lorenzo816

Hey guys, I know low-oil makes a tapping sound,
Valves... right?

But what if the oil is full?

I put some Lucas oil treatment (sticky stuff - like honey) in the engine to make some of the seals last a little longer.

Could I be using crappy oil?
Or could the oil-pump be going out?

Any ideas?

I hate the fact that my Lex sounds like my isuzu now.

1992 LS400 170k

Threxx

I strongly recommend you go to www.auto-rx.com and try out their product per their recommendations.

Also get some BG induction system cleaner and run it through your PCV valve to clean up your top end.

That should get rid of any and all build up that is likely causing the noise and make your engine run smoother and more efficiently as well.

What kind of oil and filter are you using?

I'm not a big fan of Lucas' oil treatment... over at bobistheoilguy.com they proved using a clear container to demonstrate that their product causes air to be 'whipped' into the oil (millions of little bubbles), which can severely affect how well the oil protects your motor.

lorenzo816

my other post is here

I thought this might be it.

If you're so sure of the autoRx, I might try it.

When I had the cats replaced a couple of days ago, I went ahead and did a BG induction system treatment straight through the Throttle Body. exhaust post is here

So what exactly do you mean, by putting it thru the PCV? --> I know what/where that is :-)

And when I got the LS, I used a K&N oil filter for the first three changes. Expensive little suckers. I did that because the "Stealer" is an hour away and the guy who had my Lex before me, probably didn't change the oil enough. Real sooty.. if that's a word.

I've read enough about the toyota filters...can't quite remember which part number is the good one though.
Now I switched to Fram, the middle one in the grey box. I use Castrol GTX sometimes and High mileage GTX other times.
I change every 5 to 6k. like the book says.

Any ideas or suggestions or criticism is accepted????

kowledge is key to a longer engine life...

1992 LS400 170k

Threxx

Auto Rx will work wonders for cleaning out the crap built up where your oil spends its time.

Yes you can feed ICS through the throttle body, but in my experience it works a little better through the PCV valve because it gives you better control over the rate at which the fluid enters the intake, and also allows you to stall the car purposely if you want the fluid to soak for a few minutes in the middle of your application. Have you also run a good fuel system cleaner through it like BG 44k? Or Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner? (not the injector cleaner which is the same thing but watered down and not as effective as restoring as it is just maintaining)

Fram is a terrible oil filter with a often defective antidrainback valve that can cause exactly the noises you are describing... but usually only for the first 10 or less seconds when you first start the car up.

Use Mobil 1 or K&N filters (almost the same exact filter actually made by the same company and everything), or better yet, the OEM filters (order a bunch of 'em from Carson Toyota for example).

Personally if you really want to make your engine last Castrol isn't a bad oil... but I might try running Mobil 1 full synthetic and if it doesn't leak, stick with that. If you don't want to spend a ton on it, you can buy the 5-quart jugs of it at most Wal-Marts for like 18 bucks.

lorenzo816

Thanks a lot.

Will do.

But do you mean thru the PCV hose or through the hole in the engine where the PCV gets plugged into?

I've used the Chevron fsc stuff, pretty regularly.
The shop guys put the BG44K in the tank when they did the induction job.

I'm going to go ahead and either order a bunch of OEM filters or just get a bunch of K&N filters hopefully with a bulk purchase discount.

Anyone want to know the OEM oil filter deal go here

I'm going to keep using the GTX, I;ve never been partial to synth but when I get a chance, I'll read more on Bob the oil guy website stuff.

In the meantime, I'm going to ask everyone post their Oil issues and expertise for everyone to share.

Gotta go take the wifey out to dinner.
thanks guys!!!!

Threxx

You plug this IV looking thing straight into the PCV valve which is the hard 'elbow' piece that connects directly to your engine block. You don't want that stuff going through any sort of rubber hoses as it will eat them up with a quickness.

Yes the 20004 is a great filter and made in Japan, but they stopped making them quite a while back (almost a year ago I think) and replaced them with a still nice but not quite as nice in design, plus made in Thailand filter. Carson Toyota still has a very limited supply of the 20004 filter and is the only place left that still has them. They say they could run out of 'em any day now and they only sell them in 10-packs at a slightly higher price than what they used to sell for. Oh well.. at least they still have 'em. I have 18 of those filters backstocked since both my car and my suv can use them. Once I run out I'll go back to using Mobil 1.

saber

[QUOTE=Threxx]I strongly recommend you go to www.auto-rx.com and try out their product per their recommendations. Also get some BG induction system cleaner and run it through your PCV valve to clean up your top end.That should get rid of any and all build up that is likely causing the noise and make your engine run smoother and more efficiently as well.
What kind of oil and filter are you using?

