Hi Merritt,
What did you do to remedy the clogged baffles?


Merritt Mullen wrote:

Are you telling us you get beat you every time somebody buys something other
than a Toyota? Goodness man you must be sore as hell. You should ask
them to beat you when someone buys a Toyota, you would get millions of fewer
beatings annually.

mike hunt


"Scott in Florida" <JustAsk (AT) Florida (DOT) com> wrote

Not to worry. Toyotas 'gelling' problem, as they refer to sludge, has
nothing to do with oil changes. Gelling was the unwanted result of a head
design, that was corrected in models built after August of 2003. At least
that is what Toyota referred to as the cause in its notification to its
dealerships when Toyota extended the warranty to any owner experiencing the
gelling problem. If you believe you engine is one of those built during the
period when the problematic head was used, contact your local Toyota dealer.
Dealers have been authorized to 'inspect, clean, repair, or replace as
necessary' any engine adversely effected for a period of up to eight years,
unlimited mileage, from the in service date. The local dealer can advise you
if your vehicle is indeed has one of the engines involved. The dealership
will correct the problem for you if it does, at no charge. Toyota no longer
requires that the vehicle was serviced at a dealership nor do you need to
provide receipts, as they did when the problem first surfaced, before they
issue the warranty extension. You need only 'attest' that you changed the
oil at 'reasonable' intervals.

VW, SAAB and Chrysler have a similar problem with some of their engines and
have offered extended their warranties as well.

mike hunt


<rwessley (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

Does anyone know a way to figure out if it's gelling or sludging without
taking off valve cover? I have a 2000 Sienna. Oil has been changed regularly
(within 5K) except the first couple of changes when I was following manual.
The manual recommended 7.5K and I changed around 6K at the dealer for the
first few.

Thanks!

"ZR" <ZR (AT) ABC (DOT) COM> wrote

If it is coated with gunk as opposed to an oily film, then further
investigation (read remove the valve covers) is necessary.
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

Thanks, Ray. That's the reason I was asking: it seems to be coated with
something (dark brown stuff) instead of shinning. The coating can not be
easily removed (say wiped off). I thought there might be some other problems
associated with it, such as burning oil, smoke, running erratically, etc. My
Sienna has none of these other problems.

In article <99b2b$439a79f9$180fead6$23086 (AT) msgid (DOT) meganewsservers.com>,
"Ray O" <rokigawa (AT) tristarassociatesDOT (DOT) com> wrote:

That doesn't work too well on the V-6 (at least the one in the 2000
Avalon), as there is a deflector plate immediately under the filler cap
preventing one from seeing into the valve/cam area.

My cap was clean, the deflector plate was simply oily, but there was
sludge at the timing belt end of the head (which is the opposite end from
the oil filler).

Merritt

"ZR" <ZR (AT) ABC (DOT) COM> wrote

I wouldn't worry about the dark brown stuff and concentrate more on making
sure it is not burning oil or smoking.
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

Thanks! That makes me feel much better.

"ZR" <ZR (AT) ABC (DOT) COM> wrote

--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply