Front Valve Cover Off of 2002 Lexus ES300 - 1MZ-FE

[hypervish]

Hey, everyone! Just took off my front valve cover this morning to replace the gasket that was weeping a little bit. I'm very happy with what I found underneath. Engine has slight varnish, but aside from that look's awesome! It has 180k miles, I purchased it at 173k miles. So, not sure what oil it has been running but the car was dealer maintained till I purchased it. So I assume it was a decent name brand oil. I'm currently running PP 5W-30, and will be changing the oil out later tonight again with PP 5W-30.

This 1MZ-FE is post-sludge era. As this one was produced after July 2001.

 

[mva]

Looks great!

Here is my 2000 1Mz-FE Sienna engine at 176,000 miles:

 

[daman]

PP or PU is a fine oil,looks good keep doing what your doing.

 

[LeakySeals]

Looks good, keep doing what your doing!

 

[Turk]

Looks good -- great job PP!

 

[bourne]

Originally Posted By: Turk
Looks good -- great job PP!



Think its more Good Job whatever name brand conventional dealer has been using rather than PP ( which is an awesome product ).

OP, looks real good. Keep it up.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Turk
Looks good -- great job PP!



Well, we don't know what it looked like before the PP

It could have looked the same, in which case, good job Toyota dealer fill, LOL

 

[chad8]

The Toyota sludge problem was mostly a consumer maintenance issue. Consumers thought so highly of Toyota motors , they neglected to change oils regularly. This is not just my opinion. I have owned 10 toys and best friend is a senior Toyota heavy tech.
Almost every "sludge" motor did not have proper documentation of oil changes which to me means that it was no coincidence.
Yes , the motors would sludge easier than others if neglected, but as far as a massive problem , there was none if you cared for the motor properly.
I myself owned 2 of them and NEVER had ANY issues with the motors up to over 150000 miles before I sold them. I just care for my stuff the proper way and used synthetic oil .

 

[LeakySeals]

It was a little of both. The bad maintainers exposed vulnerabilities with the engine design for that gen.

 

[chubbs1]

That engine looks beautiful, you really can't get much better looking than that at 180k. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

[hypervish]

Thanks for all of the comments guys!

 

[Vikas]

I don't like the 1st picture but I loved the 2nd one! Why don't you declare the 1st to be "before" and the 2nd to be after? Just call it amazing effect of De-jour elixir.

OK, I am kidding.

 

[CBR.worm]

hate to bring up an old thread, but I agree - the first could be a before pic, the second one could be after the treatment of your choice.

Very clean - makes me wonder what oil that dealer uses and what the OCI's were.