Effects of sludge on vehicles

of sludge, especially where it causes engine failure, has led to false accusations being directed at mechanics who have been attending to the particular vehicles in question.
The New York Times of February 2, 2007 reported the case of Meckstroth v Toyota Motor Sales USA. This court case resulted in Toyota withdrawing 3,5 million cars over the gel coming from the tail of the exhaust pipe, which emitted a blue smoke.

This was to do with sludge – the thickening and breakdown of the oil as it decorates as moisture as a result of a build-up of contaminants. This causes oil to gel resulting in excess wear as friction increases or, in extreme cases, a stop-right-now failure. Thousands of owners of vehicles of popular brands like Chrysler, Dodge, Toyota, Lexus, VW, Audi, and Saab did have sludge problems. The judge approved an out of court settlement of a close suit action against Toyota and to repair those vehicles.

But suffice to say that despite the best technology there is need to constantly monitor your engine by following the manufacturer’s oil change intervals. This way you will minimise the occurrence of this menace. Here in Zimbabwe such incidences are attributable to use of cheap or sub-standard oils.
We recommend use of SAE40 oil and that it should be changed after
5 000 kilometres that is if the vehicle is not used excessively in dusty gravel roads. If your vehicle travels for distances of less than 10 kilometres frequently, oil change should be at 2 500 kilometres and not 5 000 km as the engine will be under stress.

For vehicles such as the Mazda BT-50 or the latest cars made after 1997 we recommend multi-grade oil, SAE 15 W 40.
We also recommend that the oil change be at 20 000 kilometres under normal driving conditions but if this is subject to conditions explained under SAE40 the oil change should be at 10 000km. Most garages effect oil change at 5 000 kilometres for every vehicle and we are yet to establish why this is so as there should be a rationale explanation. In the case of SAE 20W 50 most establishments will state that the oil change be at 30 000 kilometres and we believe if the driving conditions stated above are applicable the change should be at 15 000 kilometres as well as that of the oil and air filters.

Last week we were at the Chitungwiza Industrial and Business Expo co-ordinated by Convex that was officially opened by Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Mike Bimha.
The deputy minister emphasised the need for proper marketing to be undertaken by all the exhibitors so as to compete globally with other suppliers of the same product.
He pointed out that while attending a conference held within Sadc, he observed women who were selling their roasted groundnuts at the entrance of the conference venue and they were packing these into newspaper cuttings.

He saw delegates walk in and out and no one bought the groundnuts. One Indian entrepreneur who was present saw a business opportunity and he approached the women, requesting to buy all their groundnuts. They even wanted to reduce the price but he insisted that he pays the full price. He asked the women to repack the groundnuts into neatly packed red and yellow plastics marked “BABA”, which means Buy Africa Build Africa.

When he took to the podium he insisted that all delegates be given a packet of these nuts.
All delegates liked them with some saying they were good and they wanted to buy some more packets. When they inquired where the nuts were being sold they were told to approach the women at the entrance of the conference venue.

The importance of the minister’s statement to us was that it explained why people buy cheap products from outside, such as the sub-standard oils from Dubai, yet we have superior products that are available locally.

At Obel we took a leaf from that statement as we propel into the future. Let’s meet again for more tit- bits from Obel.