no less.  Since visiting our shop, the car was driven cross-country, from Massachusetts to Colorado.  If the car had sludge in the engine before we saw it, the detergents in the Mobil 1 would flush it and as a consequence the oil would be black, after 4,000 miles of cross-country driving. 

All the oil companies stress that point - you cannot judge the suitability or age of modern engine oil by looking at the dipstick.  Analysis is needed.

I’ve seen Mobil 1 oil turn black quite rapidly in other sludged motors, during my twenty-five years in this business.  For all I know, this engine is no different.   Black oil after driving to Colorado is not evidence of anything but a dirty motor. 

The only way to know what happened inside that particular engine would have been to sample the oil and send it to Mobil or another lab for analysis.  That’s not possible in this case because the shop owner drained it and flushed the engine.  For other people who have the same question in their own cars, oil analysis provides valuable insight.  If you were charged for a certain oil and you doubt you received it, analysis of a sample is the only way to resolve the question. “Looking dirty” is not the basis of an informed decision.

More important, analysis will tell how often the oil should be changed based on wear in your motor, and how it's holding up. 

Sludge buildup is a big problem in some of today’s cars; one that is widely known as the result of extended neglect, or repeated use of oil with the wrong rating for the car.  It’s not a problem that crops up all of a sudden, if the car was driven a few thousand miles past the target oil change interval.   Sludge buildup happens as a result of short duty cycle driving patterns combined with too-infrequent service intervals over a long period of time.

Mercedes, BMW, and Audi all specifiy oil change interval of 10,000 miles or more, which many mechanics feel is too long.   The only way those intervals can be met without sludge buildup is by the use of special long-life synthetic oils.  Use of inexpensive conventional oil is a recipe for disaster when change intervals get long.  Even with good oil, many prefer to change more frequently, using intervals of 7,500 miles instead. 


Many people encounter sludge when they buy a used car, only to discover it had poor care or no care earlier in its life, and they are now the recipient of whatever problems will ensue.  If you suspect your engine has sludge buildup, I encourage you to use an oil with strong cleaning properties, like Mobil 1 0-40, and change it every 4-5,000 miles until an analysis shows the engine to be cleaner.  In some cases, engine disassembly is needed to resolve the problem.

If the sludge stays in place in a motor it many not do any harm.  The risk is that a sludge clump will break loose, clog a vital oil passage, and precipitate the failure of the engine.  It's the automotive equivalent of a stroke.

The whole issue of sludge damage can be prevented with more frequent service.  Take better care of your car, and this won't happen to you.

Rover V8 head gaskets

With all the talk of Land Rover liner failures in the pushrod V8's you might think head gaskets are no longer a problem.  Not so!  Here is what happens when head gaskets fail slowly . . .

This photo shows a failed gasket.  There is a split in the material right next to my finger

The area at the top is the part that surrounds the water jacket, visible on the left  side of the frame below. These V8 motors have coolant flowing into the head at the front and rear of the block, through the tall narrow passages.  There is no from from block to head for the middle cylinders; hence you can only have a head gasket coolant failure on an end cylinder.

The picture below shows how the coolant turned to steam and scoured the interior of the cylinder.  That steam cleaning is visible using a borescope; it's a positive means of identifying internal failure through the spark plug holes.  If you see that telltale on an end cylinder it may be a head gasket or a block failure.  In a middle cylinder, it's block failure for sure.

One other thing this image shows is how the block became slightly eroded in the area of the leak.  If this engine were fixed by simply slapping on a gasket it would probably fail again.  The cure would be to deck the block, or fit a top hat liner.  Both those options involve total overhaul, though, so some would go for a used motor instead.

This photo shows a middle cylinder for comparison.  The effect of coolant scouring is obvious now.

Range Rover Sport front differential failures

When differentials fail in Range Rovers, they tend to fail in front.  Over the years we have changed 3-4 times as many front as rear differentials.  I'm not sure why that is, as the same part is used front and rear.  Some say it's because of the traction control.  Others suggest the front does more work because those are the steered wheels.

We recently had a 2006 Sport differential fail, at 75,000 miles.  The truck had Mobil 1 gear lub all its life, changed at 15 and 45k miles, yet the bearings came apart as you can see.

