Under Valve Cover Pictures 1994 Toyota Camry 5S-FE 4 Cylinder

[eljefino]

It doesn't back up but you're worried about some varnish?

 

[Zee09]

It doesn't back up but you're worried about some varnish?

All of that Chinese food he eats has him backed up already.

 

[Furious]

I know what's coming next...

Better run that there stuff called HPL Engine Cleaner.

 

[CleanSump]

Varnish on the lobes. They weren't built in layers that could flake off.
Are you going to soak that VC in a 5 gallon bucket of degreaser or diesel fuel to clean up under the shield?
Maybe even oven cleaner. Yeah, beat me up, but it works.

 

[clinebarger]

Vanish on the cam lobes, These do not use Hydraulic Lash Adjusters/Lifters, So the Buckets do not contact the base circle of the Camshafts.

 

[MalibuRam65]

Wow Valvoline did no type ld cleaning to this engine smh

 

[AutoMechanic]

Wow Valvoline did no type ld cleaning to this engine smh

Yes that’s why I was surprised. Especially as clean as Valvoline keeps some of my other engines.

 

[Zee09]

Yes that’s why I was surprised. Especially as clean as Valvoline keeps some of my other engines.

Live and learn my friend...

 

[Furious]

Wow Valvoline did no type ld cleaning to this engine smh

To be fair, unless there is actual records of how often the oil was changed then who really knows for sure.

Also it is a Toyota and they are well known for oil burning and sludge issues, even prior to 1997 still had some sludge issues just not as wide-spread, but the **** thing will probably make it another 100,000 miles.

 

[CleanSump]

I’ve been reading about the HPL engine cleaner probably will order some of that. That’s really the only one I have seen constantly good results with.

Sounds like a good plan.
The first person to suggest an ATF or diesel flush should have to buy you Chinese for a year.

 

[OVERKILL]

Well, that's the first time I've seen varnish on cam lobes, so thanks for that!

She's UGLY!

How hard is it to get the oil pan off? If it's pretty easy, you could do as @CarbonSteel noted and use some B12 on the top end to get it cleaned-up. I wouldn't want to have any of that ending up in the pan though.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Well, that's the first time I've seen varnish on cam lobes, so thanks for that!

She's UGLY!

How hard is it to get the oil pan off? If it's pretty easy, you could do as @CarbonSteel noted and use some B12 on the top end to get it cleaned-up. I wouldn't want to have any of that ending up in the pan though.

It doesn’t look too complicated. I will be under there this weekend dropping the transmission pan so I will consider doing this too.

 

[OilUzer]

That much breakdown looks more like Dino with very long OCI & running a quart or two low at times.

 

[Nick1994]

That's pretty gross, but definitely could be worse. I usually run cheap clearance 15w40 diesel oil in mine and leave the filter on for 2 OCI's. As supton said, they are prone to valve cover leaks and oil pump seal leaks. Luckily mine I've only done the valve cover in 2015, hasn't leaked a drop anywhere since after 57k or so miles.

The transmission is super easy to do drain and fills, I did a few years ago and got the fluid nice and clean. There's a separate filler and drain for the differential though, the filler is by the rack and pinion. Takes the same Dexron III that the transmission takes.

I flushed my power steering with ATF (what it calls for) connected a hose to the return and plugged the hole on the reservoir, filled with new fluid and started it a few times, adding fluid between, and let it pump itself clean. Made it steer a lot nicer afterwards.

 

[Bill7]

Try HPL engine cleaner 30 followed by HPL PCMO and let the AN + Ester clean out the engine slowly over time.
Replace PCV valve and tube, and consider doing a transmission drain/fill.
Then enjoy the Camry and try to take it to 300k miles.

 

[Bjornviken]

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Here are some pictures of the underneath of my valve cover on my new to me 1994 Toyota Camry with the 2.2 4 cylinder 5S-FE in it. 204,408 on the odometer. Not the best but not the worst I’ve seen either. Definitely wasn’t expecting it to be this dirty underneath. The camshafts don’t look too good either. Looks like the original owner probably slacked on maintenance. I am the third owner. I have service records from the previous owner who owned it for 6 years. He used exclusively Valvoline 10W-30 High Mileage Full Synthetic oil in it paired with Wix or Mobil 1 filters every 3,000 miles. I plan on running some engine cleaner through the engine probably HPL. I purchased Castrol 10W-30 High Mileage Full Synthetic to go in it before taking it apart. However in the future I may use some HPL or Mobil 1 in it to try and clean it out just will keep the interval at 3-5k as I don’t want to do anymore than that. Plan to keep the 10W-30 too as it specs 10W-30. Let me know what you guys think. This is my first time ever dealing with one of these engines. We just don’t see stuff this old come into the dealership. This car was gifted to me for my birthday so I’m happy to have it where it will be better maintained than it originally was. I do plan to clean the cover more just that was as far as I got tonight as it got dark.

I will also be replacing the PCV valve and hose and another hose too as they were all brittle and snapped when I tried to get them off. I had to take the old brittle valve cover gasket out with a pick as it kept breaking off. Car runs excellent and very quiet and shifts well going fowards but has no reverse and the linkage is all in tact so after I fix this issue I will be digging further into that. Hoping to learn more about transmissions that way.

This is the first time I’ve ever had to use a 30mm socket to take off a valve cover. There is a nut on the top of each cylinder tube that is a 30mm that must come off to remove the cover. The spec on those nuts is 17ft lbs from what I was able to find. I was easily able to loosen them with a short 1/2 ratchet.

Maybe move to euro oils? Looks like this engine is poorly maintained
Hyundai Solaris, 1.4 650k km run on mobil super

 

[4WD]

Based on what I read/see on this site - the stuff I zoomed in on jumped off the piston rings and made it to the top of engine

 

[MSCH]

best advice ever for a 30 year old car that is in unknown mechanical condition is if it isn't broken, dont fix it.

basically no amount of "mechanic in a can" is going to do anything helpful to a 30 year old engine.

 

[supton]

@AutoMechanic this transmission link might be good reading. And engine. Actually if you just drill up a layer to here maybe there's more.

 

[GSCJR]

best advice ever for a 30 year old car that is in unknown mechanical condition is if it isn't broken, dont fix it.

basically no amount of "mechanic in a can" is going to do anything helpful to a 30 year old engine.

+1