Originally Posted By: Spyder7
Bill, when I removed the original PCV it was
almost completely gummed up with thick black deposits. I did a
quick visual inspection on the rest of the PCV system and everything else looked okay.
Severe driving schedule patterns that included mostly short trips in stop & go traffic; very little highway driving;
excessive use of the remote start to warm the interior of the car in winter (meaning it probably idled as long as 30 minutes in the coldest months); severe climate; hilly terrain where the engine is stressed more and, in the winter months, this stress is increased as the tires fight for traction on poorly maintained roads.
Under those conditions,
using regular dino, I would have changed it religiously every 4,500 km (3,000 miles). Instead she followed Toyota`s standard schedule and changed it out between 4,500 and 7,500 km per year (every April and October). At 50,000 km she missed an oil change and the interval was just over 11,000 km.
I think excessive blow-by worked its way into the PCV system where, after 10 years of this driving style, it progressively lead to more and more deposits accumulating on the PCV valve until I finally removed it, on advice of yours and that was backed by others (you were the first to suggest it). What I removed wasn`t even worth cleaning. I installed a new PCV valve and bagged and kept the old one for when I get an opportunity to take and post some pics of it.
5,000 miles is 8,000 km. That`s close enough to 10,000 km (which I proposed only as an outer limit) to be a satisfactory compromise for me.
I know there will some who will say its a waste of good syn, but I agree with you. I prefer to pay what might be an extra $30 for 4L of oil and an extra filter to get that extra inbetween OCI and know that I`m erring on the side of caution. $30 is cheap piece of mind to me.
-Spyder
I've highlighted in red a few of your statements.
You have a "almost completely gummed up with thick black deposits" PVC valve yet with a "quick visual inspection" you have everything looking okay.
It's my opinion you do NOT. If the PVC is gummed up (which is the MAJOR reason for ALL of your issues) then you have more problems then JUST a PVC valve.
It does not matter if she ran big bad ugly poor performing deposit laden sludge making conventional oil or Super magic syn if the PVC system is compromised. The engineers put the PVC system in the engine for a reason and it needs to work 100% all the time.
Spend some time reading this site and you'll find out that remote starts are not very healthy for your engine. Use those plus have a compromised PVC system and again (I'm trying to get all the marketing koolaid out of your system) no matter what oil you'll have issues.
What you NEED to DO..(again I repeat) is do
FREQUENT OIL CHANGES. Like closer to 3000 miles with any oil and any filter. Magic MMO and PP is not your friend and could HARM the engine with "safe" OCIs like 8000-10000km. If you want to use the MMO that Stevie is scoring for you (Thanks Stevie
) good to go. BUT DO NOT go longer than 3000 miles until we know FOR SURE that all is well. And the only way to know for sure is take the valve cover off and look inside for "stuff".
I'm spending the time TRYING to educate you on how to SAFELY make sure that your engine lasts as long as possible. Others in your original thread only spoke about oil and how magic and super this brand and that type is.
They did you NO favors without first taking care of the problem.
You automatically go for a major part of the reason for the deposits and sludge is because conventional oil is being used. I've seen over the years here and in REAL life many an engine sludged not due to the oil being used but because of issues like poor design, poor maintenance and parts/systems going bad like your PVC system.
So, ignore my advise if you'd like but its sound. And SAFE. Unless you like to deal more with the engine I'd suggest that you please think about what I've commented on. I may be an old [censored] but I've walked the walk with many an engine with hundreds of thousands of miles on many of them and no issues.
Todays oils (no matter what type or brand) are excellent. If I can take many a motor to 250,000 - almost 400,000 miles on yesterdays conventional oils, doing that today with current oils (syn or conventional) with
ease.
Also remember once you have spent the $$ its real hard to get it back. $8 here and $10 there add up when you look back through out the decades. Trust me, I know.
Take care, Bill
PS: I just went a little over my normal OCI in the Corolla last week. 11,100 miles and I'm not worried a bit. I'll make 400,000 miles with this vehicle.
