Severely sludged 2001 Avalon 3.0 and ARX-ideas?

[c3po]

If oil is getting in the combustion chambers this may point to some bad valve seals or bad valve guides, is he thinking about checking this out.

I recently replaced my valve seals and I have no more smoke on startup, if he smells burning oil on startup then something is going on with these valve seals.

The valve seals I took out where hard as a rock and a few of them crumbled in my hand, there was even 2 valve seals that were not there.

Of course my engine had 360,000 miles when I replaced the valve seals. I was told that a Maintenance Dose of auto-rx we keep these new valve seals pliable.

 

[parimento1]

I'm starting to get worried...My 97 Avalon (1mz-FE) just started consuming 1Qt/1000 miles. I have no blue smoke or anything though and oil changes have never exceeded 4000 miles. I too changed the PCV to a purolator and noticed that my valve cover gaskets no longer weep. my advice to our friend here is to PULL THE VALVE COVERS AND SEE WHATS GOING ON. The front one is ridiculously easy to remove and you will be able to see what you are dealing with.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Any updates?

I am really interested in how this all works out and don't want to see this thread buried.

 

[c3po]

I think this thread is going to go on for a very long time.

 

[addyguy]

Yeah....would love to hear how this progresses.......

 

[lexus114]

I think this car will need a motor,from the way it sounds.

 

[bmwtechguy]

Sorry, been busy. Not much in the way of new to report. Consumption about the same (excessive) at about 1 qt every 200 miles. They plan a trip to Charleston SC this weekend, about 400 miles round trip. Owner is curious if consumption will be less on the longer trip. His theory is that most of the consumption is during the cold starts with the bluish cloud formation for the first minute. I told him that it will probably be about the same as it is now, but that it is good that he will have it up to temp on the hwy for a couple of hours each way. He changed the oil filter at 1500 miles on this cleaning cycle. Plan is to go another 1500, then start a rinse. Currently adding 2 oz ARX with each qt make-up oil.

what is strange- this car still looks like a new one and engine is still quiet and runs excellent. Outside of all the oil he is adding and the cold-start smoke, you would never know there is a problem.

 

[addyguy]

IF the cars in that good of shape, IF the engine lets go, might be worth replacing it....

Even if, with all the treatments, the engine continues to chug oil, might be worth just continually topping off with the cheapest oil you can find...

 

[c3po]

Have you guys pulled off the valve covers to take a look inside the engine, maybe take a picture and post it here.

The other idea is the thermostat, is it coming up too temp and staying there.

Have you thought about taking the oil pan off and seeing what is inside.

bmtechguy, have you thought about taking this car for a month or so and driving it, then we could get more updates as to what is going on.

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Originally Posted By: c3po

bmtechguy, have you thought about taking this car for a month or so and driving it, then we could get more updates as to what is going on.


Great idea. We demand daily updates and video documentation. I think we should all take the car for a month each. We'll get the sludge out!

 

[PT1]

Ok here is my $.02.....

1. Switch to 15w40 HDEO Delvac preferred
2. Add 1/2 bottle of Auto-rx to every oil change
3. use the other 1/2 bottle mixed with delvac for top off
4. Go on fleet filter and order a case of filters
5. keep this up until engine is clean or grenades as this could take a year. But eventually ARX will dissolve the sludge
6. Change filters very often.

 

[c3po]

Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Originally Posted By: c3po

bmtechguy, have you thought about taking this car for a month or so and driving it, then we could get more updates as to what is going on.


Great idea. We demand daily updates and video documentation. I think we should all take the car for a month each. We'll get the sludge out!


I am not knocking this brother in law, but he is not a BITOGER, at least with bmtechguy we know he will be driving this car right. Another thought is that with bmtechguy driving this thing everyday, we will get this thing figured out.

 

[bmwtechguy]

LOL you guys crack me up! I called and found out that the planned trip got put off for a week or two. So who really knows how long this process will take. So far car is running good, although I did notice some preignition on a test drive we took after changing/flushing transmission fluid which was original at 136k miles. I told him, lotsa good it will do if we save the engine and the transaxle takes a dive. He was hesitant to drive it aggressively since it needed serviced. That gets rid of that excuse.

