Wow.. what a night and day difference already!! You're well on your way to resurrecting that engine. Best of luck to you!
1996 Toyota Avalon 1MZ-FE V6 Engine Sludge Dilemna
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Sounds like a great plan along with the new stem seals. Please keep us updated with the pics.
How many miles do you drive a month? I'm anxious to "see" the results since I'm having the same kind of problems with my $400 Geo Metro I just got. I'm not going to waste time taking off the valve cover and oil pan though. It's only a $400 car after all. I started the ARx treatment last week. I'll probably drive 1000-1200 miles a month my self.
I drive about 2000 miles a month back and forth to work, but I'm not going to start taking it to work until I can run it for a half hour or so with the filter staying relatively clean.
I worked on the car again today. First I ran it with the new oil and filter, and at 5 minutes, the oil light came on
I ran it again with the new oil and filter for 6 minutes. The oil light didn't come on, but I shut it down and cleaned the pan, pickup tube, and filter. The pickup tube did not look bad this time, but there were still a lot of little flakes in the oil. Here is what the filter looked like. As you can see, the color of the oil was a lot lighter this time.
I put new oil and a filter in it and ran it between 1000 and 2000 rpm for 15 minutes. Here is what the filter looked like. There are still quite a few flakes but it is getting better.
Well, the car hasn't come apart yet, so I have my fingers crossed I won't eat a bearing or something as I continue to try and get this thing cleaned out.
Hopefully, I haven't already done the damage with the work I've done, as it has caused a huge amount of tiny little abrasive flakes to be littered throughout the oil. But perhaps the filter has caught most of these before they had a chance to work their way into the bearings. One thing in my favor is that I do not believe I got any kerosine in the passages between the oil filter and the bearings. The flakes are coming from what was scraped off the heads and washed down into the pan.
I think the most dangerous thing was that first run I did. If I had to do it over, I would have only ran it for one minute and then renewed the oil, filter, and screen. I'm not sure what you guys mean by the oil filter going into bypass mode. Looking at my first run filter, do you think it could have been in bypass mode with that amount of stuff in there?
I think the most dangerous thing was that first run I did. If I had to do it over, I would have only ran it for one minute and then renewed the oil, filter, and screen. I'm not sure what you guys mean by the oil filter going into bypass mode. Looking at my first run filter, do you think it could have been in bypass mode with that amount of stuff in there?
Well, I might have answered my own question. This website says the supertech filter I used on there will effectively never go into bypass mode. I'm not sure if its true or not. Unfortunately, the site is old so there are no pictures to see if mine is still the same design.
http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml
What Not To Use: Bosch, STP, and Wal-Mart Supertech
While both the STP and the Bosch filters were at one point good filters, they are now manufactured off shore of sub-standard parts. The filter assemblies tended not to have even pleats and generally less media than other comparable filters. There was also a complete lack of a well functioning by-pass valve. With most filters there is an obvious and discrete by-pass valve, but with these filters the can spring and the by-pass valve are the same. The real issue is that in order for the filter to properly by-pass the entire filter assembly would have to move down during use. That is actually not possible with filter assembly properly seating into the anti-drain back valve. This means that the by-pass will effectively never work. In the center of the of picture below you see the filter assembly (top) and the can spring/by-pass valve (bottom). (The can spring / by-pass valve would flip over and into the filter assembly.)
http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml
What Not To Use: Bosch, STP, and Wal-Mart Supertech
While both the STP and the Bosch filters were at one point good filters, they are now manufactured off shore of sub-standard parts. The filter assemblies tended not to have even pleats and generally less media than other comparable filters. There was also a complete lack of a well functioning by-pass valve. With most filters there is an obvious and discrete by-pass valve, but with these filters the can spring and the by-pass valve are the same. The real issue is that in order for the filter to properly by-pass the entire filter assembly would have to move down during use. That is actually not possible with filter assembly properly seating into the anti-drain back valve. This means that the by-pass will effectively never work. In the center of the of picture below you see the filter assembly (top) and the can spring/by-pass valve (bottom). (The can spring / by-pass valve would flip over and into the filter assembly.)
I would probably use synthetic in the winter time and 15W40 conventional dureing the warm months to keep this thing clean!
isnt it bad to keep switching from conventional to synt and back again? Just curious....
isnt it bad to keep switching from conventional to synt and back again? Just curious....
isnt it bad to keep switching from conventional to synt and back again? Just curious....
