Used Tacoma, sludged engine

Use a shop vac to clean up as much as you can.
I'm not an enthusiast of using any kind of flush.

Solvents or flushes are like taking a laxative -- they cut loose a lot of stuff right now with unpredictable results -- that stuff is now floating around in the engine, again with unpredictable results.

Instead, change the oil and filter frequently, use any oil that meets specifications and a decent filter.

This is more like improving your diet -- you should see gradual, predictable results.

 

1 quart of MMO replacing a quart of oil a at every oil change. Been using it for years and see no reason to stop. I only drive 4k-5k annually with mostly short trips so I think it helps lubricate and prevent corrosion. 2010 with 162k and doesn’t leak or burn a drop.

 

Hoping you get this fixed!

 

Stick a straw with carb cleaner into the engine oil drain plug hole and spray the living shit out of the inside of the oil pan then let drain over night.

 

If the oil looks like that, I would check the air filter ASAP.

 

Oh man, I didn't get a single notification for this!! I'll be reading through everything provided and responding. Thank you all so much!!

I'm presently working towards changing the timing chain out, and when I finally get the cover off I'll scrape out as much sludge as I can.


Needed a special tool to hold the water pump/fan studs, so that slowed things down a bit, but the fan shroud is out!

Working towards the timing cover still, we got the alternator removed, and the power steering "vane" pump out of the way


And the AC compressor is separated and hung too!
But we got stuck trying to remove the harmonic balancer Tried holding bolts, and even making a 2x4 wood copycat of the holder tool to be able to break the big bolt in the middle of the balancer loose, but the wood split, the 10.9 grade

$13 m12x1.25 mm self-locking nylon insert hex lock nuts, pack of 6

m12x1.25 bolts bent, and yet another tool has been ordered. (Will show off the brilliant wooden feat of engineering tomorrow)

I'll take some pictures of the timing marks tomorrow, and how the cam gears are lined up! They're just slightly incorrect, so I'll try giving the crankshaft a few spins to see if that's a certifiable problem or a rushed conclusion. I only got to mess with this kind of stuff once before, and it's lost to memory, so I may be jumping the gun entirely. Since it's being jumped, maybe we can fit in a cool spin or something before the crash landing.

My girlfriend is reading through everything with me and we're doing our best to take all the great suggestions into consideration! Zero experience with sludge, really freaked us out.

Although there is evidence of some sludge on the valves, I too am confused by the sheer volume seemingly restricted to the timing area. If it's accessible without too much trouble, we'll take the oil pan off and see if appearances are just that.

 

Good job and good luck!

 

every shop needs at least one Steve

I love it

 

I've heard of but never tried aggressive flushes.
Think diesel instead of oil, let sit, turn over by hand, drain
or ATF, etc.

Big concern is trying to not dislodge a chunk end up getting sucked into the pickup tube clogging it's screen and starving oil

Have done a few slow gentle flushes though

 

Saw a guy used paint thinner once. It work very surprisingly well. However, I am too timid to try that on something that I care about, and can't disassemble easily to inspect for wear afterwards.

 

IMO it looks like the previous owner didn’t change the oil to schedule specs, used poor quality oil, or if your mom used a gas station for her service THEY LIED TO HER. Saw this one with my daughter in law’s car. Clean it out as much as you can with your hand and spoons. Put in quality oil, At least a pint of Marvel Oil, do it for 2000 miles several times. Don’t use a flush, the tensioner maybe hung up and might correct it’s self.
Good luck.

 

i have never had to clean up an engine that bad but i have seen a youtube channel called WatchJrGo and he had de-sludged some engines using specific products. Might be worth a look

 

Something to consider. I believe the serpentine belt tensioner is a pain to replace. If it feels weak or the pulley doesn’t feel right, now might be the time to replace.

 

Still waiting to get the tool for holding the harmonic balancer so that I can then utilize my balancer puller! In the mean time I got some pics of what I assume to be cylinder #1 top dead center as indicated by the harmonic balancer mark and almost by the cam marks.



Awfully close on this one ⬇️



This one, not so much ⬇️


This one not so much...


I was mindful of holding the phone camera directly straight to ensure nothing was exaggerated.

To answer some questions, the engine air filter has been changed once immediately, and then annually since we got it. The South East doesn't give us much choice there as pollen paints our cars yellow each spring.
And the spark plug tube gaskets will also be replaced as part of the valve cover gasket kit!

Oh and here's the failed attempt at supplementing steel with wood. SHOCKINGLY I was able to thread the bolts into the balancer through it, their holes didn't deflect much at all! But that was a small victory within a grander failure.

 

TO ME, that looks like sludge, but the engine doesn't look "sludged." You can see a portion of the valve train to the right of the pic, and it actually looks really good. I'm thinking it sludged in that area because of the bad gasket allowing oil to mix with moisture from the air over a prolonged time.

I would clean the area the best I can and use a high detergent oil like Pennzoil Platinum to gently/slowly clean the engine. For MYSELF, as much as possible, I don't like using a harsh flushing agent right away when I get a new (used) vehicle because you never know what's going to dislodge and get stuck somewhere catastrophic - like the oil pickup screen.

Slow clean allows the filter to do its job without getting gummed up and bypassing before you can change it.

 

Yep clean the front with the oil PAN OFF with a light solvent of your choice everclear is good )) Change the oil like others have said 50 -150 -250 -500 and then back to 4K

 

No luck with the balancer tool. I don't know if you can tell, but it didn't fit. JUST BARELY completely wrong.


I really don't want to slap parts back on and bump the bolt loose via cranking, but that will be the last resort after my next genius idea.
Washers a-plenty so that my bolts don't bend when I use the pulley holder that facilitated removal of the fan.
I'll post up pics showing this incredibly humbling method.

Was shocked to find ZERO tools that looked correct for holding the balancer. If anyone could refer one to me that they've used on the 2.7, I'd greatly appreciate it!

 

That looks like the wrong one for an 09. I think that style is only meant for the 22RE.

 

Do you have an impact wrench - air or electric?
Usually hitting it fast on the highest setting will pop the bolt loose easily.

 

was reading through to say the same thing. I would go gentle and let the detergents slowly get it. Use long interval oil as it’s full of detergents. You just dont want to break anything free and cause a bigger problem.