i have been expereinceing sludge and so i researched some remedys for engine sludge and read that you can put in 1 qt of ATF with every oil change to remove sludge and buildup. Have any of you ever done this on the sr20 and how was it? thanks for any help.

Talk to Vadim (CovertRussian). He has a sludge monster.

I have run atf in a disposable car before. Now diesel works better. But when the oil gets warmed up, atf will start to burn and smoke very badly. I did this in my festiva to clean it out. It cleaned it, but it was very smokey. I would not drive a car with any of those things in the oil personally.

Run some good engine flush through it and run it at idle. Then drain and put in some good clean oil. Good oils have plenty of detergents to fight deposits.
It will take a couple of oil changes to clean it out completely but it will work.

Another thing you can do is carb clean under the valve cover. Just don't let big chunks of sludge break loose because they will cause problems! if it is just a light deposit the carb spray should wipe it right out. Just make sure you flush out any deposits with a suitable engine flush after doin this and do not drive it until it is all flushed out.

thanks for the help.

i added a half quart of ATF to my engine oil, drove the car approximately 5 miles at normal operating temp, and then changed the oil. i didn't have any sludge, but my oil was black.

ATF is known to clean things, because of the detergents in it.... it's also known to swell rubber seals.

it helps to change your oil when the engine is hot as well. i wouldn't drive my car too far with ATF in the engine.

What I did was before oil change, add 1qt of ATF into engine and let it idle for 15 mins.. You dont want to rev it because the oil will be overfilled so you just want to let it idle.. After 15 mins, drain oil and do your filter change. Basically same procedure that it on the back of the engine flush products.. My .02

Guy at work has a sentra with chocolate pudding under the valve cover. So bad it makes noise. He put some BG engine flush in it. Oil came out BLACK. Since then it just gets more quiet every time he changes the oil. He's been changing it every 1000 miles. Yeah you want the oil to be smoking hot before you drain it.