Toyota Highlander, oil sudge?

[rustypigeon]

Hello. My wife's Rav4 that we owned since new was recently rear ended. We are waiting to see what the insurance company is going to do with it, but I think there is a good chance it will be totaled.

To replace it, we are looking at Highlanders. I did some googling and found issues with sludge in many of the V6 engines. Anyone here have any issues with these engines? Should I stay away from the Highlander? We will be buying used, so I won't know the maintenance history of the vehicle I buy.

 

[tig1]

Realier models did have sludge issues, but if a quality oil was used with moderate OCIs, most engines performed very well. My grandson has a 2002 Camry with the 3.0 V6 and it has 182K. He uses M1 5-30 at 10K OCIs and there doesn't appear to be any sludge issues with it. Nice running engine.

 

[SatinSilver]

Check out www.carcomplaints.com and plug in the year you're looking for.

 

[Jasper8146]

You should be able to find out quite a bit on the maintenance history through Toyota, CarFax and AutoCheck. There is a surprising amount of info on the net on car histories which often includes routine maintenance. Once you locate a particular vehicle, you should also have it inspected by a Toyota dealer or other qualified mechanic and ask them if that year had any particular sludge issues.

 

[DBMaster]

I have been maintaining my GF's 2003 Highlander. It has the 2.4L four cylinder. If you're not towing and only have 2WD the four is more than adequate. It has 170,000 miles on the clock and I have been using 10,000 mile OCI's with 0W-40 Mobil 1. It uses about a quart of oil every 4-5K miles. I changed the valve cover gasket about a year ago and found the valve train very clean.

Can't comment on the V-6, but the four is a pretty clean running engine.

 

[rustypigeon]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
I have been maintaining my GF's 2003 Highlander. It has the 2.4L four cylinder. If you're not towing and only have 2WD the four is more than adequate. It has 170,000 miles on the clock and I have been using 10,000 mile OCI's with 0W-40 Mobil 1. It uses about a quart of oil every 4-5K miles. I changed the valve cover gasket about a year ago and found the valve train very clean.

Can't comment on the V-6, but the four is a pretty clean running engine.


I'd rather have the 4, but I have not found any in our area.

 

[bepperb]

2004 and up use the 3.3 and then the 3.5 which are not prone to sludge. It's only the 01 to 03 that have the 3.0 which may due to neglect.

The 2.4 isn't terrible either, though it limits what you can use it for.

 

[DBMaster]

^True! The fuel economy's not great (maybe around 26 Hwy). But, it is a rock solid, reliable vehicle. She bought it used with 90,000 miles on it from a friend in the used car business. It was a real cream puff.

 

[Durango]

Originally Posted By: rustypigeon
Hello. My wife's Rav4 that we owned since new was recently rear ended. We are waiting to see what the insurance company is going to do with it, but I think there is a good chance it will be totaled.

To replace it, we are looking at Highlanders. I did some googling and found issues with sludge in many of the V6 engines. Anyone here have any issues with these engines? Should I stay away from the Highlander? We will be buying used, so I won't know the maintenance history of the vehicle I buy.


rustypiggeon,

Sludge issue occur due to the long OCI service intervals. This is what I observed in the past on my 89' Camary long ago when I went strictly by the manual.

During the major services I had noticed over time that the dealership always did an engine flush as part of the service. It didn't occur to me then it was due to keep the engine sludgeing issue down. This was the same on my buddies Avalon (which year I can't remember).

I think the Toyota V-6 engines are fine. Just cut the service manuals service OCI's in half and use a good synthetic and your GTG.

Durango

 

[Nick1994]

My car is supposed to be a sludge monster, I'm sure the previous owners just did oil changes at quick lube shops. I replaced the valve cover gasket and it was pretty clean, not a bit of sludge but just a little varnish. Take care of it and it'll take care of you. I wouldn't do 10k oil changes.

 

[jimmy87]

Originally Posted By: rustypigeon
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
I have been maintaining my GF's 2003 Highlander. It has the 2.4L four cylinder. If you're not towing and only have 2WD the four is more than adequate. It has 170,000 miles on the clock and I have been using 10,000 mile OCI's with 0W-40 Mobil 1. It uses about a quart of oil every 4-5K miles. I changed the valve cover gasket about a year ago and found the valve train very clean.

Can't comment on the V-6, but the four is a pretty clean running engine.


I'd rather have the 4, but I have not found any in our area.


The four is a pretty solid vehicle, we inherited ours from our in-laws, its about 10k miles shy of 200k and all its needed is minor repairs and maintenance, they've owned it since it was brand new.

 

[DBMaster]

I believe that some oil consumption is normal on the 2.4L. It gets past the valve guides like it did on my 89 Accord. Not a big deal. I found Supertech syn to be the fastest consumed while Rotella syn 5W-40 slowed it down considerably on the Accord. I decided to try the Mobil 0W-40 on the Highlander and it does seem to need make-up oil less frequently.

 

[artificialist]

The 3.0L was known for sludge, but people who always changed oil at 3,000 miles would never have a problem. If you know the personality of the driver, you would know if this happened.

Underneath the filler cap there is a filter. That filter makes it impossible to look inside the engine without removing a valve cover. The best you can do is see how much varnish on the dipstick, and that isn't a very good test. Who knows if the dipstick was replaced?

One of my dad's friends believed the 7500 mile conventional OCI for his Toyota Avalon. That engine was destroyed by sludge and replaced under warranty. The guys at the dealership said that with the Toyota 1MZ-FE you could only safely go further than 3000 miles with synthetic oil.

Are you getting AWD? I don't know how well the AWD works and how long it lasts because almost nobody buys it in Florida. Odds are the transfer case and rear differential oil was never replaced, so know what oil you need, and replace it. I think it takes 80w90 GL-5 in the transfer case and differential.

 

[rustypigeon]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
Are you getting AWD? I don't know how well the AWD works and how long it lasts because almost nobody buys it in Florida. Odds are the transfer case and rear differential oil was never replaced, so know what oil you need, and replace it. I think it takes 80w90 GL-5 in the transfer case and differential.


I'd actually prefer the 2wd version for easier maintenance, but those are rare up here. The vast majority are AWD. I already have a 4x4 pickup, and I have never had an issue with my front wheel drive car getting around in the snow anyway.

I would definitely change the transfer and differential fluids if we end up with the AWD. I changed those fluids every 50,000 in our Rav4.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: artificialist

One of my dad's friends believed the 7500 mile conventional OCI for his Toyota Avalon.


Yep, he believed in what he saw printed in the book by Toyota. All the cars I used to own in 90's and early 2000's said the same. I used to believe that too before hearing about Toyota sludge and finding BITOG.