PCV valve Varnish 30k oil change

[campbeam]

12 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

I'll make a mental note to do it this Saturday morning and post some pics up.

As well as a picture of the PCV. can you also post a picture of the oil filler cap opening as a comparison between a sludged up engine and a well maintained one.

[Tony Prodigy]

1 hour ago, campbeam said:

As well as a picture of the PCV. can you also post a picture of the oil filler cap opening as a comparison between a sludged up engine and a well maintained one.

Yep. Will do. 

I might give the borescope camera a try and see if I can get it inside the rocker cover for a better view. I almost forgot I had one lol..

[SA22C-RX]

On 7/30/2020 at 4:40 PM, campbeam said:

As well as a picture of the PCV. can you also post a picture of the oil filler cap opening as a comparison between a sludged up engine and a well maintained one.

Here's a pic of mine. I got the dealership to take this for me before heading up to see the car. Was about 5 hour drive. Its pretty clean, just some slight varnish. 

Who knows if it's had a recent flush or not. 

I could take a better pic later on myself... 

Edited July 31, 2020 by SA22C-RX

[Tony Prodigy]

Looks pretty normal to me.

[campbeam]

31 minutes ago, SA22C-RX said:

Here's a pic of mine. I got the dealership to take this

Looks good to me. When I have changed the oil, the oil sitting on top of that guard is clear/translucent. After about 1000kms, the oil is now looking a similar colour but maybe a lighter honey colour.

[SA22C-RX]

Yeah that's why I'm still in 2 minds about "flushing". Funny enough, that pic they took, the oil looks darker, then me going off the dipstick 500kms later. That's why I jumped the gun a little in our earlier posts. I think some short interval oil changes will suffice me for now, and see if good old penrite can relieve any deposits on its own. 

[Tony Prodigy]

4 minutes ago, SA22C-RX said:

Yeah that's why I'm still in 2 minds about "flushing". Funny enough, that pic they took, the oil looks darker, then me going off the dipstick 500kms later. That's why I jumped the gun a little in our earlier posts. I think some short interval oil changes will suffice me for now, and see if good old penrite can relieve any deposits on its own. 

I tend to agree mate. If it were a sludgebox you'd really see the stuff packed up in there. I reckon half a dozen oil changes at 5k intervals should bring it back. I'd stick with a fully synthetic too.

[SA22C-RX]

2 minutes ago, Tony Prodigy said:

I tend to agree mate. If it were a sludgebox you'd really see the stuff packed up in there. I reckon half a dozen oil changes at 5k intervals should bring it back. I'd stick with a fully synthetic too.

👍

[Tony Prodigy]

14 hours ago, SA22C-RX said:

Here's a pic of mine. I got the dealership to take this for me before heading up to see the car. Was about 5 hour drive. Its pretty clean, just some slight varnish. 

Who knows if it's had a recent flush or not. 

I could take a better pic later on myself... 

I'm planning on doing the oil service and possibly the fuel filter (again...) tomorrow and check the PCV for you Nathan. I will try and get my borescope camera inside the rocker cover. Give me a chance to try out the digital inspection camera that came with my Autel Maxisys MS906BT. The camera is an MV-108. My first time hooking it up and trying it out on my desk.

The Image is quite clear surprisingly with the aid of the LED light gives a pretty crispy close up.

Here are some pics I took as a test. I'll post up some images if all goes well tomorrow.

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Tony Prodigy

[SA22C-RX]

Sounds good, enjoy mate, go hard 🤙

[campbeam]

Following is a picture of the oil filler opening on my 2006 40 Series Aurion. There is some varnish around the top area of that metal protector and the oil on the dipstick looks lighter than the oil gathered at the back of the metal protector. You can see the side of the cylinder head which is clean as new. I do know that there is no longer any oil sludge in this area. Still getting some oil sludge residue around the PCV baffle area but finally getting there after 5 years of regular oil change intervals mostly at 3K intervals.

 

[Tony Prodigy]

Had a busy day Gents. Just finished a marathon service session. Been at it since 7am.

I'll post back soon. I need a shower..

[Tony Prodigy]

4 hours ago, campbeam said:

There is some varnish around the top area of that metal protector and the oil on the dipstick looks lighter than the oil gathered at the back of the metal protector. You can see the side of the cylinder head which is clean as new

It's looking ok Ashley. Pretty good actually. I must say the opening on mine is different to yours in terms of the metal protector.

This is mine just now after doing a road test.

 

[campbeam]

29 minutes ago, Tony Prodigy said:

This is mine just now after doing a road test.

I was getting all "precious" about the difference then finally realised that was a road test after you had done your oil change today. No wonder it was looking so great.

