Oil Circulation

[Grimmjow]

Hello all!!! I drive a '94 Camry 4cyclinder. I think my oil isnt circulating properly through my block. I dont see any oil leaking out anywhere. But then I check the oil after some driving and its all gone. But letting car site overnight, I see theres oil in the pan again. Enough oil to picked up by the dipstick. Any suggestions on repair?

[JohnGD]

Well, just enough to be on the dipstick sounds too low already. But suppose you have Full overnight, and after driving around the dipstick shows below Add mark then you may have restrictions in the cylinder head.

Say engine sludge? These partially block the oil from draining back into the pan, and is what the symptoms of the LEV-certified 5SFE and 1MZFE sludgings.

Get a valve cover gasket set (VS50304R ~$14 + shipping, rockauto.com) and a small tube of RTV, like Permatex Blue,you really need 4 dabs. Drive around. Take off the valve cover. See if you have oil pooling in the cylinder head and the condition under the valve cover.

So how often do you change oil and filter?

Originally Posted by Grimmjow

Hello all!!! I drive a '94 Camry 4cyclinder. I think my oil isnt circulating properly through my block. I dont see any oil leaking out anywhere. But then I check the oil after some driving and its all gone. But letting car site overnight, I see theres oil in the pan again. Enough oil to picked up by the dipstick. Any suggestions on repair?

[Grimmjow]

i recently had head work done and the oil has been changed bout 3 times in last 30 days. A new cylinder head gasket set was put in. In which I believe the valve cover gasket was included. If not, I know a new valve gasket has been put in within the last 30 days.

[Stillrunning]

I think you need to remove the valve cover and have a look. If this just started after head work I'm wondering if the mechanic forgot to remove the oil gallery plugs that would have been used to prevent small parts from dropping down the galleries during work.

[96CamrySport]

if you just got a head gasket done, I'd say that you've got a new v/c gasket, and the tech probably would have told you if the engine was sludged up enough to be junk. I'm leaning towards the suggestion made by stillrunning. Most shops offer warranties on work, and I'd recommend going back and complaining. After all, the 5s can run forever as long as it doesn't get overheated or run out of oil.

[flyeri]

As a point of reference if I turn my engine off and immediately open the hood and check oil it is only about 1/8 inch lower than when I check it cold or several minutes later.

[JohnGD]

Yeah, these simple 4-cyls doesn't take much time for oil to drain back. Besides, there isn't much oil in there to begin with.

Originally Posted by flyeri

As a point of reference if I turn my engine off and immediately open the hood and check oil it is only about 1/8 inch lower than when I check it cold or several minutes later.