Another go at sorting out Oil in Airboxes...

if applies to you gax,
me and THatt have threads how/where to mount a oil catch can!

its not that involved.

 

It's not uncommon to have that oil in the intake really. Most 5VZ have it. Mine has a lot too, I mean mine makes 345hp, but still it's not uncommon to have PCV oil in the intake tract.

 

THIS. I installed mine years back, empty it 2-3 times a year and life is good. They work. I mounted mine on the backside of the air filter shield. Goes in-line with the PCV. My truck does not burn anything but fuel, and this still collects bypass crud rather than feeding it back into my intake.

 

Since the engine is toast anywy why not try and clean it out as an experiment? I was just watching this youtube on a KIA which looked similar to yours and the guy did a series of flushes/ oil changes and was able to get it cleaned out. Granted that KIA's oil pan is much simpler to take off and clean than a 3.4's. Instead of dealing with the front axle you could disconnect the trans and lift the engine instead. When I did my JDM engine swap I had everything disconnected and the engine in the air by lunch time. Didn't even have to disconnect power steering or a/c lines. And by the way you don't have to mess with the timing components to take off the oil pan.

Just a thought

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU79jXYWydA

 

Here’s my oil separator install

 

Thanks all for your comments - together we can achieve.... ...well something, at least we stay busy...

Cool Catch can mod. I sorta long for one vehicle to concentrate on, but I'm only one man; my 'fleet' too large. But I'll think about that fo sure.

Regardless of a new engine at some point (I do love the design and size of the 1st gen Taco), I think I'll see what I can do to get a few miles out of the current power plant, albeit one trip to the gas station, and hopefully back.

Today's developments: I went ahead and removed the 4x4 obstacles, and removed the pan. It's not pretty, but not too bad, the sump was actually clear and functional. I wiggled my endoscopic camera into the bottom end. A shot of the cam from the bottom end oilway, Piston skirt and cylinder wall, rod pin, etc.

Here's some photos:

 

What issue did this solve? My 2.7 only has 145K on it but I certainly haven't needed an aftermarket oil separator.

 

did you find Any traces of Metal specs/particles in there?

do you have a closer up pic of the area inside the pan where the drain plug bolts into?
how much of a lip is in that area where some oil would remain after the plug is pulled

 

I didn't find any metal shavings anywhere, except some fines on the mag drain plug for the front differential.

I can snap a photo of the pan. It cleaned up nicely. There was what I'd call a 'normal' amount of goo on the bottom, but not that bad. The threaded insert in the pan, for the drain plug, is maybe 1/4" off the bottom. The congealed oil here and there in the pan was pretty solid and unlikely to go anywhere, unless you chipped it off with a chisel or something. I chose to dissolve it with kerosine and a toothbrush, but I was just being anal. The baked on oil that looks more like the gunk on the cast parts, was only a thin layer on the top of the baffle plate, below the rod big-ends, and probably wouldn't be going anywhere. But I removed it anyway. This is all rather contrary to the advise here about: "...don't bother to spend any time and money on that engine..." but anyway, I can't let well enough alone, as is my style.

I'm not ignoring the advise to go buy a fresh motor, but today's 'experiment' was to put the pan back, without the baffle, and pour fresh Delo all over the valve compartments and see what comes out into the pan. I did this 3 times, and there was indeed some various clumps of goo, no enormous chunks, and it diminished as I went on. I don't consider this any kind of real flush, nor do I intend to try to get 'real' with a flush as the consensus here and elsewhere is against. I don't think this oil dribbling means all that much, but I thought I do it some more, and then once I get some fresh valve cover gaskets and seals installed (without rtv so I can easily look in there afterwards), run a fresh batch of oil and filter, and run around town in a mellow way for 25 miles as one would in a first engine run-in; pull the oil, filter and pan back out and see what I see.

This all is some distance from the original question: "Why is there oil in the air/fuel passages, oil soaking a 1/4 way up the air filter...?" We'll see I guess if there's any improvement with this condition, which despite some reports here that this is common, can be dumped in a can, etc., I'm still of the mind that this is not supposed to be happening.

 

Yeah, I hear you, it seems like a neat 'performance' mod, but also a bandaid for something that's not supposed to be happening.

 

Incorrect. Blowby is not abnormal.

 

i would consider EXCESSIVE blowby to be 'abnormal'... the type of excess that comes out of the tubing from the driverside crankcase vent in the back to intake tube and if Very Excessive goes into the air filter box and soaks the element.. that is BAD!

i would attribute this to the 'abusive behavior' of short trips short run time, which is the Only time in my rigs 341k mile journey that i have ever noticed an exceptionally 'dirty' throttle with blowby seeping from the intake tubing joint hose that goes to the driverside valve cover. i disconnected that joint and stuck the pinky finger in there. there was So Much blowby pooled up inside of there. the truck was out of my care for 12 weeks getting moved around the shop Way Too Much for my liking... start up move out turn off, start up move in turn off.

 

If I followed your inquiry, here's a photo of the pan drain...

I guess it doesn't really show how low the drain hole is in relation to the surface of the bottom of the pan, but presumably it's at the lowest point...

 

Does anybody have an oil path diagram for the 1st gen 5VZFE ? I'm looking around, even in the FSM, but I don't see one. Ya know, like this coolant diagram, but for the oil system...

 

Excellent, thank you.

 

That is a ton of build up! Im sure the blow by will reduce once you get it back together. Run B-12 in the gas tank and do a few short oil interval changes and it should be fine.

 

Well, thanks for your optimism, I can use some, I have so many motor vehicle issues...

I've rigged up a way to cover the 4x4 CV hubs in the front, so that I can drive some without the front Diff and CVs in place, in the dry season anyway. I can then drop the oil pan a couple times to see how things are 'trickling down.' I'll post a couple of photos of that jerry-rig in case anyone is cursing about the 4x4 components in the way. Poor Jerry - he gets a bad rap, but sometimes he does a decent job.

When I was buying gasket and seals and so on, I bought a FelPro oil pan gasket (set of 2), the cork and rubber type, and then realized that the pan had no gasket from the factory, just Yamabond or whatever RTV. So during this test period I laid up one of the gaskets, and to my astonishment it doesn't leak despite no sealant. So I can drop the pan a couple times to investigate without final gasket labor. I made a few errand runs with the truck and the thing seems to run as before; I'll try an off hour freeway run somewhere and drop the pan to see what's to see this week.

I also got a catch can, a Chinese Red one like the one 'ControlCar' here is running. It was all of $4.25 on 'the auction site,' so I figured worse case, if the blow by is substantial enough to soggy the air filter some still, it might help with that.

I'll report back for those interested in the continuing saga.

-g

 

Here's a couple a follow up photos:

• The 4x4 front hub cover kludge - 4" caps from McMaster P/N 9753K28 and a water hose clamp...
• The Catch Can install
• The non-leaking temporary pan gasket, and clear area to remove the pan!

Amazingly the computer isn't barking about "No response from 4x4 actuator." (I will not be engaging 4x4 during this period, of course.)

More later on the results of all this...

-gax

 

Hey CC - Have you been running that SS scouring pad thing they supply in your Can? The one that came with mine pretty much fills the entire can. Seems like it could be either a bitch to clean or potential steel shrapnel sucked into the throttle body, or both.

thx.