I was initially thinking that was oil that had done a few thousand kms. Anyway, nice to have a benchmark to aim for. 

[Tony Prodigy]

These images I took early this morning before I dropped the oil showing the dipstick and the filler hole. The oil service was last performed at 115,433K and today it was at 120,241K, so that 4808K on this batch of Nulon 5w - 30.

Looks a lot nicer on the dipstick than in the Sample Jar. I swirled the oil around and then took the shot. The colour is deceiving though as it has a darkness about it, but when you swirl it around you can still see the golden colour. Definitely contaminated though.

 

 

 

[Tony Prodigy]

I'm really tired guys. I'll post up all my work in the morning. I'll start a fresh thread and showcase everything I did for my 120K service.

I didn't forget you either Nathan. 

Going to go and lay down and watch some Top Gear. Have a good evening Gents. 

 

 

 

[Tony Prodigy]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:06 AM, SA22C-RX said:

Hi all. 

This is my 3rd Aurion. 2 GSV40 and now a GSV50. I do most mechanical work myself. 2 back operations have slowed that down recently but anyway on with my story. 

I recently purchased a 2014 prodigy. 61000kms.

Started life as a fleet car and then sold privately at 8000kms to the owner before me who was an elderly gentleman. 

The cars in fairly good condition. His service history is not so much. Looks as if the oil was was changed at 8000, 30000 and 60000. There are 2 other services 11k and 20k but no information. 

So I'm thinking at worst which I knew before buying, that it's possibly gone 30k without an oil change. Now this is not 100% but is definitely possible. 

The old fellah had failing health and I bought the car off the dealership thst acquired it for him when he wanted one back in 2015 at 8000kms. He's apparently become ill so his family sold it back to the dealership he bought it from. Good country town ethics. Anyway so they didn't really want to call the old fellah to ask about the missing 45000 service. The dealership rang the other mechanic in the area and he had also not done it. 

So let's just assume it was done at 8000, 30000 and 60000. 

I have not pulled the valve cover off bank 2 yet but I took off the PCV valve and it looks as followed.

{SEE PICTURES) 

I put my pinky in the plug hole too and felt around, it definitely has a sticky varbish under the valve cover, just like you can see on the head of the PCV valve. Actual valve is clear and opening and closing freely. 

I've never used an engine flush before, that's why I'm here asking questions. 

1) Should I pull the valve cover off too properly inspect before deciding to use an engine oil flush like Nulon for example?

2) From the pic of the PCV, would you consider this amount of varnish to be worth doing an engine oil flush? 

3) Anyone had any bad experiences with oil flushes afterwards, like noisy lifters or oil leaks? 

The car blows no smoke and runs great but within 500km of the oil change from the dealership I can see the oil starting to become dirty. Light brownish. Not black. But it shouldn't be this dirty already IMO. 

4) So is varnish worth clearing or not? What do you think 😃

I love my 2gr-fe's that's why I buy these vehicles. Not for the looks of course 😲😉. 

So any help on a new found topic for me would be greatly appreciated. 

I of course will be doing regular oil changes that I now own it and I just want to give it its best life from here on in, a clean slate if that makes sense. I won't deny I do enjoy putting my foot down quite often, so I try to give my engines the best life I can with regular servicing and qaulity fuel. 

 

 

 

 

 

Having just pulled and checked mine, I would guess that yours may have been replaced because it looks too clean for something having done 60,000KM or more. I suspect the service agent replaced it at some point. The threads look too fresh for original too.

[campbeam]

On 8/1/2020 at 6:06 PM, Tony Prodigy said:

These images I took early this morning before I dropped the oil showing the dipstick and the filler hole. The oil service was last performed at 115,433K and today it was at 120,241K, so that 4808K on this batch of Nulon 5w - 30.

Looks a lot nicer on the dipstick than in the Sample Jar. I swirled the oil around and then took the shot. The colour is deceiving though as it has a darkness about it, but when you swirl it around you can still see the golden colour. Definitely contaminated though.

 

 

 

Your pictures might as well be those of my engine oil after 1000kms. Last oil change was with Shell Ultra 5W-40 and there was an afternoon drive on the highway which would have helped to clean the engine internals and dissolve sludge. My usual short distance driving is not helping.

While checking my recent oil catch installation, I have been using a thick plastic tie down to probe inside the PCV valve opening of the valve cover and was surprised at the amount of oil sludge that appeared on the plastic tie down.

Saturday afternoon, I dropped the engine oil and swapped out the oil filter cartridge with a clean used one. Plenty of sludge particles in the oil filter cartridge and the oil drain pan. Reused the engine oil at this stage.

[domej]

1 hour ago, campbeam said:

Your pictures might as well be those of my engine oil after 1000kms. Last oil change was with Shell Ultra 5W-40 and there was an afternoon drive on the highway which would have helped to clean the engine internals and dissolve sludge. My usual short distance driving is not helping.

While checking my recent oil catch installation, I have been using a thick plastic tie down to probe inside the PCV valve opening of the valve cover and was surprised at the amount of oil sludge that appeared on the plastic tie down.

Saturday afternoon, I dropped the engine oil and swapped out the oil filter cartridge with a clean used one. Plenty of sludge particles in the oil filter cartridge and the oil drain pan. Reused the engine oil at this stage.

did you notice any oil deposits on your spark plugs when you changed them? my car is also sucking up oil through the pcv and i was wondering if a catch can would be of any benefit while i flush the engine.

[campbeam]

54 minutes ago, domej said:

did you notice any oil deposits on your spark plugs when you changed them? my car is also sucking up oil through the pcv and i was wondering if a catch can would be of any benefit while i flush the engine.

I replaced the spark plugs and ignition coils many months ago but I did recently check the spark plugs on the front bank a few weeks ago. They looked fine.

If oil or excessive oil vapour was being sucked up through the PCV valve then your engine would be blowing white smoke on startup. Under hard acceleration, you would be leaving a thick smoke screen behind you.

I am going to highly recommend that you consider fitting an oil catch can or an oil separator and a.catch can.  

There is more detailed information in this thread.

https://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/53534-oil-catch-can/?tab=comments#comment-576367

My installation is a bit of overkill but it suits my engine and driving conditions. I have a combination of an in-line filter, oil separator then the oil catch can. Actually I am expecting that next to none oil will be in the catch can when I do check it.

[SA22C-RX]

On 8/2/2020 at 10:40 AM, Tony Prodigy said:

Having just pulled and checked mine, I would guess that yours may have been replaced because it looks too clean for something having done 60,000KM or more. I suspect the service agent replaced it at some point. The threads look too fresh for original too.

Thanks Tony. I've read your thread on your 120k service. Very very nice, very thorough, great stuff mate.                        I suspected by my thread and the nut too, it looks really new, that the PCV valve may have been changed. 

It makes me question things even more 🤣. The engine has green paint on everything, like qaulity control type of markings, all the ignition clips and all the rest of it INCLUDING the PCV valve. I'll see if I have the pics from the dealership before purchasing, makes me really wonder, were the valve covers pulled off and a thorough clean done already? 🤣🤙

If you zoom in on the last pic you'll notice it on alot of things. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by SA22C-RX

[campbeam]

21 minutes ago, SA22C-RX said:

The engine has green paint on everything, like qaulity control type of markings, all the injector clips and all the rest of it INCLUDING the PCV valve. I'll see if I have the pics from the dealership before purchasing, makes me really wonder, were the valve covers pulled off and a thorough clean done already?

I went and checked my engine. It has the same quality control type markings.

There is no marking on the PCV valve because I replaced it.

Your previously posted picture of the oil filler cap opening indicates to me that the oil was new looking so a recent oil change.

[SA22C-RX]

2 hours ago, campbeam said:

I went and checked my engine. It has the same quality control type markings.

There is no marking on the PCV valve because I replaced it.

Your previously posted picture of the oil filler cap opening indicates to me that the oil was new looking so a recent oil change.

You're a legend brother. Thanks alot for that. So that means those markings are QC and it's possible my PCV is original aswell. If it is or isn't, it seems to be in okay condition. I think I wrote in the post earlier it was just serviced before those pics, not even 100kms. I could soak it like Tony did on my next oil change if I feel the need too. Just wanted to say thanks alot to you and Tony aswell. Very helpful, friendly and informative 🤙

[KAA]

You will find Nat that many on here are excellent sources of information and assistance..We are all lovers of Toyota and take pleasure in being helpful to each other to keep our pride and joy on the road

Keep Safe 

KAA

[Tony Prodigy]

9 hours ago, SA22C-RX said:

Thanks Tony. I've read your thread on your 120k service. Very very nice, very thorough, great stuff mate.   

Your very welcome Nathan. Much appreciated.

 

9 hours ago, SA22C-RX said:

It makes me question things even more 🤣. The engine has green paint on everything, like quality control type of markings, all the ignition clips and all the rest of it INCLUDING the PCV valve.

It's original if it has paint on it. It's possible it may have been cleaned at some point and the tube wasn't. It's funny though, I didn't notice any green marking on mine and I mine is 100% original. I'll have to take another look when possible.

I'm also thinking that they may have used a semi synthetic oil in yours which perhaps led to the extra gunk in the tubing. Not sure.

Overall, I think it's ok. Just clean everything and start using a high quality synthetic oil and if your inclined, install a catch can. I'm going to consider one at some point myself.