Sienna Oil Slug Problems

I have a 1998 Sienna, purchased new, with almost 30,000 miles. We only use
the Sienna for road trips. I've changed the oil every 2,000 to 3,000 miles.
Once went to 4,000 miles because we were on a road trip. I keep hearing
the horror stories about these 3.0 liter engines having a real oil slug
problem. Since issues like these tend to be blown out of proportion I
wonder how serious the issues really are?

Other than body integrity ( read rattles) the vehicle has been a dream... we
joke that it's like riding in a jet aircraft on our road trips, and that we
are just missing the pilot!

Thanks

--

Cars that have their oil changed at LEAST every 5K miles won't ever
have a problem with sludge. Now if someone puts some slugs in you oil,
I can't help you. ;)

On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 18:07:41 -0700, "Jim Simonin"
<jsimonin@zianet.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>I have a 1998 Sienna, purchased new, with almost 30,000 miles. We only use
>the Sienna for road trips. I've changed the oil every 2,000 to 3,000 miles.
>Once went to 4,000 miles because we were on a road trip. I keep hearing
>the horror stories about these 3.0 liter engines having a real oil slug
>problem. Since issues like these tend to be blown out of proportion I
>wonder how serious the issues really are?
>
>Other than body integrity ( read rattles) the vehicle has been a dream... we
>joke that it's like riding in a jet aircraft on our road trips, and that we
>are just missing the pilot!
>
>Thanks[/color]

In article <4230ef73@nntp.zianet.com>,
"Jim Simonin" <jsimonin@zianet.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> I have a 1998 Sienna, purchased new, with almost 30,000 miles. We only use
> the Sienna for road trips. I've changed the oil every 2,000 to 3,000 miles.
> Once went to 4,000 miles because we were on a road trip. I keep hearing
> the horror stories about these 3.0 liter engines having a real oil slug
> problem. Since issues like these tend to be blown out of proportion I
> wonder how serious the issues really are?
>
> Other than body integrity ( read rattles) the vehicle has been a dream... we
> joke that it's like riding in a jet aircraft on our road trips, and that we
> are just missing the pilot!
>
> Thanks[/color]

Stop reading those stories. Keep changing your oil as you have and
enjoy your vehicle.

So much B.S. out in the cyber world it makes one flip out.
--

PC <none@none.com> wrote in
news:n3u1319jlsl3jr0aduse22molo2du21b9s@4ax.com:
[color=blue]
> Cars that have their oil changed at LEAST every 5K miles won't ever
> have a problem with sludge. Now if someone puts some slugs in you oil,
> I can't help you.[/color]


I understand that salt helps with the slug problem.

--
TeGGeR®

I can't count how many Siennas, Highlanders, Avalons, and Camrys (but
mostly Siennas) I have de-sludged at work, but I can tell the number of
sludged engines I have cleaned that have had a reasonable maintenance
history; zero. Not one has had a history of consistent oil changes near 5k
intervals. So, keep up what you've been doing and you won't have a problem.

Whatever happened to that crazy lady screaming about a Toyota coverup?
Haven't seen her on this board in a while. What was her name, Charlene?
Diane? Nuttybitch?

qslim wrote:
[color=blue]
> I can't count how many Siennas, Highlanders, Avalons, and Camrys (but
> mostly Siennas) I have de-sludged at work,[/color]

How is this done?

--
No matter what happens someone will find a way to take it too seriously.

"qslim" <Suckers@suckersdotcom> wrote in
news:2aa1dd24b98d11f8c1535316b6ca0a74@localhost.talkaboutautos.com:

[color=blue]
>
> Whatever happened to that crazy lady screaming about a Toyota coverup?
> Haven't seen her on this board in a while. What was her name,
> Charlene? Diane? Nuttybitch?
>[/color]


Charlene Blake. She's probably screaming at somebody else now.

I'll bet she's declared victory since Toyota instituted that sludge-fix
policy.


