Sludge concern and engine rebuild cost - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

zxcjason · 08-16-2008, 08:04 PM

I'm going to buy a 2001 Solara Convertible. It has always been one of my dream car. Yay! It has 58k on it and everything seems pretty good. It is going to cost me $14000 CAD (I live in Vancouver, Canada).

However, I'm a bit concerned with engine sludge. I checked the oil dipstick, and it's dark brown. I got the dealer to arrange for a mechanic to open the valve cover two days from now. I also have an option to buy an extended warranty (4 yrs/40000km) for $2000 so I can have it covered. There is no service history of the car, so I have no idea how regular the oil change is.

Here are my questions:

1. How much will it cost to rebuild/replace an engine if it does develop sludge in the future?
2. Any experience with extended warranty by third party company (First Canadian Protection Plans is what I was offered)? Is it worth getting that to cover the potential engine problem?
3. I read somwhere that if there is no sludge in the engine, but the dipsticks shows dark brown oil, that is an indication that sludge is going to happen soon. Any comment on that?

Thanks for reading, any comments will be appreciated!

4runnerracer · 08-17-2008, 12:13 AM

Doing an used oil analysis can tell lots about an engine. Usually the causes of sludging are coolant leaks, running the oil past it's life, or bad engine design. When reading an used oil analysis report, look for high amounts of sodium and potassium, which indicates a coolant leak and a viscosity increase, which is a sign of sludging.

billsalina · 08-18-2008, 12:15 PM

I'm not sure if this applies to Canadian owners, but I had my engine rebuilt in May 2007 at no cost because of a class action lawsuit that Toyota agreed to. I own a 2001 Solara with a 4 clyd engine. Toyota or the dealership (can't recall which) also provided a free loaner car while it was in the shop. Below is a link to the website on the lawsuit.

http://www.oilgelsettlement.com/

zxcjason · 08-18-2008, 01:50 PM

Thanks for the reply! Did they require you to have a full service record showing all the oil change in order to replace the engine?

billsalina · 08-18-2008, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zxcjason

Thanks for the reply! Did they require you to have a full service record showing all the oil change in order to replace the engine?

No, they didn't ask. I believe that's because the problem was determined to have been caused by an incorrect engine design by Toyota.