98 Toyota Camry V6 | Mobil1 0w-30 | 5,200 miles

[Artem]

1998 Toyota Camry V6
190,000 miles
Mobil1 0w-30
Oil in use for 6 months.

2,500 mile road trip within 7 days and the rest was city driving.
Gets cold started a minimum of 2 times daily and driven 5 miles to the truck stop and back to take or pick up my dad from work 2x daily (4am drop off and 6pm pick up)
Also Idles in bumper to bumper traffic a lot with the occasional 40 mile highway run to the beach and back.

I used Engine Restore but that was a good 5 or 6 oil changes ago (roughly 2 years) i don't know how some remnants could still be floating around in the oil. so i'm guessing it could be that or the bearings going bad. The engine is quite loud and does some ticking sounds at certain RPM while in Neutral.

Its coming up on its second Timing belt and spark plug change in 10k at which point i'll adjust the valves as well (first time being adjusted)


I'm 1,200 miles into a few fill of Amsoil OE 5w-30. I plan to sample that at 5k.

 

[chubbs1]

Yeah that is a rough one, I would sure think the Restore is out by now. Do one more run at 4-5k and do another UOA. That should tell you more. You can't get down too much it isn't that bad, and you have gotten a heck of a run out of that car.

 

[Artem]

I expected better, to be honest with you.

We bought the car New in 97 as a 98 model and have been doing 3-4k OCI's with whatever synthetic Toyota and a couple fast lube places use.

I started doing the maintenance on it at around 70k, doing 3k OCIs with regular Mobil1 at the time.

It got a lot of highway use for the first part of its life.

This is the first time its going over 3k in a looooong time. (seeing as its a known Sludgier, i was careful not to run the oil for too long in fear of messing up the engine.)

I'm not too disappointed though, nothing is perfect and if it is the bearings, its just the natural order of things. Stuff fails and goes bad.

We'll see what the next UOA tells me.

 

[oggb]

I would hardly think 20ppm lead and 15ppm copper are an indication of eminent failure.

Put some MaxLife Blend 5w-30 or 10w-30 in the old girl and save the money from the UOA's for something worthwhile.

 

[Artem]

Thanks for the advice JRed. I've gotten addicted to doing UOA and am sampling all of my cars (and some friend's cars as well) just for the [censored] of it.

The reason i did the UOA was to see how the engine is doing at almost 200k and whether its worth it to do a timing belt change and keep the car for another few years or sell it and get something newer.

Depending on how the next UOA looks like, i'll most likely keep the car for another 50k at a minimum.

I plan to rebuild the suspension on it and use it for work (All highway of 200-800 miles daily (2-3k in a month)

It gets decent gas mileage with the tires pumped up a bit higher then normal @ 38psi (regular 33psi all around) I ave 28-29mpg all highway with 300-400 pounds of cargo in the trunk. Not bad for an old, heavy V6. I think if it had cylinder deactivation in its era, 35mpg on the highway would be a breeze with this engine.

 

[SkyGod]

Any major repairs in 13 years and 200,000 miles?

 

[ZZman]

Since the Engine Restore is suppose to embed itself into the crevices in the cylinder walls you could still be shedding some over time.

You do fall in those sludge prone years for your motor.

Please take pics of the head area when you adjust the valves. And change the pcv valve.

I would keep the OCI short at 5,000 or less.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: SkyGod
Any major repairs in 13 years and 200,000 miles?


ZERO! I've only changed a few sensors over the years. All Original. Its build like a Rock, hence why its car of the year in 98.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
Since the Engine Restore is suppose to embed itself into the crevices in the cylinder walls you could still be shedding some over time.

You do fall in those sludge prone years for your motor.

Please take pics of the head area when you adjust the valves. And change the pcv valve.

I would keep the OCI short at 5,000 or less.


I sure hope thats what it is. Im expecting to get close to 300k with this beast before taking it to the CRUSHER!

I'll take pics, but i have a feeling it will be spotless!

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
I would keep the OCI short at 5,000 or less.


I really don't see a reason for that. The UOA showed lots of TBN and the oil was almost touching a 20 weight (nowhere NEAR sludge levels) So i think with my driving style and conditions, plus the good maintenance the engine has been getting all these years, 6-7k is totally do-able with a decent synthetic.

The car is getting old and its value is going down, everything else will fail before the engine goes, so i'm not too worried.

 

[FZ1]

So,then,what is it? You're concerned..or you're Not concerned? ZZ gave you prudent advice,change the oil at 5200 miles, do your ocd uoa and compare it to the current 5200 mile uoa. That's the logical thing to do. See if the copper and lead drop. In the future,don't stick any foreign objects in your engine.

 

[Artem]

Engine restore worked nicely for me in older POS cars i've serviced. I dumped it into the Camry just for the heck of it. "A little engine restore wouldn't hurt"

I'd be surprised if leftovers of it are STILL present in the engine after a good 20-30k worth of oil changes.

I will do another UOA after 5k to have more data to compare too.

 

[addyguy]

I wouldn't be suprised if the restore is still showing. It has HUGE amounts of Copper and Lead in it, that are supposed to 'plate' to wear surfaces, as someone said. It's not unreasonable to think some is still 'stuck' somewhere, or 'shedding' with wear - you're basically wearing off copper and lead, instead of iron/aluminum.

UOA results are almost permananently messed up after this, so they have to be taken as an indicator, not an absolute value - in looking at yours, I'd say oyur engine is just fine - consumption is low, insols. are low, fuel is low, engine runs well....

 

[bigmike]

I think addyguy has it right. Huge amounts of copper and lead is an understatement in a can of restore. We've seen instances of moly stick around many oil changes, much the same way.

 

[Artem]

Consumption is actually very low - none. I only added a bit of oil right before a long road trip i took because the initial fill wasn't full topped off.

This time i filled it up fully (5.3qt) to the top dot on the dipstick and plan not to add anything at all for the entire 5k OCI. It will use probably 1/4 quart during that duration... if that.

 

[tig1]

If the copper is from bearings then your bearings are shot and you should have lower end knocking by now. To get copper from bearings you have to wear through the bearing materal first.

 

[FZ1]

Really,I think your motor is relatively o.k. for the mileage. Silicon is good. I think (hope) you are looking at restore residue.

 

[Artem]

Please, 200k is nothing. This isn't a car from 1970. I'll get 300k outta it before it starts showing its age.