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Dear folks,

I've searched the forum for "sludge trap cleaning" - still not sure what to do. Winter is coming and it may be a nice project to clean the sludge traps. On the other hand, it might advisable not to fiddle with something unless it is really necessary. The motor has something like 43000 km on the clock and the former owner had the crankshaft revised once, oil changed thoroughly. Is it wait and see or should I do it? I'm grateful for any input.

Kind regards

Wolf

Probably the best time to clean the sludge trap is when the crankshaft is dismantled for big end bearing replacement.
Then it can be thoroughly cleaned out without risk of getting debris into the bearing.
I have known of people doing a "clean out" with the crankshaft still in the case, without trouble afterwards - not immediately anyway.

Its a hard enough job to do without making things worse, firstly is the problem of getting the plug loosened it will probably be peened into the slot so you need to carefully drill this away.....why they didn't put a hex socket bung in there I'll never know ......certainly when you get it out replace it with a socket hex, once you remove it you are presented with a solid mass of congealed oil and metal dust to get 'out' but not get 'in' anywhere else, before I do anything (including the above) I tightly pack the crankcase mouth with greased rags then with a home made high suction vacuum nozzle in place slowly remove the cr*p from the cavity with a hand operated drill and 1/2" hss drill bit, the vacuum (if it has enough suction) will grab 99% of what comes out, you don't want to disturb the cavity too much just take out what you can it doesn't need to be clinically clean, the trap is a centrifuge so the minute the engine starts to spin anything left will fly back into the cavity again......well that's the theory I have done this job several times with no after issues that I know of. It can sometimes be surprising just how little is in the trap.....then you feel like you wish you had left it alone
Just go carefully and don't rush the job.
PS I once removed the sludge trap bung on a freshly rebuilt 250 desmo crank ....I think the entire substance of the former failed big end was in there, the trap was completely full with shrapnel......as was said above best time to do this is when the crank is being reconditioned .....except no one thought to do it on this one
Cheers,
George