Crap! Oil Sludge

T

ttora4runner

Well-Known Member
Location
Colorado Springs, Again
Since coming to Wyoming my 4runner would blow blue smoke on startup (maybe 4 or 5 times in the past 8 months)the latest being last week after a 600+ mile road trip. I finally went ahead and took it into a mechanic to have it looked to see what was causing the problem.

Well, on Monday I got a call from the shop manager that the valve seals are bad and need to be replaced. However, when they tore into the engine they were meet with a little surprised:

This is the photo that I was sent while at work. :eek2:


I've seen this on V6 models of 4th gen Toyota Camry's but not a 4runner. After work I went on down to the shop to talk with them about the issue and grab a few more photo's.

Head 1:


Head 2:






Clogged oil port (there was one that was basically completely clogged)


After seeing all this crap all I want to do was :bolt: or grab a gun and put my 4runner down.

The techs were surprised that my 4runner ran as well as it did despite all this sludge build up. Gotta love Toyota.

Tomorrow they are going to tear into the bottom end to see if that has any sludge build up. Needless, to say my 4runner will now have a rebuilt engine in it.
 
How does that happen ? Is it the brand of oil used , does it sit a lot, Previous owner didn't change the oil ?
Just curious .
 
I had an engine like that, some atf in the oil for a while and sea foamed it, it ran great 30 k later when I sold it
 
ModStock said:
How does that happen ? Is it the brand of oil used , does it sit a lot, Previous owner didn't change the oil ?
Just curious .
Click to expand...

I want to say that it probable due to the lack of maintenance by the previous owners (to longer between oil changes, crap oil, PVC system clogged, etc). Since I've owned it I've changed the oil every 3000 miles and have a huge stack of maintenance records.
 
Unfortunately this is a common issue with the 5VZFE, that said it's rare for it to actually cause any problems and the majority of these motors go 200-300k before they ever get a valve cover off. I've made a practice of running Lucas in my motors, supposed to help with sludge buildup.
 
This is a pretty well documented issue. Why the rebuild? Did damage occur and if so, where?
Assuming all hard parts are in spec, I would clean it up, run a clean and rinse cycle of Auto RX and continue on with 3k oil changes.
 
sawtooth4x4 said:
run some Rotella 5w-40 T6 synthetic in there for 3000 miles and it'll be as clean as a whistle

this is my range rovers internals at 130K miles

View attachment 84944
Click to expand...
Rovers don't hold oil in the crankcase long enough to form sludge, do they?:p

Anyways, I agree with most here - rebuild shouldn't be required as long as it runs well, and the valve seals will cure the minor oil burning. Clean it up and run it!
 
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