--
TeGGeR®

It starts with a compression test to determine if the rings are worth
anything. If they are, then replacing the valve stem seals and soaking the
heads overnight in carb cleaner does the job. But I find replacing the
rings is necessary about 70% of the time. The real problem occurs when
enough sludge builds up to block off the oil strainer in the pan (which is
what happened to this Highlander I'm working on now). Then you could be
looking at ruined bearings, camshafts, crankshafts, and cylinder blocks.
I'll take some digital pictures of the next sludge mess I do, but I'll
need to send them to someone here to post for me. Don't know how.

qslim wrote:[color=blue]
> It starts with a compression test to determine if the rings are worth
> anything. If they are, then replacing the valve stem seals and
> soaking the heads overnight in carb cleaner does the job. But I find
> replacing the rings is necessary about 70% of the time. The real
> problem occurs when enough sludge builds up to block off the oil
> strainer in the pan (which is what happened to this Highlander I'm
> working on now). Then you could be looking at ruined bearings,
> camshafts, crankshafts, and cylinder blocks. I'll take some digital
> pictures of the next sludge mess I do, but I'll need to send them to
> someone here to post for me. Don't know how.[/color]

Image attachments cannot be posted here by anyone. But you can send them to
*me* as I am quite interested in such occurances.
--

- Philip

I don't know what happened to her. I know that after all the commotion
Toyota extended their engine warranty. I received a notice in the mail
several years ago.... believe it was extended to 8 years. Wonder why you
have de-sludge more Sienna's... soccer moms running around town with lots of
stop and go driving... and never changing the oil?

--

"qslim" <Suckers@suckersdotcom> wrote in message
news:2aa1dd24b98d11f8c1535316b6ca0a74@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...[color=blue]
> I can't count how many Siennas, Highlanders, Avalons, and Camrys (but
> mostly Siennas) I have de-sludged at work, but I can tell the number of
> sludged engines I have cleaned that have had a reasonable maintenance
> history; zero. Not one has had a history of consistent oil changes near 5k
> intervals. So, keep up what you've been doing and you won't have a[/color]
problem.[color=blue]
>
> Whatever happened to that crazy lady screaming about a Toyota coverup?
> Haven't seen her on this board in a while. What was her name, Charlene?
> Diane? Nuttybitch?
>[/color]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 02:48:27 +0000, TeGGer® wrote:
[color=blue]
> PC <none@none.com> wrote in
> news:n3u1319jlsl3jr0aduse22molo2du21b9s@4ax.com:
>[color=green]
>> Cars that have their oil changed at LEAST every 5K miles won't ever
>> have a problem with sludge. Now if someone puts some slugs in you oil,
>> I can't help you.[/color]
>
>
> I understand that salt helps with the slug problem.[/color]


Everybody:

BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! ;)

In article <zZjYd.1105$qf2.1055@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
"Philip" <1chip-state1@earthlink.n0t> wrote:
[color=blue]
> qslim wrote:[color=green]
> > It starts with a compression test to determine if the rings are worth
> > anything. If they are, then replacing the valve stem seals and
> > soaking the heads overnight in carb cleaner does the job. But I find
> > replacing the rings is necessary about 70% of the time. The real
> > problem occurs when enough sludge builds up to block off the oil
> > strainer in the pan (which is what happened to this Highlander I'm
> > working on now). Then you could be looking at ruined bearings,
> > camshafts, crankshafts, and cylinder blocks. I'll take some digital
> > pictures of the next sludge mess I do, but I'll need to send them to
> > someone here to post for me. Don't know how.[/color]
>
> Image attachments cannot be posted here by anyone. But you can send them to
> *me* as I am quite interested in such occurances.[/color]

Phillip,

Could you post them to your web site so we other interested parties can
look too.
--

I was getting ready to switch to Mobil 1 to get better protection against
sludge until Toyota took a firm stand in stating "once you switch to
synthetic oil, you should not go back to conventional oil". When I pressed
them to answer why they say that, they said the information is not for
public disclosure. I sure would like to know what potential problem using
synthetic oil can cause.

Cranheim, where did you hear that? Was it in literature from Toyota, or a
dude at the dealer?

Yeah, the vehicles that have neglected engines usually are in a general
sort of disrepair. I figure that the majority are Siennas for the same
reason you do; carting around screaming kids to the store and soccer
practice with no time for a pitstop.