two things... clean oil and a new pcv valve will prevent the sludge monster from residing in your engine. The sludge that forms on the underside of the valve covers is from a pcv system that cannot breathe. Change the oil, and make sure your pcv valve is new. If you think you're sludged up, do not attempt to flush the motor. You'll only cause the 5 pounds of sludge to fall from it's home on the valve covers onto your heads and clog the oil galleries. Remove the valve covers and throw them away... trust me. There is a little metal plate that covers the pcv channel on the inside of the valve cover. Once the gunk gets in there, it is impossible to get it out without removing the plate. Here's the problem, once the plate is removed, there is no way to re-attach it without custom brackets and hardware... all of which must be fastened to plastic. It's not worth the risk when you can find a nice used set on ebay for $50. A small price to pay to keep your intrepid/stratus/lhs from being a beautiful hunk of junk sitting in the driveway until it rots... or worse, you could have strangers out of the newspaper there buying door handles and turn signal switches!
I payed $500 for my 99 trepid that i've put 40,000 miles on. Getting ready to do the timing chain and water pump... it's slapping like an SOB!
Good luck, don't buy into the hype that these 2.7L are ticking time bombs. Oil... regularly!!! Clean the sludge out once and don't let it happen again!
Peace!
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