Oil in my Airbox!!!

So I'm just wondering how this story finally ended for the OP, he never gave a final update.

 

Ok well took the truck back to the guy who rebuilt the engine. He took the engine all the way back down to the intake and pulled off the valve cover. Well there is ports that allow oil to drain tot he oil pan. Well the drains that allow this oil to pass had gotten clogged with something and prevented oil from draining like it should. This cause a pressure in the pan and was causeing the PCV valve to fail. I am not an engine guy so I am not sure how many drains are on these. But what ever he did it runs fine and I am running 5w-30 full synthetic with no leaks.

 

Thanks Me to had me worried I bought something that was not going to last me. Since I got it fixed I did get into a crash on the interstate. SOme kid decided to lose control of his car and spin out infront of me a 60 mph. Put it this way his car got totaled and I needed a new bumper.

 

Good deal... Glad it worked out for you... Yes, all engines have oil return holes in the head, it's the only way to get the oil back to the pan. I find it odd they got clogged on a rebuilt engine. I've only ever heard of them clogging on a motor with high mileage and excessive sludge buildup. Only thing I can think of is a big glob of assembly lube or something like that maybe did it.

 

Know it is fixed (congrats!), but one does wonder if it was an actual rebuild or if it was just a swap from another truck. I've seen shops advertise 140k engine $2800 installed type thing.

Think I'd be asking what was clogging the passages. Old engine, could be sludge and general gunk. If it was a rebuild then could be a lower quality one without much care to keeping things clean and so misc junk allowed to get into engine. OR cut corners and just did the bare minimum to get the engine up and going (no head work etc.). If it was silicone chunks then one wonders too.

Keep an eye on your oil changes and perhaps change a bit more often for a while to see if you get anything strange in the drain pan. I'm the sort that would cut the filter open too to see if there were any strange bits that should not be there.

How many miles are on from the supposed rebuild? Any documentation on it from the previous owner or verification on what was done from the shop? Just would be interesting to know.

Anyway, glad you were able to get it fixed. I'd just keep an eye on it for a while.

As a matter of interest it might not be a bad idea to send off an oil sample for analysis on your next change. Blackstone Labs does a good quick job and not too expensive (think it is about $25 or somewhere in there). Look on their website and they will send you the container and an envelope to send it back to them. I actually used the envelope and put it in a Priority Mail box just so I could get it done quicker. Hate waiting.

They also give you easy to understand comments and direction on if there are problem areas, possible fuel leakage into the engine, potential head gasket issues, etc. etc. Really a useful little tool. Might be worth the investment.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Once I'm on my next change on the Tacoma I'm going to send a sample in. Already did so on the Camry.

 

That's not a bad idea. I have been staying on the oil changes just to make sure and it stay clean. The motor runs strong and have had no issues since I took it back and had that work done. I think the chunk found in the port holes
Nwas a grommet from the PCv valve. When I changes it out it was missing half of it. Could not find the other half. When I bought this truck the guy had paper work from the so called rebuild. The truck has about 10000 miles since and I have had not issues as of yet. Just yesterday I towed my first thing with it a 19 foot boat. It was heavy on the truck and with the big tires it did well. I plan on keeping this truck as long as she will last me so I am going to take care of it. Here is a question at 145000 would you have the transmission flushed or should I leave it alone? I have heard both ways but I don't know what to do it really needs it and I don't want this thing to break because I failed to do this? What would y'all do?

 

my own opinion, if you're not going to take it to the dealer, as long as you have a mechanic you can "trust", flush the tranny.

 

Well I don't really have a mechanic I can trust and I was going to take it to the dealer and have it done. I am just worried that it will create more of a problem than it helps. The fluid looks a little dark and not burnt just dark. So I m thinking that maybe it wil be ok to do it.

 

I agree with this 50%, because since and automatic transmission is centrifugally hydraulic, the theory makes no sense. If you're tranny is going to fail, it's going to fail. Not flushing will just hide the problem longer, good if you want to sell and pawn it on someone else. If you don't have any shuddering or slipping, and the fluid isn't burnt then you should be safe. At a minimum though, drain and refill.

 

Ok well I think I should at least change the filter and drain and refill. But my question now is what is taking 3 qts of a 15 qts capacity tranny going to do? If I am not correct sorry for my false comment but I am not familiarl with the transmission yet? I would like to just do a little maintenance on it to take care of it. It runs fine and does not slip. I do here a little rumbling noise when I am at at light when the truck is in gear stopped. Sound like a throw out bearing on a manual just not that loud. But other than that I think it runs fine. I also have 34 inch tires on it so the transmission has been tested

 

Don't understand what your question is about the capacity. Anything at idle is most likely coming from the motor, maybe not but probably. Don't over think it. Do the proper maintenance and that's all you can do. Fix things when they break or when you know they are going bad, that's all you can do.

 

Thanks I think I am going to go have it flushed justo cover all the bases. Then I know it's done and it will give me a little ease.

 

Okay so i came across this thread and i have a 98 3.4 taco and have the same problem .. And its been this way for awhile now at least 6k miles .. Was told by the guy i bought it from it needed valve stem seals so i never fixed it until last week (had it for about 9 months now) i burnt a valve and got 2 new/used heads.. Bring it home after praying i wouldn't have this problem any more IT STILL smokes and has oil in the air box. Anybody with any tips of what i should do would be great.. Thanks

 

blue-ish smoke, or black smoke ?
When you had the valve stem seals done, it might have been a combination of both stem seals and piston rings, or the guy just didn't bother checking. You should've had a compression check done to be sure which was bad. Go buy yourself, or rent a compression guage kit. Pull your fuel pump fuse, have somebody hold the pedal to the floor and crank it over several times while connecting the guage at each cylinder. If you find one significantly lower than the others (usually 10psi or greater), put a little motor oil in through the spark plug hole, check it again, if compression comes up, it's the rings.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

The smoke is all gray maybe a hint of blue after it rolls all the gray out.. It doesn't do it all the time just when you start it and its been setting for a few mins.. i know the guy did a compression check it showed up bad on 1 cyl and they pulled heads off to discover the burnt valve.. Truck runs amazing just aggravating when you come out of Walmart and roll the person beside you full of coal .. haha

 

stem seals are not going to affect compression much, since they are physically above the valve seat, they will let oil seep down in the the cylinder when the valve opens. the valve would've appeared burnt due to the coked up oil deposits all over it. The seat and valve probably needed cleaned up well... Hard to tell everything without seeing it.... One possibility is either they didn't clean the seat and valve well, or you have bad rings as well. Either way, if it's the same cylinder, that head probably needs to come off again.