I wish I knew what we might do to avoid repeat failures, but I don't.  For now, we fit the factory replacements and hope for a preventative answer

Putting a new interior in a vintage Lincoln

This is a 1963 Continental Convertible project that we just delivered.  The task was to replace the old off-white vinyl interior with leather and wool a la Rolls Royce/Bentley.  This is the starting point:

Here's the finished interior:

This is the whole car, headed home:

You could buy a car like this for ten grand a few years ago, but now good examples routinely sell for over $100K.  With that kind of value, owners are expecting a substantially different level of quality when it comes to workmanship.

This is a very nice example

We used Wilton wools under the floor, with heavy padding.  The feel is a lot softer than original.  The carpet edges are bound in matched green leather.  The same carpet is used for floormats, but the mats are edged in the same tan leather we used for the seats.

We covered the door panels in leather, and did contrast beading like the seats

The interior is totally transformed.  We dyed most of the original plastic.

Even when they have "leather interiors," many cars just have leather on the seat faces.  On this car, everything on the seats is leather.  In addition, it's Rolls Royce grade Connolly, not the vinyl covered stuff on most cars.  You can smell and feel the difference.  The piping makes for an interesting contrast.

Some areas that were originally plastic looked better in leather

This is the process of dyeing the dash:

We were able to get a near-perfect match between the leather and the dyed plastic.

Here are the newly remade seats.  As you can see, we made new springs and pads in addition to new covers.  That means the car "sits" like a new vehicle.  All too often restorers will only restore the parts you can see, leaving the innards tired and worn.

We made a rough template for the carpet, laid it in the car, marked, cut and stitched/bound it as you can see:

Quite a change from where we began:

A new Land Rover engine failure

Have you had an oil pump fail on a 2000-2004 Land Rover V8?  At Robison Service, we are seeing pump failure more and more.

Last week we encountered a 2003 Discovery with a failure I have not seen before.  The car came to us with an oil light on most of the time, and lifter noise when the light was on.  The noise vanished as soon as the light went out, confirming that the car has a problem with oil pressure, and not a problem with the oil light sender.

This engine is reasonably clean, and free of sludge.  This wasn't a neglect issue.

We removed the front cover, and found the oil pump fractured.  I have seen several similar failures in the past year, but most of the time, when we get them, the engine has already blown.  This one had not.  The outer gear of the pump had fractured into four pieces.  I don't know how much longer it would have worked before failing entirely but it was clearly close to the end.



















I thought we should pull the oil pan to check the bearings, and to my surprise we saw this laying in the pan.  As you can see, the pan is otherwise pretty clean.  The spots in the image are just bits of crud you see in any oil pan.  There is no metal or evidence of damage visible.  The oil is normal looking.

The crescent piece you see is the thrust face from the center main bearing cap.  With no washer in place the crank moves back and forth a few mm.  I think this is the original failure . . . I think the center bearing broke for some reason, the crank moved back and forth over a period of time, and that led to the eventual cracking of the oil pump gear.

Had we not caught this, the engine would have failed in the fairly near future. We will repair the bearing and time will tell how that holds up.  I have some concerns because the crankshaft face may be galled. and that would ruin a new thrust face in short order.  If we find that we face the choice of filing it in place, or removing the engine and essentially getting into an overhaul situation.

Now that I know this I realize we can check for the problem on an assembled motor by moving the crank pulley back and forth to check for excess play.  I wonder how many more of these are out there, waiting to fail?

Soft tops for Land Rovers

The iconic Land Rover Defender 90 was sold in the United States from 1994-1997.  If you own one of those trucks, or a grey market rig, or an older Series vehicle, you may be in the market for a new top.  Perhaps your top is just old and ratty, or maybe a jealous husband shot it full of holes as you fled down the street one night.  Whatever the reason, most original soft tops are due for replacement by now.  

In addition to folks with ratty soft tops, there are people with hard top trucks, who dream of fresh air and canvas. Finally there are a few of you who long for that musty smell of canvas, first experienced in Macedonia with the Foreign Legion.

Many good suppliers offer Defender and Series soft tops.  The best known are those from Rovers North and Atlantic British.  The best quality top, by a substantial margin, is made by a geek on the cape they call The Badger.  The Badger, or Chris Laws as it says on his mug shot, has been making Land Rover tops in a small shop out there since the beginning.  I have installed many of them over the years and cannot praise them highly enough.  Here's a link to his website.

His tops have resisted sun fading, tears from trees, intrusive children, marauding rodents, and much more while still looking great.  The top in the photo at the top is six years old!

Hard top trucks can be converted to soft top with the removal of the original top and fitment of a soft top frame and canvas.