Threxx, I can sure tell you spend alot of time visiting the Bobistheoilguy forum. That forum is owned, administered and moderated by a bunch of specialty lube, filter, fluid and additive salesmen . These salesmen don't have to physically travel around a sales territory anymore making sales calls because now, from home, they can just sit at the keyboard and run the Bobistheoilguy forum to generate their income. These salesman do an amazingly effective job convincing the public that the factory original lubes, fluids and filters are of marginal quality and the source of all kinds of mechanical and drivability ills and mechanical ailments like valve ticking. The public, as a result, developes a "miracle in a can" mentality in regard to preventing and correcting mechanical and drivability problems.

The actual cause of the valve ticking noise in lorenzo816 V8 engine is that excessive clearance has developed in one or more of his V8's 16 intake or 16 exhaust valves. The owners manual advises owners of 1st generation V8's to check the valve clearances every 60,000 miles. That way excessive (or inadequate) clearance issues can be detected and corrected before they become serious..

In the archives there is this excellent thread that describes how a guy named LexusBiz
checked and adjusted his valve clearances and how it solved his engines ticking noise: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...valve+clearance

nthach

[QUOTE=saber]404, fix the link. As expensive as ARX is, i like it a lot better than those harsh diesel-based flushes they sell at Kragen.

Threxx

I think I've seen you on here talking badly of BITOG forums several times in the past?

I realize that there are quite a few snake oil salesmen trolling around those forums... I take everything I read with a grain of salt. However I have personally witnessed the beneficial effects of Auto-RX, so I'm positive that it works and works well.

BG products work well too. And that's not according to just BITOG forums... it's according to my Lexus dealer (and probably many others) who use it exclusively, Acura dealer, and quite a few other well-trusted independent mechanics in the area. Never mind that I've used it on friend's cars that were in bad shape and saw some very impressive results (as well as an insane amount of black smoke being burnt out)

RA40

iTrader: (6)

At this stage, it may be beneficial to have the valve clearances checked as well as the compression. Pouring stuff into the crankcase may only serve to cover up the sound/problem.

If the clearances are off, by adjusting them, the engine will run smoother as well.

saber

All these auto service shops have a very $$good$$ reason to recommend BG products. The BG company provides them with financial incentives like free shop equipment (coolant / transmission / power steering / brake system flushing machines), etc. IF the shops agree to use many of the BG branded fluids, lubes and additives.

So the shop not only doesn't have to pay for the flushing machines, the machines give the shops the capability of selling $100 - $200 flush jobs that take less time to perform than the older manual fluid changing methods they used to use and which they couldn't charge as much for. And the shops can futher boost profits with techniques like these:

"Mr. Jones, it wil cost you $75 for us to change your power steering fluid because we use a special dedicated power steering fluid made by the BG company instead of plain old ordinary Dexron automatic transmission fluid."

or

"Mr. Jones, it will cost you $50 more to change your coolant because we use a special BG coolant additive in addition to regular antifreeze that will help provide superior cooling system performance and protection"

Auto-Rx IS a snake oil product in my view because only snake oil products make claims like these:

"Auto-RX Transmission-Medic Will Help You To:

- Dramatically increase the life of your transmission.
- Prevent or delay costly transmission repairs
- Prolong the life of your automatic transmission fluid by keeping it cleaner for longer periods of time
- Decrease the temperature at which your transmission runs
- Get more miles to the gallon"

saber

Here's the best valve adjusting procedure website I have found for the 1UZ-FE V8 engine
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pgscott...camshaft2.html

nthach

hmm... can i say Ski week project?

Threxx

BG doesn't sell additives, fluids, or lubes... how much exactly do you know about BG, or are you just assuming they are no different than other companies? All they sell is throttle body cleaners (nothing special here... people have been doing this for years), fuel tank additives (which they actually licensced their base stock formula from Chevron's Techron product- are you gonna tell me that is snake oil too?) and top end cleaners (which you can see working like crazy when your entire neighborhood is covered in a thick cloud of smoke from what used to be built up in the top end of your motor and fuel system). Oh and they also sell a fuel injector cleaner which is nothing close to snake oil either. They even list the ingrediants on the side of their cans which you can go ahead and verify many are the products that people have added individually to their fuel tanks and induction systems for decades to help keep things running well. BG just combines them along with a few other chemicals for a more effective and safer concentration.

