Where'd the Erl Go?

[lncoop]

The admiral drives a 2000 Lexus ES 300. Great little car, and it only has 113k miles on it. Every time I ask her if she wants something different she says no way. When we bought the car it had spent quite a bit of time in a dormant state, so after a couple months of her driving it (the local traffic judge nicknamed her hot rod fyi) it developed an oil leak. Turned out to be the rear main and the dealer worked with us on it. It's had seepage around the valve cover gaskets for a while, which I'll deal with first of next year, but nothing major. Every 2-3 weeks a quarter-sized spot or two will appear on the garage floor, but that's about it. So here's the deal. She was on her way to spend a long weekend with a girlfriend and called me from the road to say the oil light had flickered. I told her to reduce her speed and pull in at the first service station she saw. They checked her oil and determined she was a quart and a half low. They topped her off and sent her on her way, so I guess everything is okay, though I can't say for sure since she doesn't come home until this afternoon. So the question is, where did the oil go? I blame myself for not checking it before she left, but a quart and a half? What am I missing here guys?

 

[dwco5051]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

My first question would be how many miles was it driven since the oil was last checked. You also said the car had sat and was not driven for some time. Perhaps you have stuck oil rings and it is going out the exhaust pipe.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Even in this day and age of upgraded gasket materials, it is not that uncommon for them to shrink if the vehicle has not been used regularly...I would also check back through any re-call notices that may have been issued on this particular vehicle, I know when I purchased my Jeep, I found to items that had not been repaired by the original owners of the vehicle and one of them was a oil seal..Jeep fixed both items for no cost even though I was not the original purchaser and when I acquired it it was 6 years old..

I don't think that it being low on oil this time, will be as much of a big deal, you now have a reference point to keep a check on it, you know it was topped off the other day, so make sure and check it when she gets home, that give you a much better picture on what is going on..

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Clogged crank case vent will make em' burn oil. Driving freeway speeds in first gear will too!

 

[lncoop]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

My first question would be how many miles was it driven since the oil was last checked. You also said the car had sat and was not driven for some time. Perhaps you have stuck oil rings and it is going out the exhaust pipe.

I'ts probably been 5k miles since the oil was last checked. We've had the car 3.5 years, during which time it's seen a lot of use. How likely is it that stuck oil rings have gone undedected that long (not a rhetorical question)?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

If you have been running it that long, I would say you would have noticed it before this.

Make sure and check the PVC valve, and air cleaner element, I know in one of my cars, if either of those got plug, it would burn oil like crazy.

One other thing I do, anytime I buy a car, is to change the oil first thing, new filters and such, and I also treat with a slick 50 type additive. Even with engine block heaters, here in Montana it gets cold enough, that you can end up with it taking a small bit of time to get the oil moving, so it has worked out quite well. I had a bronco when I moved here, and we wore the main bearings out in less than a year due to the extra friction at start up due to no oil flow from cold temps(-25) some days.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

+1 on the PVC valve AND have the engine checked for oil sludge since that was a problem year for the toyota/lexus engines.

 

[rbh]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

You got 5000 miles on a quart and a half of oil plus a small leak???
In my books that ain't bad at all.
I think I would check the dip stick alittle more often though, say at least once a month.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Oil is all stuck in the top of the motor. The sludge problem that develops on those engines due to not changing the oil enough has clogged the oil return holes with sludge. Probably why the covers are seeping too what with all that oil sitting up there instead of draining back.

The flickering oil light is usually the first "sign" of this problem on those 3 llitre Yota engines.

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

You got 5000 miles on a quart and a half of oil plus a small leak???
In my books that ain't bad at all.
I think I would check the dip stick alittle more often though, say at least once a month.

+1 to that!

 

[lncoop]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Oil is all stuck in the top of the motor. The sludge problem that develops on those engines due to not changing the oil enough has clogged the oil return holes with sludge. Probably why the covers are seeping too what with all that oil sitting up there instead of draining back.

The flickering oil light is usually the first "sign" of this problem on those 3 llitre Yota engines.

Interesting. No one's ever provided any input on the seepage, not that I've ever asked. I just assumed it was attributable to inactivity like the rear main. I should note it's been going on since we bought the car 56k miles ago. Other than continuing regular oil changes and not letting her drive around a quart and a half low is there anything I can do to prolong the life of the engine? She really does love the car.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Do regular oil changes. Skip any snake oils including the Slick 50 mentioned above. Check your oil more often! I usually check mine when I am putting gas in my car.

When you get your timing belt changed, make sure they change the front oil seal and the cam seals. Have you replaced your timing belt yet?

 

[lncoop]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Oil is all stuck in the top of the motor. The sludge problem that develops on those engines due to not changing the oil enough has clogged the oil return holes with sludge.

My understanding was that the sludge issue was due to the unusually small size of the oil return holes, not the frequency of the oil changes (within reason of course).

 

[lncoop]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Do regular oil changes. Skip any snake oils including the Slick 50 mentioned above.

When you get your timing belt changed, make sure they change the front oil seal and the cam seals. Have you replaced your timing belt yet?

I had them go ahead and replace the timing belt when they replaced the rear main at 57k and change. I split the rear main with them but insisted they pony up for the timing belt since they told me they had already performed the 60k mile maintenance package. Guess what part of the package is? They did replace front oil and cam seals as I recall. I'd have to check with them to be 100% certain.

In fact, for the sake of conversation, here's what I've done to it:
Rear Main
Timing Belt
Ignition Coil
Plugs
Front Brakes
MAF Sensor

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Next time you get your timing belt done have them change the water pump at the same time. That is normally replaced at the same time as the timing belt. Also make sure all idler pulleys are changed.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

My understanding was that the sludge issue was due to the unusually small size of the oil return holes, not the frequency of the oil changes (within reason of course).

Almost all oil filters will be bypassed when they have reached the end of their filtering ability.
Perhaps with more frequent filter changes with a filter of higher quality than Fram would keep the sludge particles from bypassing the filter.
If the oil was always clean, the oil passages could theoretically be on the small side without ill effects.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

The oil return holes have nothing to do with the oil filter.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Almost all oil filters will be bypassed when they have reached the end of their filtering ability.
Perhaps with more frequent filter changes with a filter of higher quality than Fram would keep the sludge particles from bypassing the filter.
If the oil was always clean, the oil passages could theoretically be on the small side without ill effects.

That's what Toyota continued to insist as well, until enough people grew tired of hearing it and began having oil samples from their engines independently tested. Yota finally relented and paid out more than a couple bucks in recompense for engine rebuilds, rental cars, court costs, etc. Won't benefit me if it comes to that though since the car's ten years old.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

The oil return holes have nothing to do with the oil filter.

Well yes, sort of but.....I think it does...............
The smaller the return holes are, the easier it is for the sludge particles to close up the size of the holes further.
So you would want to make dang sure the filter is not maxed out before it is changed out.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Where'd the Erl Go?

Bottom line. Change the oil at the 5000 mark and not at the 7500 mark that is in the manual.