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I have a 2000 RX300 and the oil light came on yesterday. Immediately pulled over and turned it off. The oil level was normal. Trailer-ed it home. After researching found that the 1999-2003 engines have a problem with sludge. Dropped the oil pan and found that the oil pick-up tube was completely clogged with sludge. Soaked it in gas for about an hour and got it cleaned up. Reassembled and everything was ok. The vehicle has about 190K on it
A couple of observations.
1. If you have over 125K on the vehicle I would highly recommend dropping the oil pan and cleaning the oil pick-up tube.
2. I would also recommend running only synthetic oil in these vehicles.
It would have been a pain if this had happened away from home. Luckily I was just across town.
I agree on the safety issue on finding a place to pull over. Traffic would be an issue for everyone.
As for the maintenance records, I have no idea since we just bought the vehicle about a year ago and nothing has been recorded for years in the maintenance log book . I have had to do several minor repairs i.e. replace power steering pump and rear strut mounts. I also replaced the timing belt since I had no record of it being changed.
It seems to be an overall solid vehicle with the mileage it has.
Dropped the oil pan and found that the oil pick-up tube was completely clogged with sludge.
If you had that much sludge in the pan, you may want to remove and inspect under the valve covers for sludge. You can remove the front one fairly easily. It'll only cost a gasket.
If you had that much sludge in the pan, you may want to remove and inspect under the valve covers for sludge. You can remove the front one fairly easily. It'll only cost a gasket.
Do you know approximately how much time it takes to remove/reseal?
I may consider removing and inspecting our pan when the weather gets a bit more warmer.
I did not see sludge in the heads when i removed the valve covers but this may give me more peace of mind since its at the lowest part of the oiling system.
I may remove the front valve cover in the future. I did a engine an engine flush before dropping the pan using Motor Medic by Gunk. Hope that cleaned a lot of it out. If it has sludge up there It would be very difficult to remove. I think for next several oil changes I will use Motor Medic before changing the oil, along with the synthetic oil I hope it gets reduced.
I may remove the front valve cover in the future. I did a engine an engine flush before dropping the pan using Motor Medic by Gunk. Hope that cleaned a lot of it out. If it has sludge up there It would be very difficult to remove. I think for next several oil changes I will use Motor Medic before changing the oil, along with the synthetic oil I hope it gets reduced.
I have a brand new open box front cover gasket and spark plug gasket seal set that i didn't use available. Asking $15 shipped, includes paypal fees. Msg me with your contact details if interested. The gasket change is about a 1/2 hr job really taking your time.
If you are flushing for sludge over a couple of oil changes, i would just use a high detergent conventional oil like Pennzoil and save the synthetic for when the oil is clear after a min of 500 miles.
I just dropped my engine pan about a week ago. I have 160K miles since I purchased the car new and have changed the oil and filter every 5K miles with Valvoline conventional oil. As you can see from the pictures, the pan and oil pickup are very clean. This is a pretty easy job, a couple hours to remove the pan, clean all the old sealant off both surfaces, reseal and reinstall. I waited 12 hours before putting the car back in service to give the sealant (Toyota FIPG) plenty of time to cure.
03-18-15, 07:56 PM
Oil light comes on. TURN ENGINE OFF ASAP
