Ryan R - master of all statistics oil :)

[Drooby]

i think that there were some suggestions from the toyota people that there were chemical means of undoing the sludge.......10 gallons of diesel fuel in the crank case along with 30 or 40 quarts of wal mart special oil at .84/qt should git r done toby keith, well, he's....an artist..... i don't bother giving my mother tools, i'm pretty sure she wouldn't know what to do with them if she needed to actually use them.

ok question about oil buildup :
do you recommend the use of " gunk remover" or products if that nature - ( your suppose to put it in the engine and runit for 10 minutes before you change the oil)

does this stuff work or is it another duralube ?

[winfred]

the problem with solvents in the crank case is the possibility of breaking loose harsh particles that can dammage bearings, one of my favorite kill the motor with snake oil things is slick 50 in a 190e mercedes, i've probably sold a half dozen motors due to that crap, and the story's the same, within 50 miles it gets a rod knock where it spun a bearing

ok question about oil buildup :
do you recommend the use of " gunk remover" or products if that nature - ( your suppose to put it in the engine and runit for 10 minutes before you change the oil)

does this stuff work or is it another duralube ?

[DanDombrowski]

No, her Camry is an I4. It affects mostly the I4 and V6 Camry engines, and Siennas and Tacomas with the same engines. Seems to me that the majority of complaints come from people that changed their oil "on time", meaning "every 8,000 miles or when they found a coupon in the paper", and also happen to be in the florida/texas/california heat. I suppose the cause of the heat is the million dollar question, but I do know that Mobil 1 is better performing at higher heats than dino oil, so thats what we're going to use from now on and just pray it doesn't get worse. I don't plan on putting any solvents in the crankcase, if I do any cleaning, it will be pulling the oil pan and the valve cover

[632 Regal]

the bearings and causes rod knocks, camshaft bore galling and lobe wear.

[ryan roopnarine]

i was being facetious about the diesel fuel....all that gunk motor flush is is about 95% diesel with some other crap mixed in with it......

anyway. the 1% of cars afflicted thing apparently is deceiving, dan. i believe that the "problem" was only initially with the v6 motors. by extending it to the I4, they have a much greater sample size and it makes it much easier to say "only 1%".

[JR'Z 525]

Yeah about 4 years ago I let her oil change slide once to a 11,000+ mile interval. We were in the middle of building the house and birthing #2 child etc. After that one time is when I noticed the sludge build up in the filler hole. Before that one time I had been "religious" about changing it around 6,000 miles with Castrol dino. Sounds like could be an accumulative thing especially if you go to 7k+ between changes in warmer climes.
I've been watching the oil level real close since the rear main drips. We've been on several long distance trips in it and I just keep my fingers crossed it doesn't let go at the wrong time. When I get my shop finished I'll take it out of service and drop the drivetrain to fix it. Maybe I'll go to Mobil1 too. Really need to trade it for that rumored BMW minivan LOL!

John R.

[cary]

An oil analysis will not tell you if the engine is sludged. You need to pull the valve cover to check that. I would suggest you go to bobistheoilguy.com and run a search for toyota & sludge, to get more info than you ever wanted or needed to know about the sludge issues with the Toyota 4 cyl motors and 3.0L V-6 motors from the late 90's through early 2000's.


Cary