Toyota 4 Runner with 225k miles and filter not changed in over 3 years...

[bhvrdr]

I bought a work truck to add to the fleet. Never owned a car with this many miles...

Looked at Carfax and it was both dealership serviced as well as by a local tire shop.

Last oil change was supposedly performed 3 months and 800 miles ago.

Here was the filter. Apparently because it's in an ever so slightly difficult place to reach people just decided to leave it in for 3.5 years....

Ran EPR through the engine to clean it....

Oil is completely liquefied by this stuff. Zero globs or even crusties.

 

[simple_gifts]

Will you be running a few short OCI?

People say additives and flushes aren't necessary for properly maintained vehicles; and then there is this.....

Timing belt change?

 

[Zee09]

What's in it now?

 

[Lubener]

I just did an oil/filter change on an infrequently used vehicle of mine. 3.5 years and 2k miles. The oil and filter did not look anywhere near as bad as yours. I'm sure I used better materials than an oil change place would have used. However, I didn't use a cleaner chemical.

 

[bhvrdr]

Currently in it is ...

 

[bhvrdr]

Will you be running a few short OCI?

People say additives and flushes aren't necessary for properly maintained vehicles; and then there is this.....

Timing belt change?

Yeah I've never used that stuff before in my life. I see it all the time in Porsche and Audi dealerships as far as BG products.

Once I saw the oil filter was three and a half years old I was like uh-oh.

 

[thunderfog]

I love that 3400...

 

[AutoMechanic]

Must be an old 4Runner with a spin on filter. That or it’s been converted. Either way glad you changed it. It was needed I’m sure.

 

[DougR]

Looking at the hole in the filter reminds me of an incident. Many years ago I was working on a Dodge Caravan with a Mitsubishi engine. I cut open a white no name brand oil filter and found 1/3 of the filter media was missing. Obviously, the filter was assembled new with missing media. The vehicle had broken timing chain guide bolts and the slack chain wore a hole in the cover. As a result metal shavings circulated throughout the engine and ground out all the bearings and bearing surfaces. Vehicle owner was not happy about the quick lube place and yet he had driven the vehicle with a noisy chain that became progressively worse and didn't stop until the front brakes pads were gone!

 

[SureshR]

Currently in it is ...
[mobil 1 FS]

Might have been an idea to fill with the cheapest bargain basement conventional, drive it for a few hundred miles and drain it, with a filter change rather than tank up on full synthetic right after an engine flush.

 

[bhvrdr]

Yup 1998. Tank.

 

[bhvrdr]

Looking at the hole in the filter reminds me of an incident. Many years ago I was working on a Dodge Caravan with a Mitsubishi engine. I cut open a white no name brand oil filter and found 1/3 of the filter media was missing. Obviously, the filter was assembled new with missing media. The vehicle had broken timing chain guide bolts and the slack chain wore a hole in the cover. As a result metal shavings circulated throughout the engine and ground out all the bearings and bearing surfaces. Vehicle owner was not happy about the quick lube place and yet he had driven the vehicle with a noisy chain that became progressively worse and didn't stop until the front brakes pads were gone!

I've cut open three different random brand new m1 filters now with poorly manufactured media...

 

[DougR]

I've cut open three different random brand new m1 filters now with poorly manufactured media...

There's no excuse for that! Thank goodness my 2011 4Runner has an oil filter cartridge which I can inspect. Haven't found a bad Toyota filter yet.

 

[bhvrdr]

There's no excuse for that! Thank goodness my 2011 4Runner has an oil filter cartridge which I can inspect. Haven't found a bad Toyota filter yet.

I have access to a ton of parts so I cut open filters when I'm bored lol and I've never seen such consistently crap filters....

3 different ones....

 

[loneryder]

I bought a work truck to add to the fleet. Never owned a car with this many miles...

Looked at Carfax and it was both dealership serviced as well as by a local tire shop.

Last oil change was supposedly performed 3 months and 800 miles ago.

Here was the filter. Apparently because it's in an ever so slightly difficult place to reach people just decided to leave it in for 3.5 years....

View attachment 158405


View attachment 158406


View attachment 158404


View attachment 158403

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Ran EPR through the engine to clean it....

View attachment 158409

Oil is completely liquefied by this stuff. Zero globs or even crusties.

View attachment 158410

That oil sure is nasty for 800 miles.

 

[bhvrdr]

That oil sure is nasty for 800 miles.

It is but that is actually from the deposits that were in the engine. A truly good cleaner will completely emulsify the sludge and deposits in the engine and turn it into liquid which is what you're seeing there.

If you use a good cleaner you should not be getting chunks in the filter or draining.

 

[2heeldrive]

May be more common than we think. I bought a car like that. It had a cartridge filter that had not been changed in a very long time. It was completely packed full of dirt and sludge; it looked like a solid chunk of mud, the pleats were not even visible. There were years worth of receipts in the glovebox from the same shop. 3,000 mile intervals, and charged $20.00 for an new filter every time.

There is no excuse for this other than greed. The filter is easily accessible on the top of the engine.

 

[DougR]

I have access to a ton of parts so I cut open filters when I'm bored lol and I've never seen such consistently crap filters.... 3 different ones....

I contacted technical support at Mobil 1 Oil Filters about this issue. Perhaps they will reply asking for more information.

 

[bhvrdr]

Might have been an idea to fill with the cheapest bargain basement conventional, drive it for a few hundred miles and drain it, with a filter change rather than tank up on full synthetic right after an engine flush.

It's a great point. This m1 is like 22 bucks for 5 quarts though after my discounts so consider that my cheap oil

 

[incognito_2u]

After seeing some of those mangled, new spin-on filters, I have new respect for the newer cartridge style ones!