Looking for sludge?
 

No, actually my uncle and I were just curious about a ticking sound I keep getting on start up and sometimes affects starting up my RX...I have to hold the accelerator down a bit. Such probem started with the introduction of the new Pemex gas last year, and as I found out I'm not the only one with this issue. However, a few seconds after start up the engine is reving just fine and my little truck hauls. Still, the noise can be a little annoying.

Neverthless, I thought I would share some of my photos of the top of the front cylinders.

I wanted to add that at this point, I have 120K miles on my RX.

A side shot. I am still running the 0W30 German Castrol, but as I have been running synthetic oil for a while, I didn't expect to see any sludge here.

This cranks me up LOL, but I made sure that there were no broken bits here.

Here is the left side...and down that tube you can see the top of one of my TorqueMaster spark plugs.

I would not recommend taking this off just for the fun of it or to go on a sludge hunt. Two of the smaller of the bolts that hold down this cover broke off at the top when we were removing everything. My issue was to try to fix an issue I have been having for a few months now, even before I starting using the Castrol 0W30, but I have hunch the change in the sulfur content made a profound difference on the sounds coming out of my little RX.

Your engine looks very clean, nice work. Wonder how my engine would look since I only use dino 5W30.

Startup ticking sound could be either fuel injectors or valve lifter springs. Given that you mentioned the new Pemex gas, then slightly clogged fuel injectors could be the culprit.

The lifters are a very likely culprit...and it sounds a lot like it as I have heard the lifters. My uncle and I still have some more work to do on it, but other than the RX runs just fine.

The ticking is present in Park, but I rarely hear a peep when in Drive.

I actually took some of your advice in a post I read some time ago, about turning the engine into the ACC mode for a few seconds and then turning it on. Seems to start up much better that way.

If my engine is already warmed up, the issue never presents itself.

Good pictures, I have heard 99 to 00 1mz-fe have ridges that make oil pools in small puddles. As engine gets hot, poorly circulated oil in these puddles get further cooked from already evelavate operating temperature (by design)
I found some ridges from your picture, and puddles of oil form even though the rest have drained off to the oil sump. Don't seem necessary as Cam gear are lubricated well, but they don't have these ridges to trap oil. Am I the only one noticing this? :uh:

I didn't notice that as a feature, but it caught my eye when we pulled the cover off

If my uncle ever gets a late edition of the last version of the Camry into his shop, I could take a peek under there.

One of the other theories floating around for my issue is that the oil is not getting to this area sufficienty on start up. I may try Auto-RX soon enough (when I get it in) or do an old trick this weekend, drain the oil (of course I will save it), throw in a dino Chevron 5W30 and add about a quart of ATF (excellent cleaner) for 15 minutes as I think something is sticking somewhere in the system, likely a lifter as HarrierAWD suggested. We did rule out the tranny yesterday as we went hunting for noise with a stethoscope and there are no odd shifts or any other funny business.

BTW, next weekend, assuming I have time, I pan to drain the rear differential and the transfer case to see what happens after 1 year with this fluid (about 13,000 miles by my count at this point) as I have a lot of extra Royal Purple gear fluid lying around.

Referencing that last pic in tunedRX's post, that entire area had a 1/16" - 1/8" layer of slimy goo on our RX. Good news is we finally got a call from our dealership and the RX is ready for pickup this Wednesday after 3 months of being in the shop for a replacement engine due to sludge related issues. Bad news is the '07 RX 350 they gave us as a loaner is going to be hard to give back. Your head looks great, no worries there over sludge.

BTW, I should have mentioned in my first post that I have 120K miles on my RX at this point (which I have added). I am never worried about sludge issues at this point. With my engine oil, my main concern is that I have adequate protection from wear. About 1,500 miles before my last oil change (from Mobil 1 to German Castrol 0W30) I added Liqui Moly's CeraTec, I used this additive a while back and found it increased my MPG about 1, http://store.interautopartssd.com/in...eb8d35615ca1d0

Wow! Can you provide some insight into how often and where the oil changes were done; how many mile on the engine?

Mex, great shots, using synth too & hoping mine looks like that!

I had a thread on this back in January, but quickly here are the answers to your questions. We bought a used '01 RX with 42K and we've owned it for 3 years. Oil was changed around every 5K and there is now 106K on the RX. I did the first oil change, several were done at the dealership, the remaining were done at independent shops. It never used any oil during our ownership, then suddenly and I mean suddenly (within 2 weeks) there was only 1 1/2 quarts left and it seized while warming up in the drive way.

Thanks, now I recall the previous postings.