Noisy tappets

[xoom]

guys ..... keep it on topic ..... noisy tappets

supertownace here is a topic for you to post to your hearts content.

http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde...showtopic=12638

[Blind Kid Seeks]

Thanks Xoom...

and on topic... My sportivo does have some noisy lifter action going on...

I took it to a toyota dealer... and as my car is out of warranty, they suggested an oil change to see if that quietens things down.

On the weekend i drained the oil and put on a filter + Fuchs 10w-30 and the noise has definately quietened. <did i make up a word here Supertownace?

so all in all... happy with the advice from toyota...

[hotboxcivic]

i guess i'm being way too picky. first new car i've owned, so i have the tendency to say everything should be perfect.. then again it 12 months old now, wow time goes quick.

service from toyota is good enough, hey as long as i can keep paying $120 for servicing i'm happy.

[GUZZLA]

IIRC you said that was your fist service since new?

When I bought mine the dealer said "see you in 10,000km for your fist oil change". I asked about the 1500km service and was told I could bring it back for a quick check over but that was all it needed.

I dropped the oil and filter at 1500km and it was nothing more than black water - be buggered if I wanted that crap in my engine for another 8500km doing almost nothing. I changed the oil and filter again at 5000km and it was more acceptable and I will continue to do so for the life of the car as I have done with previous vehicles. There is no way a brand new engine isn't going to have a heap of crud work lose during the run in period, mix with the oil and reduce its effecientcy.

I fully appreciate the major effeciency improvements engines are making these days but the oil technology ins't keeping up. Sure you can run a big dollar full synthetic oil but it's still only good for 7500km max. Personally I believe using a cheaper semi synthetic oil with new filter more often has better long term results.

What I'm getting at is the damage could already be done and I'd bet all three testicals that they never even took the cover off to check them. As mentioned earlier, running the maximum recommended viscocity oil may shut them up but or you could go the opposite direction and use a thinner oil as this will flow more effeciently.

I fully understand, being a new car it shouldn't have this problem and it may pay to take it somewhere else for a second opinion. Also driving for short periods of time consistently wont do the engine any favors either. The reason taxis, courier and transport vehicles get mega mileage out of the engines is because they never get turned off.

Cheers,

Nath

[Kelpie]

ALL Motor Oils have mineral oil as their base, including the so called "Fully Synthetics." (That term is pure "Oilco" PR marketing spin. Sorry, but the old Mobil adds with Brocky in 'em, sprouting that nothing in the oil had come out of the ground and that it was fully man made, were full of bull)

A Fully Synthetic oil has more chemicals and additives in it than the so named "Semi Synthetics." In fact more chemicals and additives than base oil!

The "Semi Synthetics" have an equal proportion of base mineral oil and chemicals etc.

A good quality synthetic oil is good for many thousands of km's, PROVIDED THE ENGINE IS FULLY WARMED UP ON EVERY RUN.

The base (mineral) oils never break down, it's the chemicals and additives mixed in that have the limited lifespan.

The more short journey's you do, the quicker the oil looses its protective abilities, regardless of whether it is a full, or semi synthetic. However a Full Synthetic will last longer than a semi synthetic.

As Guzzla says, the common problem is distillation of the oil by unburnt petrol and condensation of water formed in the combustion process. These 2 are the quickest killers of engine oils (and consequently the engine.)

Changing the oil every 5ks is highly recommended by all car manufacturers for obvious reasons, unless your cars engine is always warm, like a Taxi's.

Cabs usually have their oil changed at around 10,000km intervals.

Once upon a time, (in the days of pre CNC machining and ill fitting engine parts) car manufacturers used a very thin "initial fill" oil in new engines, which was good for around 1000 miles. (1,500 kms)

You could not buy this oil commercially.

This, combined with the instructions of operating the engine gently and not exceeding speeds of 80 km/h in the run in period, allowed all the internal parts and gears to literally grind themselves into place.

Then what had become a sump full of watery and metal particle filled gunk, was changed at the 1st service (1,000 miles.)

Manufacturers now no longer use this initial fill oil.

Modern CNC machining and QC have made engine internal tolerances much finer and all a modern engine has to really do to in the "run in" process, is loosen up and the piston rings bed in.

Nowdays manufacturers use the same normal Fully Synthetic oil that you can buy over the counter at any Auto Store or Garage. They use the top grades.

If, as Guzzla experienced, the engine oil on a modern car is all black and watery after the initial 1500 kms of running, then certainly change it and the filter and then change it again at around 5000 kms. Better be safe than sorry and engine oil is a lot cheaper than an engine rebuild. And the fact that the oil was black indicates that it has been doing the job right.

However Guzzla, your quote that "engine oil technology isn't keeping up" is far from correct.

Go to any F1 race meeting and see what oil a team such as Ferrari use in their F1 engines.--In the case of Ferrari, the same Shell Helix Ultra (in the grey container) that you can get at any Shell garage.

And that F1 engine is going to go through far more stress in a single race than the engine in any road car over 10,000 kms.

Without the advances in oil technology that have occurred in years since the introduction of the 1st multigrade oils in the 1960s, modern engines wouldn't last 5 minutes.

We would still be using the old "grunters" of the 1950's.

The development of the modern engine has gone had in hand with the advances in oil technology.

Oil company engineers and the engine designers of the car manufacturers, work hand in hand.

Ferrari and Shell, Renault and Elf and BMW and Mobil, are all cases in point.

When the 1st Synthetic Oil was introduced by Shell back in the early 1980's, all Shell Employees where give a 5 litre container of the stuff.

Those who put the stuff into old Holden's etc, saw it come gushing out in torrents.

It was if the engine had been attacked by white ants.

In some cases the stuff was leaking out while the oil was still being poured into the engine.

The new type oil was far too thin for the gaskets in those old pre CNC era engines.