Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Actually the 2.2L 5S-FE that would be in a 97 Camry 4 banger IS a sludger.
WRONG. I have one with 185K on it and one cutomer that has 379K on hers and sludge is non-existant. They WILL sludge if try to run them7-10K on dino oil and then it will take about 100K before it kills it. I've been a Toyota tech for 20yrs and I laugh when I hear the unsubstantiated junk that gets passed off as fact. The V-6's did have problems with sludge in SOME applications.Toyota shot themselves in the foot with rediculous oci reccommendations for that engine that really was stupid. They fixed a slew of them for free to customers that had documentation of service.I know,I did more than I can remember for about 12hrs labor pay under warranty. All of the ones that we rejected were from customers who could not offer any documentation of service from anyone.
That being said,the 5SFE 4cyl will never be as easy on oil as the K series Honda engines or alot of other engines. One of the reasons is because it has two sets of gears inside that many engines do not have.One set runs the cams in time and the other set runs the balance shafts. Thats above and beyond the others bearings gears,shafts,ect. that engines have.Compound that with a 3.8qt oil capacity and it will never be the choice for extended oil change intervals regardless of what oil you put in them. My daughter's 97 gets either 4qts of Havoline full synthetic or 4qts of German Castrol(I got a ton of it to get rid of)every 5-7K. It now has 180 thousand plus and the internals are as clean as my two Honda's K motors are. The UOAs back up the lack of a sludge problem. I have one customer that has well over 350,000 miles on her 94 wagon with the 5SFE engine. It has never had anything but plain old dino oil in it. She has missed alot of services as far as having them done right on time but it still has only a dark varnish color under the cam cover. Uses about a quart or so between oil changes.
I'm not a Toyota only technician nor do I own them exclusively. I have two Hondas,one old 240DL Volvo that has one of the toughest engines ever devised that runs on gas,And I have several 3/4 ton and one ton farm trucks of the blue-oval stripe so don't think I worship at the Toyota alter.
Anyway,if the car was well-maintained, I would not be afraid to buy one in a second. The trannys were as good as any front-drive,the cars never have tire wear issues as long as the alignment is right, the air conditioning will part your hair with 29 degree air quietly and efficiently,,they re so easy to service you don't need any skill at all to do everything from changing the oil,replacing the battery,replacing the alternator,spark plugs,ect. They are as simple to diagnose as any car out there.
Mine gets about 32mpg out on the interstate with the four of us in it,luggage,and running 75mph. So,make sure it has been serviced well and if you like it buy it. Obviously you are a stickler for keeping the oil changed or you would not be on BITOG. You won't have any "sludge" issues if you take care of it.