No, but I don't know why you would. Pick your oil and stick with it. Engines stay cleaner with synth. Since this engine obviously has problems with dino, I would definately go synth, unless the oil burning problem doesn't go away. Then I guess I would go maxlife w/ maintenance dose of Arx.
No, but I don't know why you would. Pick your oil and stick with it. Engines stay cleaner with synth. Since this engine obviously has problems with dino, I would definately go synth, unless the oil burning problem doesn't go away. Then I guess I would go maxlife w/ maintenance dose of Arx.
That IS some 5 minute filter! This is some of the best oil stuff on the web!
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Just as a reminder (I don't think that you really need it now) ..but swap filters often in the Auto-Rx evolutions and cut them open like you did here.
You may suffer some transitional "dental cleaning" side effects ..but I'll wager that this will be a totally serviceable engine after you get it cleaned up.
Excellent determination and energy put into this recovery/restoration.
You may suffer some transitional "dental cleaning" side effects ..but I'll wager that this will be a totally serviceable engine after you get it cleaned up.
Excellent determination and energy put into this recovery/restoration.
That first filter pic is simply amazing. It looks like the pictures we see once in a while of a filter that has been forgotten and left on for 30K miles!
from gomes512, we can make a new bitog acronym.
SUBAR: sludged up beyond all recognition
SUBAR: sludged up beyond all recognition
I must bump.
I don't fault you for the kero flush. You got to get those flakes that you scrapped out of circulation somehow before you run the car out on the streets. ARX is not dissolving those instantly! You are on the right track.
Here is an update on my latest progress:
I realized when I looked at my notes today, the photos of the filters I posted above were not quite correct. Here is the correct times for those:
Filter 1 (photos 1 and 2): After running 5 minutes.
Filter 2 (photo 3): After running 2 minutes.
Filter 3 (photo 4) After running 6 minutes.
Here are two more filters:
The top filter is very dark, but not many tiny flakes were present. It is the 4th filter. I ran the car in my driveway for 15 minutes between 1000 and 2000 rpm's.
The bottom filter (5th filter) is not as dark but a large amount of flakes were present. This filter represents driving the car 17 miles on the highway (the first road test). I wasn't going to take this filter off for 100 miles, but I used an old pan gasket, and it leaked. Good thing, because there were a lot of flakes on the oil tube pickup screen. I don't think it would have made it more than 50 miles before it clogged.
The road test caused a lot more little flakes to break off than when running it in my driveway. I won't add the auto-rx until I can run this thing on the highway for 100 miles and get a relatively clean filter and pickup tube. I'm guessing that will happen on the next run or two.
I realized when I looked at my notes today, the photos of the filters I posted above were not quite correct. Here is the correct times for those:
Filter 1 (photos 1 and 2): After running 5 minutes.
Filter 2 (photo 3): After running 2 minutes.
Filter 3 (photo 4) After running 6 minutes.
Here are two more filters:
The top filter is very dark, but not many tiny flakes were present. It is the 4th filter. I ran the car in my driveway for 15 minutes between 1000 and 2000 rpm's.
The bottom filter (5th filter) is not as dark but a large amount of flakes were present. This filter represents driving the car 17 miles on the highway (the first road test). I wasn't going to take this filter off for 100 miles, but I used an old pan gasket, and it leaked. Good thing, because there were a lot of flakes on the oil tube pickup screen. I don't think it would have made it more than 50 miles before it clogged.
The road test caused a lot more little flakes to break off than when running it in my driveway. I won't add the auto-rx until I can run this thing on the highway for 100 miles and get a relatively clean filter and pickup tube. I'm guessing that will happen on the next run or two.
I've discovered that I have an air leak between the intake manifold and the upper plenum. I torqued it down to specs, but when I spray starter fluid on it, the engine slightly revs up. I am also throwing a mixture too lean code. The gasket is one of the rubber covered looking gaskets, so I didn't attempt to seal it with silicone or anything.
Does anyone have any advice about how to get this thing to seal?
Thanks
Does anyone have any advice about how to get this thing to seal?
Thanks
I have the same thing on my wify's 97 Altima. It is notorious for leaky intake manifold gasket due due to leaking valve cover gasket. The only real way to seal it is to change both gaskets. But as you mentioned, silicone may do the job.
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