camry. 1994 oil sludge

hey guys, my first post on this so ill give it a go. I put my 94 camry in for a full checkup this afternoon cause my motor oil was leaking. I;ve brought it for a year it has 145,000 km on it. Since ive brought it ive had 2 services done, one at the dealer i brought it from and another at Kmart. i cant believe that kmart did not pick it up when i got a full service done. I got a report back saying that teh engine and breather hoses where all clogged with sludge and that the oil was being forced out of the rear seals. I was told taht the only option was for an engine change.

I'm a student. and hence poor. cant afford 4k for a engine rebuild, does anyone know how long i can expect to keep the car going for if i say use full synthetic oils and reguarly service (say every 5000kms). I really only need it to i graduate so that i can actually get a new car. The engine sounds fine to me and the engine temperature rarely goes past halfway on the thermostat.

any help would be appreciated. thanks

If I were in your circumstances, and I was, except it was old American Iron at the time, I'd get the stopped up hoses cleaned out and start changing oil and filters every 1000 mies for a couple of thousand miles add extra additives to try and help clean out the sludge and then change oil every 3000 after that. If oil is getting to the critical parts, meaning interior oil ways are not plugged it just might work. What have you got to lose? What is your degree going to be? No let us guess. I'm guessing some kind of education degree?

commerce degree. got about 2yrs to go and i usually drive 10k km per yr. Use fully synthetic oils every 1000km?

commerce degree. got about 2yrs to go and i usually drive 10k km per yr. Use fully synthetic oils every 1000km?

This kind of a tricky deal, if the sludge comes lose a little at a time and gets caught in the filter you should be OK. If it comes lose to quickly it may clog the oil pickup screen or interior oil passages. I think I'd use the thinnest regular oil and maybe not try the additives. I once had a Toyota and old one from the early 70's that I had to take the oil pan off and clean the oil pump screen because it had clogged up. Did the service people happen to say anything about coolent getting into the oil? If that is the cause of the sludge problem we are talking about other problems. If it just sludge from lack of oil changes then I'd drive it with frequent oil and filter changes and watch for the oil light, or check engine light. Commerce degree, business or government?

=== auto-rx.com

However it is unlikely to develop sludge in a 1994 unless maintenance was severely neglected or there is some other fault.

What about an Engine Flush, like Marvel or BG?

The dealership I used to work at used to use the BG flush (they had a guy come in from BG to do the flushes). I think if BG does the flush, then there is a guarantee that the engine will not sludge again, or they will replace it. They must have a web site; I wonder if this service is available where the OP is...

Oil leaks on a high-mileage car are extremely common and may not be serious. Who told you you need a new engine, the dealer or the other guy? A clogged PCV valve can cause oil leaks and attaches to one of the breather hoses. It is an inexpensive part (around $5-6 aftermarket) and is easily cleaned or replaced. Just a thought.

No matter what otters in this NG may try to tell you, DO NOT run the car any longer! Take it to a Toyota dealership! Toyota has a know sludge problem with several of its engines. Ask if your car is covered by the "Extended warranty for engines that indicate gelling" If you car has one of the engines, the warranty extension authorizes the deal to "Clean, repair or replace the engine as necessary, for up to eight years unlimited mileage." It appears a 94 may not be eligible but Toyota may goodwill a repair because of the bad PR sludge has been for them Contrary to what many would have you believe Toyotas, like all other cars, do break down on occasion and you may have to spend some bucks. Let us know how you make out.

mike

Most of the Toyota sludge problems have been appearing in newer model Toyotas, 98 to 03, not the older models.

mike

ROFLMAO!!!! Sorry, but this strikes me as funny, since my living room door opens into the garage and I can SEE the pool of oil on the garage floor under my Supra! Yup, leaks pretty bad. I just keep an eye on the level every 2-3 days, and pay more attention to the Oil Pressure guage than the speedo!

I recently did plugs and wires, which requires removing the top 1/3 (intake) of the engine, so I threw in a new set of valve cover gaskets and cleaned all the breathers. We'll see what happens in a couple weeks, when the weather gets good enough to roll it out.

Hmmmm....who ever said otherwise?

Yeah, Toyotas break down and the parts can be expensive. But overall, if a Toyota DOES break down, and a repair is effected, then the problem is usually solved.

Want me to tell you about a friend who installed THREE transmissions into his Olds, not realizing all along that by replacing the original factory tranny with the same model, he was repeatedly putting a Chevette tranny into his car?

And that the dealer never informed him there was another model available that would have solved his problem?

If it is leaking oil now - synthetic will flow out as fast as you can add it. I'd stick with a quality Dino oil (which has a detergent in it). And change it every 4k miles or so.

Fix pcv system, change oil with cheap stuff every month for half a year.

Stef (95 Corolla 1.6)

Question to ng members...

Would this sort of sludging be amenable to a crankcase with the old oil replaced by kerosene and idled for a few minutes, then drained and refilled with motor oil?

And older models when the own didn't change the oil.

I have taken apart some engines after the owner didn't change the oil often.

They could have paid the mechanic to change the oil or the engine.

Thanks to them, I was able to afford college.

Jeff

I agree with this. If it has dino oil in it now, stay with the dino and do not switch to synthetic. I understand that synthetic will allow leaks to manifest themselves in this situation in old engines. Dino is fine, especially if you will be changing the oil frequently in the near future. Tomes

You understand wrong. Today's synthetic oils do not cause leaks to manifest themselves.

Jeff

The way it was explained to me in other NGs is that the synthetic oil can have a tendency to clean things up a bit in the engine as compared to the regular oil. In an engine that is pretty old and has used dino its life. there could be areas where one would not really want this cleaning to occur, where there would be gunk covering up a leak point. Clean that leak point and one can get a leak to manifest itself.

If the OP will be changing out the oil for a few times there is not need to use synthetic, and then later on either oil will perform just fine for him also, so why possibly scrub one's way into the land of potential leaks. This is why I would stay with the dino in this case, with this old engine.

What specifically has changed in the synthetic oils that have caused them to stop doing this? (I ask not to argue, but to learn.) Tomes