Hi BITOG, so glad to be here after lurking for months, and finally have a question to ask:
The car: 2002 Chevy Prizm (aka Corolla), I'm the 2nd owner, bought at 90k miles about 2.5 years ago. I've run it up to 150,000, almost all highway. Unsure of previous maintenance. I've been running 5-7000 mile OCIs, whatever HM oil is on sale that week. It "consumes" oil, but not too badly from what I've read of the 1ZZ-FE engine, about 1qt/4000 miles and otherwise runs fine.
To celebrate the 150K mark, I'm running a 3000 mi OCI w/ 20% MMO. Also bought a new PCV valve and since I'll be mucking around in there anyway, do you think it's worth replacing the valve cover gasket? I've never taken the cover off, so I'm not sure what things will look like inside. I've attached a shot down the fill hole, the baffle looks crusted with some nasty stuff.
There appears to be oil stains on the back and passenger sides of the engine, but it's dry, not especially "fresh" like it recently leaked. I could try to get a photo of it, but I'm assuming it's just normal engine glop / kicked up road crud.
So -- slap on a new gasket after I do the PCV? Is there any reason to be concerned about the black stuff in the photo? I saw Bill in Utah posted a picture of his Corolla's oil baffle and it looked shiny :jealous:
Appreciate your thoughts!
The car: 2002 Chevy Prizm (aka Corolla), I'm the 2nd owner, bought at 90k miles about 2.5 years ago. I've run it up to 150,000, almost all highway. Unsure of previous maintenance. I've been running 5-7000 mile OCIs, whatever HM oil is on sale that week. It "consumes" oil, but not too badly from what I've read of the 1ZZ-FE engine, about 1qt/4000 miles and otherwise runs fine.
To celebrate the 150K mark, I'm running a 3000 mi OCI w/ 20% MMO. Also bought a new PCV valve and since I'll be mucking around in there anyway, do you think it's worth replacing the valve cover gasket? I've never taken the cover off, so I'm not sure what things will look like inside. I've attached a shot down the fill hole, the baffle looks crusted with some nasty stuff.
There appears to be oil stains on the back and passenger sides of the engine, but it's dry, not especially "fresh" like it recently leaked. I could try to get a photo of it, but I'm assuming it's just normal engine glop / kicked up road crud.
So -- slap on a new gasket after I do the PCV? Is there any reason to be concerned about the black stuff in the photo? I saw Bill in Utah posted a picture of his Corolla's oil baffle and it looked shiny :jealous:
Appreciate your thoughts!