Long time lurker, first time poster here - great to be nerding out about vehicle maintenance and lubrication on the BITOG forums.
With those formalities out of the way, I'd like to draw upon your collective experience and knowledge (Wiswind seems to be fairly experienced with my topic). I'd like to preface by saying I have tried searching awhile for a thread that addresses my question without any luck. Recently, I bought an '01 Toyota Sienna (~159,000 miles) with the allegedly sludge-prone 1MZ-FE via third party. Although it was cosmetically well-cared for and the owner appeared to be fairly savvy in regard to maintenance, and claimed 3k OCIs with synthetic, there wasn't a lot in the way of records. So, the first thing I did was replace the PCV valve and check the hose for blockages as preventative maintenance.
I pulled off what appeared to be a Toyota PCV valve, although I couldn't determine whether it was the original or a replacement part. The bottom had some coke plaque, but the internal valve was still fairly free and no evidence of excessive build up, so no worries there. The hose didn't seem to have a lot of residue in it either. As some of you might know, it's hard to tell much more without pulling a valve cover, since Mr. T decided to put sound dampening material inside of the oil filler baffle in the valve cover. The engine doesn't appear to be using oil, although it seems to be getting darker a little quicker than I'd like, which may be due to an emissions issue I was dealing with. No evidence of coolant, however, and nothing indicative of oil burning when observing the tailpipe.
That said, I'm considering changing the oil to PP and a larger quality filter. To be honest, I don't feel like shelling out for Auto-RX but would still like to take a gradual approach to cleaning up any possible sludge (there might be none for all I know) during my OCIs. I can't imagine I'll put more than 3-4,000 miles on it per year with several 24 mile trips put on it each week and any recreational driving. Can anyone confirm whether MMO is worth putting in with PP for some nice, slow cleaning? I'm honestly unsure how MMO behaves with a synthetic oil and it may be a non-issue.
In any case, I have a bottle of Lubegard Engine Flush, which I believe to be a good product, given Lubegard's reputation and my luck with their red bottle ATF additive. What I'm wondering is whether it's feasible or a good idea to use this on my engine before draingin the oil. IF there is any sludge in the engine, I don't want it to clog the oil pick up, obviously. My thought was to use a fraction of the bottle, say 2-2.5 oz of the 10 oz total and use it gradually over the next several OCIs to avoid clogging any oil passages or the pick up. Would this actually work as a gradual cleaning process or would it create more harm than good even by using a small amount of the bottle at the end of each OCI? I've used Lubegard engine flush before on a seriously neglected AMC 4.0 and I was alarmed at what came out. There was actually organic material in the oil, what appeared to be hair/fur and other unidentifiable flora and fauna. It appeared to help the engine, but that gave me an idea of how potentially effective the product is (of course, I don't know what would have come out without adding it). Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
With those formalities out of the way, I'd like to draw upon your collective experience and knowledge (Wiswind seems to be fairly experienced with my topic). I'd like to preface by saying I have tried searching awhile for a thread that addresses my question without any luck. Recently, I bought an '01 Toyota Sienna (~159,000 miles) with the allegedly sludge-prone 1MZ-FE via third party. Although it was cosmetically well-cared for and the owner appeared to be fairly savvy in regard to maintenance, and claimed 3k OCIs with synthetic, there wasn't a lot in the way of records. So, the first thing I did was replace the PCV valve and check the hose for blockages as preventative maintenance.
I pulled off what appeared to be a Toyota PCV valve, although I couldn't determine whether it was the original or a replacement part. The bottom had some coke plaque, but the internal valve was still fairly free and no evidence of excessive build up, so no worries there. The hose didn't seem to have a lot of residue in it either. As some of you might know, it's hard to tell much more without pulling a valve cover, since Mr. T decided to put sound dampening material inside of the oil filler baffle in the valve cover. The engine doesn't appear to be using oil, although it seems to be getting darker a little quicker than I'd like, which may be due to an emissions issue I was dealing with. No evidence of coolant, however, and nothing indicative of oil burning when observing the tailpipe.
That said, I'm considering changing the oil to PP and a larger quality filter. To be honest, I don't feel like shelling out for Auto-RX but would still like to take a gradual approach to cleaning up any possible sludge (there might be none for all I know) during my OCIs. I can't imagine I'll put more than 3-4,000 miles on it per year with several 24 mile trips put on it each week and any recreational driving. Can anyone confirm whether MMO is worth putting in with PP for some nice, slow cleaning? I'm honestly unsure how MMO behaves with a synthetic oil and it may be a non-issue.
In any case, I have a bottle of Lubegard Engine Flush, which I believe to be a good product, given Lubegard's reputation and my luck with their red bottle ATF additive. What I'm wondering is whether it's feasible or a good idea to use this on my engine before draingin the oil. IF there is any sludge in the engine, I don't want it to clog the oil pick up, obviously. My thought was to use a fraction of the bottle, say 2-2.5 oz of the 10 oz total and use it gradually over the next several OCIs to avoid clogging any oil passages or the pick up. Would this actually work as a gradual cleaning process or would it create more harm than good even by using a small amount of the bottle at the end of each OCI? I've used Lubegard engine flush before on a seriously neglected AMC 4.0 and I was alarmed at what came out. There was actually organic material in the oil, what appeared to be hair/fur and other unidentifiable flora and fauna. It appeared to help the engine, but that gave me an idea of how potentially effective the product is (of course, I don't know what would have come out without adding it). Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
