Evening gentlemen.
I'm a little bored tonight so I decided to stop lurking the UOA forum and post a story about my mothers Camry.
Relevant specs/info:
-1998 Toyota Camry XLE
-1MZ-FE V6 engine / auto tranny.
-150,000 miles @ story start. 175,000 currently.
-Daily commute includes rough and dusty dirt roads before a half hour on the highway then a half hour in town. Obviosuly reversed on the drive home.
So last autum/winter (do we have winters in AZ?) I get a visit from my Mom and we get on the topic of how her car is doing. She is not satisfied with how it's holding up and what noises it is making. I ask her what's up and eventually get to hear it. Turns out it's got rod knock for 30-45 seconds on cold starts and occasional bursts of clatter on the highway/in town. The oil pressure light wasn't on so I was a bit confused. I looked in the log book and noticed two OCIs in the 2x,000mi region and it had been 4x,000mi on the current oil. I took over the maintenance at that point. She informed me it had been knocking for a couple months. *facepalm*
As many of you know the 1MZ-FE is known for it's propensity to sludge oil. The next day I dropped the old oil (Castrol GTX 10w-30) out and it was pitch black, sticky and had nasty, gritty chunks with peanut butter consistency goop. I let it drain overnight despite the engine being hot when I pulled the plug. I figured the oil passages and possibly the pickup screen were clogged with [censored] and I assumed the engine would start knocking all the time soon. Being presented with what seemed to be a flow issue I opted for the thinnest oil I could find: Mobil 1 0w-20. Dropped that in with a new filter and grabbed an automotive stethescope then had her start the engine. With one ear out in the open and one plugged with the stethescope the engine didn't sound happy initially. After a few seconds though all went quiet. No weird noises, no sounds coming through the block. I was pretty surprised.
I have not had any analysis done on the oil; just a 5k mi OCI, warming the engine before driving in the morning and crossed fingers. So far so good though! I am really very surprised it is all in one piece, starting reliably and getting decent mileage. Tomorrow I am doing a change that's ran a bit over at 6,600 mi. The oil change following the switch to Mobil gave really very dark oil with a rough feeling. The latest changes have looked and felt normal.
I wish I could have sent in a sample of that 4x,000mi oil. Comment welcome
I'm a little bored tonight so I decided to stop lurking the UOA forum and post a story about my mothers Camry.
Relevant specs/info:
-1998 Toyota Camry XLE
-1MZ-FE V6 engine / auto tranny.
-150,000 miles @ story start. 175,000 currently.
-Daily commute includes rough and dusty dirt roads before a half hour on the highway then a half hour in town. Obviosuly reversed on the drive home.
So last autum/winter (do we have winters in AZ?) I get a visit from my Mom and we get on the topic of how her car is doing. She is not satisfied with how it's holding up and what noises it is making. I ask her what's up and eventually get to hear it. Turns out it's got rod knock for 30-45 seconds on cold starts and occasional bursts of clatter on the highway/in town. The oil pressure light wasn't on so I was a bit confused. I looked in the log book and noticed two OCIs in the 2x,000mi region and it had been 4x,000mi on the current oil. I took over the maintenance at that point. She informed me it had been knocking for a couple months. *facepalm*
As many of you know the 1MZ-FE is known for it's propensity to sludge oil. The next day I dropped the old oil (Castrol GTX 10w-30) out and it was pitch black, sticky and had nasty, gritty chunks with peanut butter consistency goop. I let it drain overnight despite the engine being hot when I pulled the plug. I figured the oil passages and possibly the pickup screen were clogged with [censored] and I assumed the engine would start knocking all the time soon. Being presented with what seemed to be a flow issue I opted for the thinnest oil I could find: Mobil 1 0w-20. Dropped that in with a new filter and grabbed an automotive stethescope then had her start the engine. With one ear out in the open and one plugged with the stethescope the engine didn't sound happy initially. After a few seconds though all went quiet. No weird noises, no sounds coming through the block. I was pretty surprised.
I have not had any analysis done on the oil; just a 5k mi OCI, warming the engine before driving in the morning and crossed fingers. So far so good though! I am really very surprised it is all in one piece, starting reliably and getting decent mileage. Tomorrow I am doing a change that's ran a bit over at 6,600 mi. The oil change following the switch to Mobil gave really very dark oil with a rough feeling. The latest changes have looked and felt normal.
I wish I could have sent in a sample of that 4x,000mi oil. Comment welcome