Aurion 2007 oil build up

[TomToyMan]

hello all

a  year ago or so, i had the oil flushed on my 2007 aurion touring, because of bad oil. sump was cleaned etc.

now, i had a general service done, a few months back because the VSC checking LIGHT came up. so standard things like, oil, air filters etc were done.

i didn't drive the car for 3 weeks or so, and when i went to crank it over, it wouldnt start, i had to jump start. So after driving for 5mins, the LOW OIL PRESSURE warning came up, and the engine starting making a tapping/knocking noise, I immediately pulled over, and got the car towed home.

when i went to open the fuel cap, it was very very difficult to turn open, but eventually open, and the oil looked gunky/thick

i spoke to my mechanic, or said we will need to flush, take the oil sump out and pickup tube and clean them

but if i the pickup is OK, then you will need a new motor.

the servicing, has been a little irregular and it has done 260000kms, do you guys think the motor has had it?

 

 

 

[campbeam]

1 hour ago, TomToyMan said:

I immediately pulled over, and got the car towed home.

This quick action may have saved your engine which appears to have been oil starved.

I got a low oil pressure light because the rear VVTi oil line sprung a leak in the rubber mid-section.

If your oil pickup is full of sludge, then after the engine has been flushed by your mechanic make sure that servicing is regular with quality engine oil.

Personally, I do an oil and filter cartridge change every 5,000 kms because I mainly do short distance city driving.

[mg85]

Looks like you are in for trouble, I probably would not be blaming "bad oil" when you have not serviced it regularly. The 3.5 Lt engine is prone to sludging as it is.

I predict you will be having ongoing issues with this engine forever due to lack of regular servicing it is up to you how much money you want to throw at it.

Options are as I see them:

Get 2nd hand engine (could be just as much trouble if it has not been looked after)

Sell the car

Rebuild the engine/reco (expensive but will fix the problem)

Spend money on mechanics trying to clean up a worn sludged engine (could go on indefinitely)

[ZZT86]

Depending on how irregular the servicing, you could potentially just have a sludge issue which can be fixed by stripping the engine to clean the heads & sump/oil pump = long expensive hours. Unhappy days bro :|

[campbeam]

I am expecting that the oil pickup screen will have been blocked by dislodged oil sludge to have caused the low oil pressure light. This is the reason why I have been wary about using commercial engine flush products. I have been told by an ex-Toyota dealership employee that the 2GR-FE engine should last for 400,000 kms before requiring any serious maintenance. This is very much dependent upon regular servicing with quality oils Engine Oil URLs and GR4 GR5 Performance Comparison.doc.

I bought my 2006 Aurion with the known problem of white smoke on startup. Eventually learned that this was caused by accumulated oil sludge in the oil channels of the valve cover which results in the PCV valve sucking oil into the intake. Rather than remove the front valve cover, I chose to desludge the engine using numerous oil and filter cartridge changes. I am DIY so I did about 12 oil and filter changes over 15mths and 20,000 kms to fully desludge the engine. I then bought a December 2008 Aurion with the same oil sludge issue and a neglected servicing history. To date, I have done 6 oil and filter cartridge changes over 13 months and only 3,000 kms. Getting there with the oil sludge totally gone. To assist the desludging process in both vehicles, I have added 250ml of either diesel or ATF to the engine oil so not unusual for the oil to be black and contaminated with dissolved sludge within a week.

[ZZT86]

Ash,

I suspect you got them real cheap when many thought was a terminal future for the car ? How did you determine the car in question was a feasible DIY candidate ? Although I would hate to strip an engine for such, I prefer to "see" results before use.

[campbeam]

Essentially I am prepared to take risks and I grew up with a garage full of tools and plenty of encouragement to be DIY.

The 2006 Auriion [165,000 kms] was in good overall condition and the price was right. Also did not care about the engine smoking on startup which I thought was worn valve stem seals so my intention was to drive it til it drops instead of any engine repairs. Big wake up call was when the engine used more than a litre of oil in one day of "spirited"open highway driving. Certainly leaving a smoke screen behind when accelerating hard. Sheer luck that the counter staff emeber at SuperCheap used to work for Toyota and mentioned that a valve needed to be replaced for the engine smoking issue. I did an internet search and was fortunate to find a post that identified the cause as accumulated oil sludge and explained the blocked oil channels in the valve cover preventing the oil from draining quickly enough so it was being sucked up via the PCV valve into the intake.

As for the Dec.2008 Aurion, it was a "family"car done only 105,000kms and was in "sad"condition Engine smoking from oil sludge was because of irregular servicing plus using a local mechanic for convenience rather than a Toyota dealership. Price was ok but in hindsight could have been better..

I could monitor results of the engine desludging based upon how much smoke and time upon startup. Sometimes there was the occassional backward step. Eventually, I discovered that the best way to "see"progress/results was to check/clean the oil cartridge each weekend or fortnight looking for the amount of "coffee grounds"being undissolved sludge in the cartridge housing and those caught in the filter cartridge itself.

[TomToyMan]

OK, so i got it back today

oil sump cleanred

oil pickup tube cleaned

oil pressure switch replaced

some other bits and peices

 

drove the car for about 1hour, and got the engine light come up, and then a quick couple flashes of the engline oil pressure low light

turned car off, turned it back and drove anther 10mins to work.... 

obviously something still not right..  time for a new car

[mg85]

Good decision me thinks sorry it did not work out.

[TomToyMan]

photos underneath

 

im holding onto some hope

[campbeam]

Back to the mechanic.

Good possibility that the seal on the oil filter cartridge housing has not been properly fitted causing it to leak. Another suspect might be the oil pressure switch leaking.

Best to check the oil level.

[trentmeyer23]

Sell it. It will save you money.

[TomToyMan]

so i ended up driving it home yesterday , was in the car for 1hr 1/2 and no warning lights, all good

oh and there are no error codes  present

 

i have had this startup rattle for ages too, but it seems to have dissapeared now

hmmmm....

Edited July 26, 2017 by TomToyMan

[AAA]

Hi TomToyMan

My 2008 ATX has the same oil leak. What was done to fix your oil leak? Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by AAA
Typo