Here are some details of the top showing how it's finished

The workmanship on these tops is really good, and the material is of significantly better quality that what's found on lesser products.  The Badger tops seem costly, but they are well worth the money if you're after the best, or in it for the long term.  I have found the original Land Rover canvas tatters in 6-7 years while the Badger material is still looking new.

See you on the trail!

Some thoughts on Right to Repair

You may have read that Massachusetts is voting this June 28 on a piece of legislation called Right to Repair (R2R) which is touted as a law that will force carmakers to give independent repair shops (the so-called little guys) the same access to car repair data as franchised dealers.

The claim is that this law will save consumers tons of money while giving them a newfound freedom of choice. Unfortunately, it won’t.

Here’s why that law is a waste of time and money.

Right to Repair is a proposed law to give small shops access to repair information. Giving access implies that access is denied today. It isn’t.

Small repair shops already have equal access to service information. I know that because I own a shop and I access that info every day. The National Auto Service Task Force was established almost ten years ago in response to widespread consumer complaints about access to service data and test tools. Thanks to NASTF efforts and Federal legislation, any shop can log onto Ford or BMW or any other carmaker’s database and buy daily, weekly, or monthly subscriptions to service data; the very same data their dealers have.

The only data that is restricted on those websites relates to vehicle security and the coding of keys. That same data is restricted to dealer technicians to prevent vehicle theft. It’s sometimes a hassle, but the carmakers are required to do that for motorist’s own security. Would you want any schmuck to be able to order keys for your car off the web? I thought not.

There was a time when carmakers did hold back information and it was very frustrating. They also restricted access to their proprietary service tools. All that changed thanks to the Federal government stepping in about ten years ago. In my opinion, the information access problem is essentially solved. The problems that remain are being worked out cooperatively by the NASTF, with no need for new state laws.

The proposed R2R law purports to ensure customers can choose where to get their cars fixed. Customers have always had that right. The smarter question to ask is, Who is qualified to fix your car? If you have a high-end car like we work on, your choices are indeed limited. However, you are not limited by “right to repair” issues. You are limited because there are not many people who are both qualified and possessed of the specialized tools to properly service a late-model Mercedes, BMW, or Land Rover.

That brings us to the biggest issue in the aftermarket auto service industry: technician and shop competence. I can’t tell you how many times I hear xxx ripped me off, or xxx screwed me, or xxx fixed my car and it’s worse than before. 99% of those complaints stem from incompetence, in my experience. Only a tiny fraction results from dishonesty or malice.

At Robison Service everyone in the shop attends brand and system specific training every year to stay current. We would be lost without that training and the backup of tech support from Bosch and our test system manufacturers. But training is costly, and few independent shops do it. Dealers have to do it to keep their franchise. We have to do it because we’re committed to being the best.

The second (related) issue is tooling. The days of fixing 99% of the cars with a box of hand tools are long gone. It’s an electronic world, and you’ll need ten to twenty grand for the diagnostic tools for any high-end car, if you want to have dealer-level capability. Otherwise, you’ll be telling customers you can’t do this, or that. You will never hear we can’t do that, you have to go to the dealer at Robison Service. But that certainty comes at high cost; hundreds of thousands invested in tooling and more every year.

Luckily, the tools are cheaper for ordinary cars, and training is more available. Even still few independents avail themselves of it.

Training and tooling are the two principal reasons independents can’t fix cars properly. Both those things are available, at the same cost a dealer would pay. The playing field is already level, thanks to Federal legislation passed in the 1996-2002 time frame.

Another claim is that drivers will be protected because they will get notice of recalls and service bulletins. Once again, that is a problem that’s long been solved. Every manufacturer service website provides that service when you input a VIN. In addition, Alldata and Mitchell (the two principal aftermarket service data suppliers) offer the same thing. All you have to do is buy the subscription. Like us, and every other properly equipped shop or dealership.

Finally, they claim this bill will protect jobs. How? We are not losing our jobs now. This bill will not cause more cars to be fixed in Massachusetts. The problem with jobs in auto service is that we have sky-high unemployment where I live and work. Many of our customers are struggling to stay above water, and car repair is a low priority. That reality drives service workflow for most shops.

I don’t think passage of this bill would hurt me, or my shop. However, it certainly won’t help. What it represents is a waste of time, and political posturing, when we have real and pressing problems to solve elsewhere. Let’s drop this and spend time solving our employment and housing crises. Bills like this are nothing but red herrings to draw people from the real issues.