small amount of sludge at the oil cap

[trustgtr]

I have just collected my 04' 525i two days ago, prior to collecting the car i opened the oil cap to see its condition as well as the oil level. I noticed small trace to brown sludge on the cap (not like mix with water,dry) I rejected the car and was given a choice of 4 other units in the lot..however after checking the others, i found that all the units are the same and showed this brown stuff around the cap. I was told that my unit has been serviced and was given assurance that if any issues were to develop it would be covered under the 3 months warranty. Is this normal for the m54 engine? considering it has a long 25k km service intervals. i plan to change my oil again in a month to mobil 1 as had good experience with its cleaning abilities. Any advice would be greatly appreciated..

 

[mizhan]

flush the engine. then replace oil every 10,000km. no sludge after dat.

 

[astroboy]

Glad u know the telltale of sludge.. I inspected more than 30 used E46 but none please me.. so end up with a brand new E90.

If its minor, just do an engine flush and start using Fully Synthetic with no more than 10k km oil change interval. You should be fine.

.. and Congrats! :top:

 

[Grand]

I think its not too much of a worry. The same brown rust on oil cap is found in many cars and have been discussed in many foreign forum as well. It is mostly caused by short trips by the previous owners where the water vapour from crankcase will condense and emulsify with oil.

You may want to read some useful discussion in other threads about the same problem. :smokin:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=943832

http://forums.5series.net/topic/93554-yellow-grease-inside-oil-cap/

 

[astroboy]

This is my 35k km oil cap..

..and the internals:

 

[trustgtr]

thanks guys, not sure about flushing though as a sudden breakdown could create blockages within the engine. I regularly buy my oils from singapore through myoilstore.com, i'm considering the Mobil 1 high mileage 10w30, its suppose to have extra detergents for engines with long oil change intervals as well as high mileage engines..will try that and report soon. My odo states 21k miles (not exactly sure its real) but overall signs of high mileage like heavy chipped radiator,wear on pedals and seats are almost non existent. Other than that, its a good drive though..

 

[Grand]

A 2004 car with only 21K miles or 33.6K km on it? Quite suspicious. If it is true, the car must have been used for a lot of short trips which would necessarily involve start stop traffic. So the brown rusty sludge is inevitable.

If you are not sure about the history of the car, better don't flush the engine. AFAIK, BMW never recommend the engine to be flushed in their manual. Lest it dislodge some sludge and lodge it at places where it is not supposed to be, blocking important passage or oil flow.

 

[Peter Sauber]

Mine is m54 engine but no such thing la
I change engine oil every 10,000 km, max 12,000 km