Engine engine oil gelling...

engine oil gelling...

My car has 39,000 miles on it and I've changed the oil every 5,000 mi with Mobil 1 5W- or 10W-30 and always used either Toyota or Purolator or recently Mobil 1 filters.

Anything else I can do to prevent oil gelling?

I've made the mistake of not keeping receipts, save a couple sporadically. I occassionally run across these forums on Toyota engines gelling and seizing @ low miles with good maintenance and it worries me a little. Not enough to loose any sleep over, but enough to post this msg.

All maintenance is current, including oil and filter, air filter, coolant change, transmission fluid, etc. Compression is 200psi in all 4 cylinders with healthy build-up compression when starting (~90psi on first compression stroke on all 4 cylinders).

Late,
Trav

I wouldn't worry about it cause I've never even heard of that problem except on older engines, like way older.

when you say gelling do you mean sludge build up? i've only heard of sludge build up in camery v6 engines

Sludge build-up is only a concern in the 1MZ V-6 and 5SFE engines.

Iv only heard of it happening in the V6's also. If you ever change the oil when the engine is cold it may seem a little thicker but not that thick, but as you probably know its best to change the oil when the engine is hot.

I recently purchased a 93' Toyota Pickup with the 3V-ZE 3.0 V6 engine. Anyone know if they have a history of gelling up? I really dont see how certain engines would cause oil to gell up, but i suppose it might happen.

The 3V-Ze is fine. The problem apparently is caused by insufficient crankcase ventilation.

while we're at it...

I heard the oil build-up occured because coolant passages in the head were made smaller so that the head would stay a bit hotter for emissions purposes. This increased temperature in the head caused oil to breakdown and adhere to the sides of the oil galleys, which narrowed the passages back down to the pan, which resulted in oil pooling around the lifters, which further reduced drain back into the pan, which started the cascade of events leading to engine seizure in the end.

Trav

Here's an excerpt from an article on the sludge problem:

The actual cause of the problem is an inability of the engine's crankcase ventilation system (PCV) to move the normal gases from the engine. When these gases stay longer in an hot engine it allows deposits to form on the metal parts of the engine. When enough deposits are present "Sludge" is formed.

Just as this person said. You should leave your car on for 3 to 5 minutes before changing oil.