I'm thinking that there is a build up of cc deposits in one or more cylinders now, causing the preignition. No surprise with all the oil being burned. I actually predicted this to him a while back. He's using a maintenance dose of fuel system/cc cleaner each fill up and now he is also using premium fuel to prevent preignition. Yes, I wish summer was here and we would see faster results with the heat to help dissolve all the sludge.

I would like to drive this car for a few days, but since it is their main car I don't think that is going to happen. I know everyone including me is anxious to see some improvements, but it looks like I will have to talk to him some more and discuss what our next step is. I may hook up one of my home-made water vaporizers to his intake after it gets warmer to combat the preignition and clean the cc's back up, with all this oil burning.

 

[Steve S]

7 grand would be way better spent on a new car to be honest. Sometimes the cure is like closing the gate after the cows have escaped.

 

[c3po]

bmwtechguy, it sounds like your brother in law is the type of guy that just puts gas in the tank and just drives the car without doing any MAINTENANCE.

1) Original transmission fluid
2) Original coolant, maybe
3) Original PCV Valve, we know that
4) Original Air Filter, who knows
5) Original Fuel Filter, don't know

Have you thought about a bottle of GM Top Engine Cleaner.

If this does not work you may need too take off the cylinder heads. Your brother in law needs to be driving this car more, tell him to take it out on the highway for 2 hours every night or so, he is not driving this car enough.

Run some Seafoam through after the GM Top Engine Cleaner. It sounds like there is so much junk in those combustion chambers that they may need to be soaked with Seafoam or GM Top Engine Cleaner by squirting it into the combustion chambers.

 

[Ausfahrt]

All ears if you have any updates!!

 

[c3po]

On the brother in law's avalon, I just got back from the shop and desludging the engine. I still have to put the engine back together and still change the timing belt and water pump, but I think that the oil consumption was from the PCV system: the rear valve cover has a baffle in the top that has a passage to the PCV valve and it was almost totally sealed off with sludge. By rights, this valve cover should have been replaced, but I cleaned it the best I could. At least the passage to the PCV is now wide open. When I took the intake bellows off, they were full of oil and this indicated to me that oil/vapors were being forced out the front valve cover port (ususally flows clean air into the front bank valve cover of the engine) into the intake at the throttle valves since the PCV was not really flowing much if at all.

I got this message from bmtechguy, hopefully he does not mind me posting this, but I kept telling him there was something going on in the PCV System.

Hopefully this info will keep us happy until he gets the car back on the road.

 

[c3po]

I found the smoking gun (pun intended) on that car as I was cleaning on the bottom crankshaft area: found 3 holes from the bottom near the crank on the rear bank next to firewall. These holes were about half an inch and completely blocked with sludge-they drain from a hidden area up top at the very bottom/back side of this bank. So oil was pooling at the exhaust valves of these back 3 cylinders and causing the oil burning. I have not finished this engine yet, including replacing timing belt and water pump too-a real PIA on this engine. The main shop work comes first and this Toyota project was way more work than I thought it would be. Another family member loaned them a car until the job is done. I'll let you know how the oil burning goes afterwards. I believe it will be back to normal consumption after a run of HM oil to condition all seals.

Sorry, I forgot to add this, hopefully this information can help if anyone is wondering what's going on, because who knows when bmtechguy would give us an update. It sounds like he is busy.

 

[BrianWC]

Wow, great detective work! Scary,too!

 

[oilboy123]

Originally Posted By: c3po
On the brother in law's avalon, I just got back from the shop and desludging the engine. I still have to put the engine back together and still change the timing belt and water pump, but I think that the oil consumption was from the PCV system: the rear valve cover has a baffle in the top that has a passage to the PCV valve and it was almost totally sealed off with sludge. By rights, this valve cover should have been replaced, but I cleaned it the best I could. At least the passage to the PCV is now wide open. When I took the intake bellows off, they were full of oil and this indicated to me that oil/vapors were being forced out the front valve cover port (ususally flows clean air into the front bank valve cover of the engine) into the intake at the throttle valves since the PCV was not really flowing much if at all.

I got this message from bmtechguy, hopefully he does not mind me posting this, but I kept telling him there was something going on in the PCV System.

Hopefully this info will keep us happy until he gets the car back on the road.


I cleaned my Dad's Caravan valve cover/PCV, it was clogged up like you mention. Took me a long time to clean the cover up.