2 hours ago, Dr B said:I know this topic has been discussed ad nauseum. My recollection from all the discussions is that detergent oils do not/will not cause any problems, period. The term is a misnomer. Detergent oils suspend the contaminants in the oil and this allow the oil filter to remove them. Non-detergent oils simply allow contaminants to fall out of suspension in the oil pan and engine passages. To my knowledge, detergent oils do not remove/dislodge built up sludge. The only way to do that is to pull the engine block and have it cleaned.
Robert
Well, the experts can pontificate 'till the cows come home and claim it's not a problem because it didn't happen to them. Certainly it doesn't happen every time.
I personally have had 2 perfectly good engines suffer oil related failures within 100 miles of using detergent oil when it had never been used before. And 1 of them I had already removed the pan and cleaned out the sludge. That one lost a cam lobe. The other one lost a rod bearing. Coincidence? There exists pockets of sludge within an old non-detergent engine. When it gets washed away, where will it go? Into a small oil passage that won't pass it? Many old engines do not have a full flow oil filter. The tiny copper tube to the filter could become clogged with sludge. The stuff that settles in the pan get picked up by the pump and recirculated.
I'll not take that chance again. Staying with non detergent is easy enough.
To quote Clint: "do you feel lucky?"