Stupid Sludge...

[Loss4wrds]

Well pulled the front valve cover this weekend since I was having oil consumption issues and had noticed a valve cover leak by the timing cover.
Was hoping the valve cover leak was where I was loosing most of my oil. Best guess is that it is using a half a quart every 1k miles.

But as I feared I have sludge. Not as bad as I had feared but more than I wanted to see.





Just picked up this 99 a couple weeks ago with 146k mi on the clock.

[Gangis]

Unfortunately, your car is too old and has too many miles for it to be covered under their 8 year/100k warranty for engine sludge. I would take it to Toyota, however, and try to talk to them. If all else fails, go back to the dealer where you bought the car from.

[Loss4wrds]

Can someone tell what this sensor is?




This morning on the way to work the oil light came on and blinked a few times but would go away when turned off the key. I stopped and made sure my oil was topped off and that I hadn't sprung a leak. All looked good. I may just go get a new oil filter on lunch and swap it on for good measure. There was allot of sludge that got knocked loose durring the gasket change and that has me worried
Is this a sensor that would trip the oil light?

Oh and I have better pics from a real camera not just my phone at the house that I will upload later.

[Loss4wrds]

Got car from an individual not from a dealer.

Wondering about Gunk or some other brand of engine flush (kerosene / transmission fluid trick) or taking it to a mechanic that has an engine flush machine.

The deposits were chrystal like and crumbled into shards then into grit when I rubbed it between my fingers. Very little was slime or jell like.

[Gangis]

I'm not sure about the sensor, but DO NOT GET AN ENGINE FLUSH! An engine flush would break off pieces of the sludge and they end up in the rest of the engine, gumming up the works. It's doubleplusungood.

Take it to Toyota, have them look at it. They may decide to give you a break because you JUST bought the car. The engine will have to be disassembled, cleaned and rebuilt from the oil pan up like they did for me. Be sure to bring in proof that you had just bought the car. Sorry this happened to you... I know your pain.

[Eye8Pussies]

very doubtful that toyota will do anything for you with that kind of mileage, but it wouldn't hurt to try


as for the sludge, did you try to get as much of it out as possible while you had the valve cover off? and did you take off the rear valve cover as well to take a look and get as much sludge out as possible too?

at this point, start looking into products such as seafoam or any other product that can actually break down the sludge and then either keep on doing repeated drain and fills, or then get an engine flush. but only after you get something to break down the oil.

as for the sensor, that is the cam sensor for the front bank

[Midias]

I had good luck with my friends tempo by removing the valve cover and oil pan then removing all the sludge I could with a paper towel and using seafoam treatments in the oil with frequent oil changes to do the rest.

[rewmomi]

omg this has got me thinking now I want to see my valves but at the same time i dont want to break that factory seal since i have no leaks its in the 148k range though and i do have another thousand or so miles left to got on my sythetic pennzoil but i wanna take extra precautions and flush out my engine with sea foam like you guys said. I am really sorry to hear about you situation hope all goes well man and try zmax that stuff is no bull if you want proof that it works take some of that sludge and put it in a little sample of zmax and watch it dissolve its awesome stuff.

[Midias]

I would stay away from zmax at least I do ever sense they were sued by the FTC.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/02/zmax1.htm

[Loss4wrds]

When I touched the gunk in the motor chunks of it fell all over. I was affraid that I would do more harm than good by trying to clean it all out. I cleaned and dug out the gunk in the places where I could get it out and had a minimal chance of it falling into the motor.

The reason I ask is the hole under the valve cover where this sensor is located was completely packed with gunk. I cleaned it out as best as I could. Was wondering if that sensor would cause the oil light blinking.
I am most worried that the screen on the oil pump is clogged or that something I knocked loose is preventing the oil to return to the pan if there is a sensor in the pan that is making the oil light come on.

Any ideas on this?

[Midias]

For me personally I just rely on changing the oil on time (3000 miles) and checking the level regularly. I also stay away from ams oil and other high mileage oils. Mostly because of my experience with bikes after a winter of storage the oil is still not broken down but it has all sorts of acids and other nasties that you don't want in there. I am confident it does not brake down at 3k miles or even 10k miles but the amount of crap that builds up in it is enough reason to change it regularly at least for me it is. I know a lot of german companies like BMW use this oil but they also use very high capacity oil pans so the total volume of oil takes longer to become contaminated.


For you I would take off the oil pan and check the screen maybe get a shop vac and suck up some of that crap so it does not fall down.

[Loss4wrds]

So I changed my oil filter on lunch just incase it had gotten clogged from the sludge that was knocked loose during the valve cover change. Since I did that I haven't had the oil light come on again but I also haven't drove very far.
I have a can of seafoam and was going to dump half in the intake before the next oil change to clean the valves and intake. Should I put the other half in the oil instead of the gas tank and run it for a few minutes before the oil change?

I have never used seafoam in the crankcase before, used it several times on the manifold. Does it have instructions on the can for crankcase use?

[Midias]

PLEASE READ THE CAN FIRST

But if my memory is correct the can says you can put 1/3 in the oil and run it for up to 1000 miles.

The couple times I did it the oil came out black as night and I dumped an extra quart straight through just till it ran out of the drain pan clear to push extra crap out.

[Sentinel]

The settlement is unlimited miles and 8 years +120 days from the date of original sale. It might be within time, and I'd take it to Toyota anyway and see what they say.

http://www.oilgelsettlement.com/ has a lot of information. I didn't look at the small print (there is a LOT of it) but it looks like it is worth your while to pore over every detail.

Edit: if you Google 1mz sludge warranty there are many links to other forums, some discussing different ways to clean sludge (If T. won't honor the claim)

[Mr_Krispy1183]

^What Sentinel stated is correct, 8 yrs. +120 days (to file a claim if necessary). However, this may only cover if you're the original owner. I have had the voucher/notice in my glovebox for years and looked at it after reading this. Though I haven't had any oil consumption/problems whatsoever in this area, I may just have the dealer pull the cover and check/fix if necessary.