Engine flush treatments on 03 Tacoma prerunner 3.4l v6

Guys, when I last changed my oil I noticed that the inside of the engine where you pour the oil is not as clear as some engines I have seen of the same vintage.
I have always changed my oil every 3k with synthetic high mileage Prestone since I bought it in 2010 with 93k. It is just over 234k now.
Question is, should I use liqui Moly or some other flush in my next oil change? What results have you experienced???
Thoughts, concerns???

 

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I plan on running this every 50K for 1K

I change the Napa syn 5w/30 every 2.5K (2.4 2RZ....4qts)

 

Oil geek says latest state of art syn's are...

Valvoline XP syn

Pennzoil Platinum ultra syn

.....and the one I use is Napa's full syn.......its suppose to have proprietary moly package in it...


base oil is same in most all.....its all about the additives
those start to break down after 3K......
and older engines can start to have noticeable oil dilution starting at about 2K
as the rings start to age

 

Yeah I use the Pennzoil platinum for high mileage.

I really just want to clean all the existing gunk in the engine. My main concern is that the crap that gets loosened will potentially clog up passage ways. I've see cars with high mileage where the engine internally looks brand new.

 

i put a qt of tranny fluid in
(by definition ATF is a detergent)
drive for a day or two and then change oil

 

I just changed oil on my 3.4l with 335k miles. It’s not terribly gunked up, but has seen a few years of questionable oil changes. Burner maybe 1-2qt oil per 5k miles.
I put in the newer valvoline stuff this last change, and plan on swapping he filter at 2.5k and changing the oil at my usual 5k interval.
So far with 1000 miles and nothing unusual.
I will report back how it goes.

I have also done the same with my other car, a 2012 mini cooper non turbo. That thing burns a quart every 1.6k miles, so I’m looking forward to see if that lessens with the valvoline oil over time.

 

What kind of build up are we talking can we get a picture? I have some hardened carbon stuck to the top of my oil fill, but that's just a small amount of oil that gets baked right there, its common and nothing to worry about. It looks black and scary, but its not representative of a dirty engine.

 

There's a baffled portion where some oil sits and gets cooked right there.

 

If you've changed it at 3K religiously that's gone a long ways to cleaning it up

 

On BITOG the largest thread on their site is about how badass Vavoline restore and protect is, yes I cheated.

 

I've seen this mentioned on a diesel forum before....never had the balls to try it.

 

I remember seeing a mechanics video where someone accidentally put ATF in the oil fill and it turned into a jello because of the mixture. Idk if that's just long term, but I definitely won't do it.

 

^^^^i saw that but idiot put vegetable oil in

 

was it really vegetable oil? if i find the video ill share

 

Yeah yeah yeah
Those “customer states” videos

mech took off oil pan and looked like a jello mold stuck to the block

 

ATF is a motor oil base with additives like detergents, seal conditioners and rust inhibitors. It is probably not the best for engine sludge removal. It does do ok with an ounce or 2 in a full tank of gas for some fuel system cleanout. The Valvoline restore and protect oil works pretty well and is about the same cost as regular oil.

 

I'm just not convinced yet that OP needs any of this. He bought the truck at 90k and been doing 3k oil changes. I just want to know if he's alarmed by the baked oil at the top of the oil fill which is extremely common. It's not that these suggestions would hurt, but it's just throwing money at a non-existent problem.

 

JR, what you mentioned about the caked on sludge us what I was concerned about. I did my valve cover gaskets a couple two three years ago and can't remember what the condition was. I anyone else besides he and silver think I'm okay then I won't worry about it.

 

If you've been running 3K changes with synthetic.....I wouldnt worry about it much...

I'm gonna run the restore at 50K intervals ......but really just for shits and giggles

on a really gunked up motor like from junk yard, that may actually do more harm than good...


On the plus side I'll get to watch 2 or 3 yrs of feedback/reviews before I get there
......it could cause some weird unforeseen out come....

right now the stuff has only been out a few months.....might be too aggressive for those past a certain point

If I were in your shoes......I'd wait a year and see what the verdict is

guarantee a bunch here will try it

right now I'd consider it beta testing.....and then I'd only run it for 1K

 

Valvoline r&p has been out for around 1.5 years, the earliest uses I can find of it are December 2023, mostly Jan 2024.

it’s not brand new but certainly not tried and true.

here’s some photos of the valve drive on my 4Runner with about 315k miles from last year.
If the covers leak again soon or if I feel like it in about 10k miles of running the valvoline stuff I’ll pull them off again and take a look to compare.


According to Valvoline and many different tests, their main purpose of the oil is to reduce carbon deposits around piston rings.

this is exactly the issue. I’m having with my mini Cooper, causing it to burn about a quart of oil every 1600 miles.

I will also report back after a few oil changes with the Valvoline and not if oil consumption goes down on that car.