Black Death

[grosey87]

black death? any body tell me anything about it please. cheers

[sparkystav]

What!>?

[grosey87]

the black death/ oil sludge?

[sparkystav]

You'll have to expand a bit more mate

[grosey87]

have seen a mechanic, and he said that ive got the 'black death' and that my head gasket might be on its way out! and i was confused. he said that my engine cap etc has got a oily sludge.

[BRUC3]

So he's saying that your head gasket has gone?

A big give away is a white 'mayonaise' substance on the underside of the oil cap...

If the gasket has gone, get it changed sooner rather than later, but by no means the 'death' of the car?!

[sparkystav]

Exactly the sludge from a headgasket is white hence "black death" makes no sense

[grosey87]

thats why im abit confused as ive always known head gasket gone by the white/ yellowy colour sludge but this is black!!

[ormi]

heres your solution....the owner before hasnt looked after the car the black sludge means it has been run low on oil and the oil has been cooked... give it a good service and all will be well

[grosey87]

wel thats a relief i thought that it would be worse than that, especially after the mechanic said 'black death'. would a engine flush be any good aswel or no? cheers

[ormi]

heres what id do take the car a run and get it nice and warm buy some cheap oil and some good oil when its warm drain the oil thats in it now(dont change the filter yet)fill up with the cheap oil then take a longer run then change the oil and filter using the good oil job done....i dont rate engine flushes..

[Bob King]

Black death is an oil deposit build up inside the engine, when an engine has insufficient oil changes in its lifetime , the black deposits build up to the extent they can block the oil ways and starve the engine of its vital lubrication.

Once its inside the engine its never going to come out in any useful amount ,short of a full strip down and engine degrease. If you try and add engine flush at this late stage, It will cause more harm than good, it gets some of the deposit on the move but this can lead to the oilways getting blocked quicker.

The oil pick-up in the sump can also get blocked with the deposits. An engine can go on for many years if the deposits are not that bad,and with more regular oil changes could keep the deposits at bay but my true opinion as an ex-mechanic who spent spent 20 years in the game, is not to use engine flush.

When looking to buy a car, that is one of the checks you can do by removing the oil filler cap, if you can see black sludge ,then walk away, trouble is many modern engines have a splash guard by the filler cap, so you can't see the engine internals.

[grosey87]

wel thanks guys thats put my mind at rest abit. just put me new rad in and now im guna do the couple oil changes, cheers again