2016 3.5 vvt gears

Has anyone engine ever changed the vvt gears in the tacoma 3.5 2016. Looking for recommendations on parts and prices any help whould be greatly appreciated

 

Why, are they rattling?

 

Yes. The dealer told me the vacuum pump was bad so i replaced it with no change. I also changed the oil with no change so i let them diagnose it 4 hours later they told me i needed a new engine cause it was gummed up but when i asked what was making the noise they said that being gummed up was causing it

 

What was/is your OCI?

 

What's it "gummed up" with?

 

If the engine is full of sludge it probably needs to be replaced. Replacing cam gears is very expensive, see if you can get Toyota to cover part of the cost if it’s not to far out of warranty.

 

Crazy, how many miles on the engine?

 

Go to a different dealer

 

You have at a minimum 13 months of warranty left. How many miles on the truck?

 

Number one question here is going to be “what oil were you using?”. Might as well get it out there.

 

Not so much brand or viscosity (as long as it wasn't 20w-50 or something silly like that) but more like driving habits coupled with OCI.

 

An engine with that severe of sludge build-up as the OP is describing would suggest some sort of severe driving conditions (perhaps a LOT of short trip driving without the motor reaching normal operating temperature, etc.), a radically different oil viscosity than the factory 0W-20 and/or a poor quality oil, running the oil for a much longer oil change interval (as JNG suggests above), maybe a problem with the oil filter, or something along these lines.

Here's an interesting section on a website titled, "Oil viscosity and variable valve timing":

"Variable valve timing alters the camshaft timing by rotating the cam in relation to the cam belt or timing chain. The rotation is executed using pulsed oil pressure. In order to command a cam timing change and then check the results, the PCM assumes you’ve used the proper oil viscosity. Switching to a higher or lower viscosity
oil will change the performance of the camshaft VVT solenoid or phaser, so the computer won’t see the cam timing result it expects. That’ll set a check engine light and trouble code and will affect engine performance. Improper cam timing can result in many different performance issues, from rough idle to lack of power.

In other words, when a car maker recommends a certain type and viscosity, the PCM is programmed to make cam timing changes based on that viscosity. When you use a different oil, you get different results and they’re not what the PCM expects to see."

Source: https://bit.ly/31stiLY

Ed

 

A sludge diagnosis on an engine that should be running synthetic 0-20 is interesting. It would take a lot of OCI miles and negligence to get that done.

 

This
Sounds more like, "we don't know, or feel like messin with it, so yeah uh, just replace the whole engine."

 

Another thing, on a oil sludge diagnosis and before I put a dime into VVT repairs, I would pull the oil pan and inspect the oil pump and spot check a couple of bearings.

 

^^^ I think this looks good in writing but is not the case in reality because even synthetic oil would change its viscosity quite dramatically between a cold and hot engine and summer or winter. The subtle difference between a 5W30 and an 0W20 is not going to affect the operation of the VVT actuator more than the effect of an ice cold engine in winter vs a red hot engine in summer.

Possibly the best explanation of how it all works on the web, even though it’s filmed in someone’s scrap yard in Russia:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T0G5KLN4a_w

 

Sludge build up is from neglect and infrequent oil changes IMO. I usually change my oil more frequently than the manufactures recommended schedule so when out of warranty I do not have to deal with issues like this.

How many miles on the engine OP?

 

You may be correct, *I* don't know and I'm not qualified to say you're wrong.

Whenever someone chooses to run a different grade of oil, they have to ask themselves if they know something that the engineers who designed the vehicle didn't, and are they willing to take the risk of potential problems by doing so??? Personally, I think it's a bad idea to do so, but it's a personal choice. If you hang out at BITOG forum, you'll see a lot people who make really, really, stupid oil/filter choices and then wonder why they have problems.

Ed

 

Deciding on a certain grade oil is not 100% the engineers decision there are lots of politics involved and sometimes Fuel Economy drives this more than an 'engineers decision'.

I put 5w-20 in my Honda CRV since purchased new. It asks for 0w-20. 100k+ miles later no issues.
I have an 2019 BMW M2 which has an engine from the M4. bmw recommended all sorts of oils for when the S55 engine came out. 0w-40, 5w40, 5w30. 0w-30 is the latest recommended weight oil. So how you explain that? I doubt that this is an 'engineers' decision. More of a fuel economy thing. I personally feel an fuel economy oil is more geared towards fuel economy and engine less protection.

 

For sure. I agree. For the record, I run

$98 Toyota 0W20 Toyota Case of 12 Quarts Full Synthetic 0W-20 Oil

Toyota 0W20 and call it good at that.