Check your dipstick O-rings!

[Duckless]

TL;DR: o-ring on dipstick left the chat at some point. Cut open filter to find it was doing its job. Found yummy stuff. New dipstick installed. Going to do a couple short OCIs and not a UOA. And probably some rambling in between that info.


I've had my parents' 04 V6 4runner on a steady diet of FS 5w30 for the past few years with pretty much whatever I had sitting in the shop- PUP to Kirkland, even some mixes to use up oil (spooky!). Filters always a Wix, OEM or more recently Pentius. I put small neo magnets on filters cause I'm one of those people. Bought dealer maintained at 90k and it's up to 150k or so. Doesn't use oil, OCIs around 5k. The air filter is changed with OEM every third or 4th oil change. Street driven with a nicely mixed 20 min commute.

Thanks to hanging around here too often, I finally bought a oil filter cutter to see how my filters on the fleet are looking. Cut open this last filter and found all sorts of gunk, but thankfully nothing sparkly! Hopefully the pictures post unlike the last time I tried in the HPL EC thread.

Unsure of how the heck that level of contamination was in this (mostly) well maintained Toyota motor, I started going over everything and found the dipstick O-ring just wasn't there anymore. Never had that! Ordered an OEM dipstick and I'm going to do a couple short OCIs to root out the rest and keep opening up the filters.

Side note, didn't know you had to upload, then attach!

 

[zrxkawboy]

Wow, that's a lot of sludge on that media!

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

You ran EC in this engine at some point? If so how long ago prior to this most recent fill? I would not be happy with that amount of material.

 

[JoelB]

Seems kind of unlikely all that crud came in through the dipstick tube being slightly loose. If that stuff was dirt and contaminants from the atmosphere id imagine that engine would be very unhappy.

 

[Fa24wrx]

May be a good candidate to try out the valvoline restore and protect

 

[Duckless]

You ran EC in this engine at some point? If so how long ago prior to this most recent fill? I would not be happy with that amount of material.

No, sorry. I ran EC in my 7.3 Powerstroke and my 335D as they are newer to me.

 

[Duckless]

May be a good candidate to try out the valvoline restore and protect

Might not be a bad idea!

 

[Duckless]

Seems kind of unlikely all that crud came in through the dipstick tube being slightly loose. If that stuff was dirt and contaminants from the atmosphere id imagine that engine would be very unhappy.

Not sure where else it would come from at this point.

 

[Astro14]

No way all that stuff came in through the dipstick tube, unless your parents routinely submerged the engine in mud…or drove only in heavy sand and dust, like a Baja-500 race.

I think I would shorten up the filter interval and see how much it loads up this time. That’s a lot of material.

I check the o-rings every time I change the oil, and keep a few on hand. When they lose their pliability, it’s time for new ones.

 

[Duckless]

No way all that stuff came in through the dipstick tube, unless your parents routinely submerged the engine in mud…or drove only in heavy sand and dust, like a Baja-500 race.

I think I would shorten up the filter interval and see how much it loads up this time. That’s a lot of material.

I check the o-rings every time I change the oil, and keep a few on hand. When they lose their pliability, it’s time for new ones.

Have an O-ring pack on the way and will be doing the same! I never checked it- i don't know how long it's been missing. Totally on me!

 

[atikovi]

OCIs around 5k.

Way too long if that's what the inside of the filter looks like. 3,000 miles was the standard until about the 90's and that wouldn't be a bad idea for this truck now. Dipstick has nothing to do with it.

 

[Fa24wrx]

What's the OCI they've been following for this?

 

[Duckless]

What's the OCI they've been following for this?

Pretty much 5k. Sometimes shorter if they are taking it on a road trip or I'll be out of town when it's due, sometimes a few hundred miles over.

 

[atikovi]

What's the OCI they've been following for this?

OCIs around 5k.

 

[DriveHard]

I would have to think that car would be running poorly! The PCV would be allowing un-metered air unrestricted into the intake path through this hole. I would think it would at least have thrown a code if there was this much air flowing through the crank case to bring in that level of contamination.

There is some other source of contamination here...or that filter has been on there MANY more oil changes than you know of. Even running with a K&N doesn't yield this level of yuck in the oil ;-)

 

[kschachn]

I would have to think that car would be running poorly! The PCV would be allowing un-metered air unrestricted into the intake path through this hole. I would think it would at least have thrown a code if there was this much air flowing through the crank case to bring in that level of contamination.

There is some other source of contamination here...or that filter has been on there MANY more oil changes than you know of. Even running with a K&N doesn't yield this level of yuck in the oil ;-)

Yes, if this is a factual post then there is something wrong with that engine.

 

[Fa24wrx]

Whoops thought he meant he'll do 5k oci now

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I would replace the PCV on that 3.4. It doesn’t look like it is getting good crankcase ventilation. You may want to clean the intake airflow sensors too.

 

[Duckless]

I would have to think that car would be running poorly! The PCV would be allowing un-metered air unrestricted into the intake path through this hole. I would think it would at least have thrown a code if there was this much air flowing through the crank case to bring in that level of contamination.

There is some other source of contamination here...or that filter has been on there MANY more oil changes than you know of. Even running with a K&N doesn't yield this level of yuck in the oil ;-)

Thankfully I know it's been on there for one OCI, as I've done every OCI for the past 60k miles, every 5k miles and the filter gets changed with each oil change.

PCV was just removed and checked the prior OCI. Functions as it should. No issues there.

I would replace the PCV on that 3.4. It doesn’t look like it is getting good crankcase ventilation. You may want to clean the intake airflow sensors too.

See above-- I don't think she will let me swap a 3.4 into her 4runner when her 4.0 is doing great.

Guys, no BS in this post, not a troll, nothing. Engine runs great. No codes. No roughness. No MPG drop. Just a lack of an O-ring for an undetermined amount of time and a dirty filter.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

Sorry for the confusion I was thinking when the Tacoma swapped over to second generation. The 4 th gen 4 runner was out before then.