Normal varnish for 140k miles?

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lomez

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Probably completely normal...just figured I'd ask the group. This is a 4Runner with 140k miles, always used "synthetic" oil and 4-7k mile OCIs. This kind of varnish in the filler area (thus it's also on the valve covers) pretty much standard?

Thanks!
P4103657.JPG
 
Originally Posted By: lomez
Probably completely normal...just figured I'd ask the group. This is a 4Runner with 140k miles, always used "synthetic" oil and 4-7k mile OCIs. This kind of varnish in the filler area (thus it's also on the valve covers) pretty much standard?

Thanks!
P4103657.JPG



No. It likely depends greatly on application. I have no discernible varnish on my engines that have a lot more mileage than this, FWIW.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: lomez
Probably completely normal...just figured I'd ask the group. This is a 4Runner with 140k miles, always used "synthetic" oil and 4-7k mile OCIs. This kind of varnish in the filler area (thus it's also on the valve covers) pretty much standard?

Thanks!
P4103657.JPG



No. It likely depends greatly on application. I have no discernible varnish on my engines that have a lot more mileage than this, FWIW.


Really? Well, it's just a regular street vehicle,never seen off-road.....just driven. Never overheated, rarely spun more than 2,500 rpm frankly. Usually sees M1 or Penz Platinum with fewer than 7,000 miles between changes. 5,000 is probably average (thus overkill). Not sure how it could have picked up an unusual amount of varnish like that??
 
Varnish on the fill hole is not a good way of judging what the inside of your engine looks like. On most fill caps, oil gets splashed up there and it doesn't have oil circulating around so the varnish tends to build up faster and worse than the inside of the engine.
 
Originally Posted By: lomez
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: lomez
Probably completely normal...just figured I'd ask the group. This is a 4Runner with 140k miles, always used "synthetic" oil and 4-7k mile OCIs. This kind of varnish in the filler area (thus it's also on the valve covers) pretty much standard?

Thanks!
P4103657.JPG



No. It likely depends greatly on application. I have no discernible varnish on my engines that have a lot more mileage than this, FWIW.


Really? Well, it's just a regular street vehicle,never seen off-road.....just driven. Never overheated, rarely spun more than 2,500 rpm frankly. Usually sees M1 or Penz Platinum with fewer than 7,000 miles between changes. 5,000 is probably average (thus overkill). Not sure how it could have picked up an unusual amount of varnish like that??


Can you get a shot of things below what we are seeing?

BTW, going easy on it like that may have been what led to the varnish. It is good to get the oil up to temp, which in many cases involves elevated RPM and aggressive driving (depending on application of course).
 
Originally Posted By: volk06
Varnish on the fill hole is not a good way of judging what the inside of your engine looks like. On most fill caps, oil gets splashed up there and it doesn't have oil circulating around so the varnish tends to build up faster and worse than the inside of the engine.


Very true in my experience.
 
I have seen this on certain vehicles as well and it seems more common on Japanese cars for some reason. My Montero has it and moy old civic had it. My friends Camry also has it. none of my Ford's ever show it but I have never known it to really be an issue either.
 
Originally Posted By: volk06
Varnish on the fill hole is not a good way of judging what the inside of your engine looks like. On most fill caps, oil gets splashed up there and it doesn't have oil circulating around so the varnish tends to build up faster and worse than the inside of the engine.


This is what I would have replied. +1
 
that fill hole looks like its raised off the valve cover a good bit too, which doesn't help the oil circulation problem there... see if you can see down the hole...
 
Recognized that fill hole immediately.I have an 04 4runner with about the same milage and the same stain appearance on the fill hole tube. Also use good quality synthetics and change them early. Took a borescope and looked down in there about a year ago and it didn't look bad at all. Much better than you'd expect just looking at fill tube so based on that I would say no worries.
 
lomez - I would say that varnish is not normal. The fill hole looks like the 4.7L V8 in our Sequoia and with 160+,000 miles there isn't a bit of varnish around oil fill hole.

Our 4Runner's oil fill hole with the 3.4l V6 and more than twice the mileage of your 4Runner is also varnish free.

I would say your 4Runner is well overdue for an Italian tuneup. Don't be shy about redlining your 4Runner. The 3.4 and 4.7 have been redlined numerous times daily for years (1997 & 2002 respectively)just merging on various interstate highways without a hiccup.

Your engine will benefit from a daily romp to redline. The day my vehicles can't endure the way I drive tells me to shop around for a different manufactuer.
 
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
My 3.4L looks nothing like that with the same mileage. Have you ever changed the PVC valve?


PCV valve would be my first guess too. How often have you been changing it?
 
So what can be drawn from this is that under certain circumstances varnish will form with consistant application of syn, just like dino. But too there is less chance for some to think that because syn.costs more, probably will not be the case as often. Guess it is good to see these photos an insight we hardly see with syn.
 
Originally Posted By: ottotheclown
So what can be drawn from this is that under certain circumstances varnish will form with consistant application of syn, just like dino. But too there is less chance for some to think that because syn.costs more, probably will not be the case as often. Guess it is good to see these photos an insight we hardly see with syn.


I would be concerned with this varnish as much as the varnish I have built up on my funnel. I would draw no conclusions from this other than varnish forms when oil slowly evaporates.
 
Here is my Focus. I have seen the OPs type of varnish in other Toyota oil fill holes. Varnish is from the oil oxidizing as we know, and ring coking also comes from heavy varnish. Some engines are more prone to oxidize than others.
100_1479.jpg
 
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