Oil failure in 94 Camry

[Mud]

"The oil light came on, a Toyota Mechanic said the engine was shot. Are you waiting for a sign from God?"

Reading through this post I was also wondering why the continued attraction to this particular car? From the info given, it really sounds like the seller is doing his best to take you for a ride. I don't buy that "gee Wally, it's never done that before" routine for a second.

Keep hunting - there's another car right around the corner. It takes a LOT to trash a Toyota/Honda engine - if it's in that sort of shape, that opens the door to all sorts of possibilities about the car - was it totaled then rebuilt? Engine changed? Very murky.

 

[michaelc80]

quote:

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Originally posted by XS650:

quote:

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Originally posted by TR3-2001SE:
Owner reports the oil was changed every 3000 miles and is stumped by the engine failure. Oil was full when I went to check it out and didn't appear abnormal at all. The owners seems very crediable and I tend to believe what he says.
I am thinking maybe clogged pcv valve and poor quality oil. This minimal SL oil may not be up to the job.

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The oil light came on, a Toyota Mechanic said the engine was shot. Are you waiting for a sign from God?

Unless you are having good sexual relations with the car, or the owner wants to give it to you at a price that would make adding a rebuilt engine a good deal, walk away and look elsewhere.

If you already owned the car, it would be worth investigating further.

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I agree. There are lots of good Toyotas out there. This one has too many questions. Walk away from it.

 

[Market525]

To add another comment to this Toyota engine problem, the Toyota "engine sludge" problem is for real! If you want some scary reading, go to google and do a search using the key words "toyota engine sludge".

All the stories make for interesting reading. But I agree with some of the other posts - move away from that car very quickly! Hard to see a definate pattern on the sludge causes, but seems to me that the use of conventional oil is *always* a factor in what I've read, and synthetic almost *never* a factor in the sludging problem.

 

[kenw]

"...me that the use of conventional oil is *always* a factor in what I've read, and synthetic almost *never* a factor in the sludging problem. "

faulty logic here. More likely the syn-conventional is related to persons more-less attentive to maintenance. I would venture that the maintenance-averse are much more likely to go well overdue on oil changes.

there is no reason synthetic won't sludge if left long enough.

I would be willing to bet that if synthetic was in those engines from the factory, you would still see some sludged.