But on the note of shops getitng free stuff, actually I know a couple of the guys who run shops with BG products - I mean they aren't my best friends, but I know them well enough that they would have no reason to lie to me. They said they had to pay for the equipment to use the BG products. But for that matter, there is very little equipment required for BG's product lineup. Basically just a fuel rail gun for cleaning injectors, and then a very simple piece of equipment that controls the feed of induction system cleaner into the PCV or brake booster valve. I bought the fuel rail gun off of ebay for 65 dollars - I think new from BG they cost around 250 dollars. I also have a cheaper version of their ISC feeder (basically an IV setup) for something like 5 bucks.

I agree that some shops take advantage of this by charging more money for less work. But there's nothing we can do about that except just do the 'work' ourselves by buying the products and using them in our own garage.

Once again you prove you know nothing about BG. They don't make any power steering, brake, trans, or any other sort of self-standing fluids or even additives to these fluids. And I personally don't believe in using anything but OEM fluids (except oil, where I use Mobil 1) and even prefer to use OEM filters whenever possible if that tells you anything about my beliefs.

Let's just make the wild assumption that Auto-RX does the one and only thing that it claims to do: slowly aggitates and liquifies sludge (carbon) buildup inside of whereever it is placed - usually in oil, but also can be in the transmission or power steering fluid. I don't know if this is a hard assumption to make despite the fact that I've personally witnessed my friend's 150k mile Silverado's motor go from disgusting to looking almost new after one treatment, or that I've seen many other independent reviews on the web including pictures of the same results.

So let's assume that your transmission was in poor condition. It had quite a bit of build-up because you or the person before you had not been changing the fluid regularly, or the fluid you were using had an ineffective detergent package, or maybe the transmission in your car is just inherently prone to buildup after long term use.

Now assume that the majority of the build up was liquified and then fresh fluid added. Would you not likely dramatically increase the life of your transmission? (assuming that the buildup wasn't holding it together, which I have heard the occasional story about - but this never happens with motors which is Auto-RX's primary use). Would that not in turn help your future repair costs of your transmission? Would your transmission fluid in the future not be able to be used for longer periods of time as it wouldn't be working as hard (heated up as much or have as much dirt to deal with)? Anyone knows that a cleaner transmission runs cooler. And of course if your transmission and especially your torque converter were shifting and locking up poorly before you might see a small improvement in milage.

So in effect, Auto-Rx really only does one thing. And that one thing isn't any different than a full vaccuum flush for example... it just does it for quite a bit less money and much more gradually as to avoid the possibility of chunks of buildup coming loose but getting stuck and causing problems. It just happens that the one thing it does has quite a few benefits as long as you have reason to use it (in other words using it on a 30k mile car is probably not going to show any results... may just help avoid required maintenance as soon in the future).

saber

Threxx, the predatory LubeShark cleaner and additive salesmen don't teach you that even if the tranmission fluid is not hardly ever changed and the fluid becomes brown and oxidized, a Toyota transmission will still stay clean inside for decades http://www.saber.net/~monarch/a30aJPG

Ditto for Toyota power steering systems because they also use Dexron automatic transmission fluid. And last for 650,000 miles or 30+ years without any added cleaners or additives.

LubeShark cleaner and additive salesmen also don't teach you that Toyota engines that have run 650,000 miles on conventional petroleum oil have some varnish buildup inside the engine but it's just a COSMETIC thing - the varnish deposits don't hurt anything and that's why Toyota engines will run for 650,000 miles on plain conventional petroleum oil http://www.saber.net/~monarch/cole2.JPG

LubeShark cleaner and additive salesmen also don't teach you Toyota fuel injectors are capable of lasting 451,000 miles and counting without ever using a gasoline additive to clean fuel injectors http://www.saber.net/~monarch/smog.jpg

I could go on and on, but the basic point is that the LubeShark salesmen don't want you to know the factory original lubes, fluids, filters and parts are excellent quality and fully capable to enabling a Toyota / Lexus run reliably and troublefree for 40 years / 650,000 miles. Therefore Toyota owners don't need to use specialty lubes, fluids, filters, addirtives and parts and they risk unforseen side effects / consequences if they use them.