Talked to mechanic who changed valve cover gasket

[teddyboy]

my 97 Camry 4 cylinder with 248 K miles. It's one of the sludge prone engines that many had replaced under the goodwill warranty although mine is the original. The oil change regime has been full synthetic (mostly but not exclusively M1 or M1HM) at a 5K oci. I used 10W30 up until about two changes ago and then, based upon Caterham's recommendation, switched to 5W30.

I would have liked to stay to see the engine myself and take a picture, but I would have been waiting around too long. In any event, the mechanic(at a Toyota dealership) described the engine as absolutely spotless.

 

[cathy]

Why are you using HM oil? Do you have leaks or engine wear?

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: teddyboy
my 97 Camry 4 cylinder with 248 K miles. It's one of the sludge prone engines that many had replaced under the goodwill warranty although mine is the original. The oil change regime has been full synthetic (mostly but not exclusively M1 or M1HM) at a 5K oci. I used 10W30 up until about two changes ago and then, based upon Caterham's recommendation, switched to 5W30.

I would have liked to stay to see the engine myself and take a picture, but I would have been waiting around too long. In any event, the mechanic(at a Toyota dealership) described the engine as absolutely spotless.


Good to hear a known sludger is spotless; seems those oils are working great for you.

 

[teddyboy]

Originally Posted By: cathy
Why are you using HM oil? Do you have leaks or engine wear?


Because M1 HM is a terrific oil with an outstanding ad pack

 

[walk23]

Impressive ! Says a lot about proper OCI's for your application.

 

[demarpaint]

Stick with it, it appears to be working. I wouldn't change your routine, or oil, stick with it!

 

[tig1]

A quality synthetic helps prevent sludge in these sludge prone engines as you see with yours. I believe that Toyota incouraged oweners of these engines to change over to synthetic to help with this problem.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: tig1
A quality synthetic helps prevent sludge in these sludge prone engines as you see with yours. I believe that Toyota incouraged oweners of these engines to change over to synthetic to help with this problem.


+1000 I totally agree. Synthetic oil and a 5000 OCI and you will prevent all of the associated sludge issues with these engines.

 

[teddyboy]

We bought the car with 78K for our daughter when she was a senior in high school (she had totalled the 96 Camry that we gave her, but that's another story). I have no idea what the oil change regime was prior to our owning it, but I changed it to synthetic with a 5K oci as soon as we bought it. At the time, the sludge problem was not widely known; I chose 5K with full syn simply because that's what I did with everything at the time. Largely due to BITOG, I now realize that this approach was gross overkill for most applications, but not for the 97 or 98 Camrys that are still in our family. The oil choice was M1 about 85% of the time, Castrol Syntec about 10% of the time and PP the remaining 5%,

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: tig1
A quality synthetic helps prevent sludge in these sludge prone engines as you see with yours. I believe that Toyota incouraged oweners of these engines to change over to synthetic to help with this problem.


+1000 I totally agree. Synthetic oil and a 5000 OCI and you will prevent all of the associated sludge issues with these engines.


That certainly seems to be the case.
From what I've learned here those Toyota sludgers are a nightmare if they are allowed to accumulate build up. Sort of like once it starts it snowballs,therefore it's very important to keep ahead of it and not let it happen in the first place.
I'm a conventional guy running average 5000 intervals and I do push extending the interval when using a syn however in these engines perhaps extended intervals aren't the greatest if ideas,and yeah you pay a bit more for syn,and dump it maybe a bit early however it's likely money well spent considering the potential outcome.
It may cost a few bucks extra to run this kind of service interval however those few bucks spent now may just save spending much more later.
Anyways OP. don't change anything. This is definitely one of those if it ain't broke situations. M1 seems to be keeping that engine spotless and that engine family has known potential issues,so as already stated carry on with your routine. It's working.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: tig1
A quality synthetic helps prevent sludge in these sludge prone engines as you see with yours. I believe that Toyota incouraged oweners of these engines to change over to synthetic to help with this problem.


+1000 I totally agree. Synthetic oil and a 5000 OCI and you will prevent all of the associated sludge issues with these engines.


That certainly seems to be the case.
From what I've learned here those Toyota sludgers are a nightmare if they are allowed to accumulate build up. Sort of like once it starts it snowballs,therefore it's very important to keep ahead of it and not let it happen in the first place.
I'm a conventional guy running average 5000 intervals and I do push extending the interval when using a syn however in these engines perhaps extended intervals aren't the greatest if ideas,and yeah you pay a bit more for syn,and dump it maybe a bit early however it's likely money well spent considering the potential outcome.
It may cost a few bucks extra to run this kind of service interval however those few bucks spent now may just save spending much more later.
Anyways OP. don't change anything. This is definitely one of those if it ain't broke situations. M1 seems to be keeping that engine spotless and that engine family has known potential issues,so as already stated carry on with your routine. It's working.


It actually costs less because there are so many promotions on synthetic oil versus dino. I usually pay less than $2.50/quart. Just got another email coupon for $10 off PP at Autozone today.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: tig1
A quality synthetic helps prevent sludge in these sludge prone engines as you see with yours. I believe that Toyota incouraged oweners of these engines to change over to synthetic to help with this problem.


+1000 I totally agree. Synthetic oil and a 5000 OCI and you will prevent all of the associated sludge issues with these engines.


That certainly seems to be the case.
From what I've learned here those Toyota sludgers are a nightmare if they are allowed to accumulate build up. Sort of like once it starts it snowballs,therefore it's very important to keep ahead of it and not let it happen in the first place.
I'm a conventional guy running average 5000 intervals and I do push extending the interval when using a syn however in these engines perhaps extended intervals aren't the greatest if ideas,and yeah you pay a bit more for syn,and dump it maybe a bit early however it's likely money well spent considering the potential outcome.
It may cost a few bucks extra to run this kind of service interval however those few bucks spent now may just save spending much more later.
Anyways OP. don't change anything. This is definitely one of those if it ain't broke situations. M1 seems to be keeping that engine spotless and that engine family has known potential issues,so as already stated carry on with your routine. It's working.


It actually costs less because there are so many promotions on synthetic oil versus dino. I usually pay less than $2.50/quart. Just got another email coupon for $10 off PP at Autozone today.


Usually if the syn is on promo so is the conventional of the same brand. So by that thought process the conventional would be super cheap.
But not the point. I like conventional oil and shorter oil change intervals. I like working on my cars and it gives me some time to myself. In the winter I use a syn because we get -40 temps and its just a no brainer as far as I'm concerned. I don't really want to extend my intervals so its cost effective for me to use conventional but I don't have a sludge monster either.
If I had an engine that was a known sludger or I bought a car with an abused past I have no qualms running a syn for non extended interval to get it cleaned up.
Yes you can almost always find a syn on special however chances are the parent brand also has the conventional on special too.