1993 2.2L engine with oil galley plugged by sludge debris / Seeking oil flow diagram

[Johnny Montana]

Hello,

2.2L engine issue.

Camry had no problems until oil light started to flicker yesterday.

Top end of engine started to clatter....lack of oil circulation.

Oil level is full and clean. We haven't owned the car very long.

I pulled the oil pan. It was clean.

Oil pickup tube filter was clean.

Inspected the oil pump. Good shape.

Removed oil sending unit....started engine......no flow from sending unit hole.

Pulled valve cover gasket. Large amount of sludge build up....

My plan is to carefully scrape and shop vac the top stuff. I will then dig deeper to find the oil galley that is plugged....

This will be alot easier if I can find a diagram / flow chart of the engine oil....looked online but no luck.

Does anyone have a diagram?

Or maybe can tell me where the galleys are?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Johnny Montana

[Johnny Montana]

Since I'm a newbie to this site (which appears to be great btw)it made sense to me to search the forum for other guys who may have had the same problem with their 2.2.

Not much history with my particular issue exactly. I learned that the sludge problem is kinda common. Also that the dummy light on the oil pressure circuit can be vague or misleading.

But my particular problem has a few specific differences.

So in order to diagnose a problem I stack my info/symptoms into two piles.....what I know and what I don't know

1. What I know

Day one = oil light starts to flicker. Engine top end starts to clatter. Oil level is full on dipstick. Oil is clean and had been changed 2500 miles previous. No engine over heating. No engine noise except for top end clatter.

Old sending unit R&R with a new one....no difference. Took oil sending unit completely out and started engine......no flow at all from sending unit hole.

Pulled oil pan. Pan gasket was at least 5 years old.....not new. The pan was clean.....no sludge particles on the bottom of pan or on the pickup screen.

(I recently bought the car so a suspicion I had was that the sludge problem had been cleaned from the pan before it was sold to us.....not so. The pan hadn't been removed in a very long time.)

So....even though my top end has sludge build up, there is no sign of it being a problem any where near my pickup tube filter in the pan.

By reading some of the posts here I have heard guys say that the sludge restricts oil from falling down from the head to the pan....hence restricting oil level in pan which would cause the pickup tube to suck air.

Well, this engine has absolutely no oil pressure (or flow to oil pressure galley sender/hole) when you first start it up.....pan is full of oil.....

In my first post I stated that the oil pump is in fine shape and is sealed properly. Oil pickup tube is in fine shape with fasteners tight and the proper gasket in place. Pickup tube screen is clean.

Oil pump is definetly turning. (New timing belt)

OK.....I know all of that because I looked at it with my own eyes.

What I don't know =

Where does the pressurized oil go (in order) once it leaves the oil pump?

If the pressure valve in the pump housing is "stuck" open would that just return oil back into the pan?

I'm "assuming" that the oil travels to the oil filter housing next??

Can I easily test oil flow at the oil filter? Remove filter, start engine, see what happens.....no flow leads me to remove the oil pan and R&R the pressure valve......good flow leads me to continue farther on the path of oil flow from the filter housing onward......

I'm ok with pulling the pan again if I have to but would rather not if it's not necessarry.

Another question = Is there a relief valve in the oil filter housing that can become stuck open (or closed) causing a different direction of oil flow? That would be easy to check since it's right up front.

I will be working on this problem today and hopefully will figure it out.

Any input would be appreciated!

JH

[Nark]

When ever you you've a massive sludge build up on top. Rule#1 is change out the oil pump. Don't even waste your time try to clean out the relief valve and spec the gears. That's because you never know if this is defective pump or not.

[Stillrunning]

You've done a tremendous amount of self troubleshooting, not what we usually see here. How many miles on this engine?

Johnny Montana;3736226]What I don't know

where does the pressurized oil go (in order) once it leaves the oil pump?

To the filter. The filter has it's own pressure relief bypass but that will not affect engine oil pressure.

If the pressure valve in the pump housing is "stuck" open would that just return oil back into the pan?

Yes. The PR valve is a normally closed valve that is open to pan when it reaches it's set pressure, but you will still get oil pressure if it's bypassing. It wouldn't hurt to remove and clean it.

I'm "assuming" that the oil travels to the oil filter housing next??

Yes.

Can I easily test oil flow at the oil filter? Remove filter, start engine, see what happens

Yes, but I would disable engine start by pulling the fuel pump fuse.

I'm ok with pulling the pan again if I have to but would rather not if it's not necessarry.

If you're going to be doing any flushing you can just remove the pan oil plug.

Is there a relief valve in the oil filter housing that can become stuck open (or closed) causing a different direction of oil flow?

The filter relief just bypasses the filter not the engine.

I would be concerned with sludge blocking the crank/cam bearings. You can try using compressed air on the oil sending hole to back blow the plug out, but that may not be the best either. Using a wire to dig out some sludge may work as well.

Some others here should comment on what to do. I'm thinking you may be able to fill the crankcase with a solvent and attempt to run that through the engine on cranking power only, no engine start. Maybe also filling the engine to the top with solvent and letting it sit for several days then draining and trying more solvent on engine turn over.

This engine may not be worth all of that though.

[Johnny Montana]

I don't have much time right now to go into detail ( I will post all details this evening)

This is what I found =

The oil filter relief valve was stuck shut.....varnish.

I replaced it.

Now I have ample oil flow to the sending unit hole on the cylinder head (where I had none before)

I will assemble the car this evening and test drive it to confirm.

JH

[Johnny Montana]

After 60 mile test drive the car is running as it should.

No top end clatter.

No engine oil light.

Problem = The oil filter housing check valve was stuck closed.

This issue apparently stops oil flow to the cylinder head / camshafts

5 minutes to fix the problem.

I don't mind the hours I spent pulling the pan and the oil pump because the seals/gaskets needed replacing anyway so it was time well spent.

Onward!

JH

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by Johnny Montana

Problem = The oil filter housing check valve was stuck closed. This issue apparently stops oil flow to the cylinder head / camshafts

Well not exactly, unless the filter media was also plugged completely. If you cut open the filter you may find much of your sludge there and so I'd be cautious about a repeat occurrence.

This works pretty well on sludge:
http://www.auto-rx.com/