05 Toyota Matrix under valve cover pics

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1zz-fe engine /w 136k KM (84.5k miles) on it, unknown previous maintenance record. I'm guessing its had quick lube bulk dino for every 5-8k miles, no maintenance minder light in Canadian models AFAIK. Running on its first change of M1 5w20 now. I honestly expected a lot more varnish than this considering that I found some signs of sludge in the oil filter. Filters cut open

txs0Mko.jpg

UTbh51D.jpg

itWiRgw.jpg


High res images here: http://imgur.com/UTbh51D,itWiRgw,txs0Mko#2

Replaced the valve cover gasket because oil was leaking into the spark plug tunnels (This engine's valve cover gasket includes gaskets for spark plugs). Toyota gasket quality is really disappointing, 84k miles is considered low. The intake manifold gasket is also expected to start leaking around 100k miles (common issue).
 
Looks good to me, but I'm sure there'll be plenty of other people along soon enough telling you that any trace of varnish is bad!

And 136,000km for a valve cover gasket isn't terrible...
 
Congratulations on finding a vehicle that's likely had above-average maintenance from caring (prior) owners.

Might want to do a simple drain and fill of the transmission since the pan has a drain plug .... and .... check or replace all the fluids, belts, hoses, PCV, spark plugs, air filters, clean throttle body, and brakes.
 
Originally Posted By: 147_Grain
Congratulations on finding a vehicle that's likely had above-average maintenance from caring (prior) owners.

Might want to do a simple drain and fill of the transmission since the pan has a drain plug .... and .... check or replace all the fluids, belts, hoses, PCV, spark plugs, air filters, clean throttle body, and brakes.


ATF, coolant, PSF & PCV has been done. The plugs look fine, checked the gap and its only 0.045" vs brand new spec of 0.044" so I put them back in. Will do another ATF drain & fill during next oil change.

Will be replacing the intake manifold soon & cleaning throttle body + MAF. It has a rough idle issue after warming up completely. The car shakes more than expected @ low idle of 750rpm but no issues above that. I wouldn't say the previous owners were above average on maintenance.
 
Originally Posted By: abycat
I'm not a fan of this particular engine but it looks fine. Normal coloring for the mileage.


This engine is great as long as you get 03 or newer years with fixed pistons so it doesn't burn oil.
 
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Originally Posted By: abycat
I'm not a fan of this particular engine but it looks fine. Normal coloring for the mileage.


This engine is great as long as you get 03 or newer years with fixed pistons so it doesn't burn oil.


Oh that's the problem eh. I saw one the other week and it was rough. sounded like it was going to blow up and it was blowing blue smoke!
 
Originally Posted By: abycat
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Originally Posted By: abycat
I'm not a fan of this particular engine but it looks fine. Normal coloring for the mileage.


This engine is great as long as you get 03 or newer years with fixed pistons so it doesn't burn oil.


Oh that's the problem eh. I saw one the other week and it was rough. sounded like it was going to blow up and it was blowing blue smoke!

this engine is amazing I have now rebuilt 23 of them and they don't burn oil anymore.

1 of the 23 might as the owner was adamant about keeping his cylinder walls even though 2 out of 4 had slight indentations on them (bad crankshaft, replaced it with a good one from a used 1zz-fe), but I have driven about 100 miles since the rebuild, and no oil loss so far, speaks to the durability of the engine.

and they issue was fixed 05+, not 03... I almost bought a 03 short block for myself but upon inspection, it had the older piston design and I chose the 07 short block instead with the updated pistons. Also monkeywrenchracing.com confirms that the issue was fixed 05+
 
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Looks good to me... having to change the valve cover gasket soon on my 1ZZ-FE (Vibe) - hoping it looks half as good as yours. Thanks for the pics
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: 01_celica_gt
Originally Posted By: abycat
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Originally Posted By: abycat
I'm not a fan of this particular engine but it looks fine. Normal coloring for the mileage.


This engine is great as long as you get 03 or newer years with fixed pistons so it doesn't burn oil.


Oh that's the problem eh. I saw one the other week and it was rough. sounded like it was going to blow up and it was blowing blue smoke!

this engine is amazing I have now rebuilt 23 of them and they don't burn oil anymore.

1 of the 23 might as the owner was adamant about keeping his cylinder walls even though 2 out of 4 had slight indentations on them (bad crankshaft, replaced it with a good one from a used 1zz-fe), but I have driven about 100 miles since the rebuild, and no oil loss so far, speaks to the durability of the engine.

and they issue was fixed 05+, not 03... I almost bought a 03 short block for myself but upon inspection, it had the older piston design and I chose the 07 short block instead with the updated pistons. Also monkeywrenchracing.com confirms that the issue was fixed 05+


According to this post: http://www.mr2oc.co.uk/forums/42/141256.html#p1477251

It was fixed in 03 models. Also on carcomplaints, the 03 corolla had no issues with oil burning: http://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/Corolla/2003/

02 corolla has 50 complaints about oil burning: http://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/Corolla/2002/

Maybe the short block you were looking at wasn't 03, maybe the fix only applied to half of 03 models? Either way, 05+ models are ideal because it also comes with drive by wire for better mpg.

I don't think the 1zz-fe deserves the bulletproof reputation it has because the valve cover gasket leaking after only 84k miles is unacceptable in my book. If left unchecked, it'll probably cause misfires @ 100-120k.

The oil consumption issue is also unacceptable as well. The engine was in production from 1998 to 2007, and it only got fixed in 2003 which means that you were guaranteed to get an oil burner for the first 5 years of its 9 year production run.

AFAIK, the 2ZR-FE which replaces the 1zz-fe is a much more robust design, no more oil burning so Toyota finally learned their lesson.
 
I had an 01 Celica with the 1ZZFE engine for a month. Bought the vehicle from a small stealership and a month later the CEL came on and it burned all the oil out of the engine! I took the car back and got the Saturn that I have now in my sig. Much better car overall! I learned the hard way!
 
[/quote]

I don't think the 1zz-fe deserves the bulletproof reputation it has because the valve cover gasket leaking after only 84k miles is unacceptable in my book. If left unchecked, it'll probably cause misfires @ 100-120k.
[/quote]

Jeez, a leaking valve cover gasket hardly qualifies as a major failure!
 
Might not fail to be bulletproof but it is a knock against the engine.

Us Toyota buyers are expecting absolute appliances, after all.
 
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Originally Posted By: abycat
I'm not a fan of this particular engine but it looks fine. Normal coloring for the mileage.


This engine is great as long as you get 03 or newer years with fixed pistons so it doesn't burn oil.


Just to ad, my '04 is at 220k miles, and doesn't burn any oil between 7500 mile oil changes. So if something was to be "fixed" I guess they did it before my engine was built.
 
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Maybe the short block you were looking at wasn't 03, maybe the fix only applied to half of 03 models?
it was in fact a 03 engine, verifying the vin # isn't rocket science, though I have realized it seems to be a challenge for quiet a few, and the other point about half of them having updated pistons to me doesn't make sense but anything is a possibility as I didn't engineer nor produce these engines to be sure.

This purchase that I made was from a Toyota Tech working at a Toyota dealership who acquired these engines through engine swaps and keeping the used engine as core for himself to resell.

Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Either way, 05+ models are ideal
to ensure your getting the updated pistons
 
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