Auto-Rx (cleaning phase) on a 2002 Toyota 2.4L 2AZ-FE

[Ken4]

I started the cleaning phase at 21,543km with fresh Toyota 10w30 dino oil and a new Toyota Denso 90915-YZZA6 oil filter. 2,686km / 4.5months later, I drained the oil and cut open the filter. Well, first I discovered it was a big mistake to use the older paper type pleated element (2AZ-FE calls for the newer yellow foam type 90915-10004), I was hoping the paper type would be better to show the sludge being captured between the pleats. The first pic shows the disaster that happened, the paper element had collasped internally, you can see the central section is squished inwards all the way around. There are supposed to be vertical slots, 6 of them, for oil to enter the pleated elements, but bcos it has collapsed, there is now very little gap for the oil to enter the pleats. There is a possibility that oil escaped thru the bypass instead. I dont know. The good news is that there didnt seem to be any breakage of the paper element or its seal. As you can see on the last pic, there was no sign of sludge at all. This car has always used synthetic at 5,000km intervals (Castrol RS 10w50, Castrol SLX 0w30 and SPC Synace Max 0w30). Maybe 21,500km is too early for cleaning. I will post pics of the oil filter after the rinse phase. [ May 09, 2005, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Ken4 ]

 

[JohnBrowning]

I read some place that the 90915-10004 oil filter design will only casue a 1-2 PSI drop in oil pressure as compared to no filter at all. The design while it appears restrictive is actualy biased for low restriction flow. I think I read this on a Lotus site!

 

[Rick20]

The filter looked like it had captured a fair amount of junk to me. Did you add the ARX to the back end of an oil change interval? It will be interesting to see the next picture of the filter after the rinse phase. Are you planning to do a 2000 mile dino rinse, as recommended?

 

[Bryanccfshr]

That filter looks pretty dirty to me. This is a couple of crossections of used filters that ran 3k on dino. The collapsing is likely due to the blockage from all the solids in the filter.

 

[Ken4]

Honestly, it doesnt look like it caught any junk to me. This is what I was hoping to capture. I am on the rinse phase now with fresh toyota dino 10w30, but I am using the yellow foam type oil filter 90915-10004 instead. I plan on going 3000miles for the rinse phase.

 

[Ken4]

Here is a pic of the oil filter after 3000km rinse phase, no sign of sludge:

 

[sprintman]

Run your fingers through the pleats on the first filter. Feel the grit which you can't see..

 

[Shaman]

I think that 13K miles(21k KM) is too early. I don't really see much to be worried about, but do the grit test like sprintman suggested. I have a 60K KM vehicle and I would wait until at least 75K to do it.