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Gumout Regane

By Spyder, July 18, 2010

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My 2000 VE has been in need of some tuning since I bought it in May, but with limitations on tools, time, and finances, I've only gotten to a small bit of the stuff I'm hoping to get done before winter comes (where I do the work outside in my driveway). Even the weather hasn't been cooperating so far - the rare time I've had a chance to do anything its either been very wet or very hot and humid. So while I wait on a decent day, I decided to try a "tune up in a bottle." This was actually prompted by what felt like sluggish performance, noticeable ticking (valve chatter I think) from the time the car is started until its turned off, and discovering sludge deposits on the crankcase cover.

With the above in mind, and after doing a lot of research online, I narrowed my choices to 4 picks (listed in my preferred order of preference):

1. Redline SI-1

2. Gumout Regane

3. Risalone

4. Restore

I couldn't find Redline anywhere locally, and for whatever reason Amazon.com won't ship it to Canada. Gumout products are easy to find here, so as that was my 2nd choice I went with Gumout Regane Complete Fuel System Cleaner from Cdn Tire, in its new 2x concentrated bottle. I dumped the whole bottle into the tank at the nearest ESSO, filled up and did the first of two conseciutive 150 km roundtrips on a section of our 100 km/h Trans-Canada highway. Without stating exactly how close to the 180 km limit I pushed the needle (goal was to really push this stuff through the engine), I will admit I got nailed for speeding and was given a ticket for 120 in a 100 zone (he cut it back a bit). That's a $100 fine here (my first speeding ticket in 12 years), which I'm ok with since it was a cheap lesson compared to the ticket I could have gotten. Anyway, back to Gumout.

After putting those 300 highway km on it and another 50 km city, I checked the oil. Note it was drained and refilled only 4 days before by Toyota with whatever 5w30 shop oil they use. The filter is still the original Honeywell Defence filter installed roughly 3,500 km ago. Before putting in the Gumout I'd already looked at the oil to confirm it wasn't overfilled, and at that time it was a nice fresh light and shiny golden colour. After doing the 350 km above I pulled the dipstick and it had changed to a much deeper brown colour, very similar to what it looked like when the oil was last drained after roughly 3,000 km. Objectively speaking, then, the Gumout is definitely doing something as I've never seen oil darken anywhere near that fast.

Other things I've noticed: the lifter chatter is almost gone. Its present for a minute or 2 when I cold start the car, but gone by the time the engine is warm. In fact the engine is just much, much quieter. In my latest city driving at 50-60 km/h (depending on speed limit), with the windows up and radio and fan off, the only thing I can hear is the quiet road rumble from my ancient and very worn cheapo all seasons (they came with the car and I intend to replace them soon).

Acceleration is also much, much quicker. The "sluggish" feel that the car had before is just gone. This is the most subjective observation, but having just crossed the 7,000 km mark since I bought the car used in May, I'd say I've driven it enough to be familiar with its kinks and quirks.

There is still more than half a tank of Regane treated gas left in the tank, and that'll likely be burned by the weekend (I plan to wait until the fill light flashes before doing my next fillup). Subjectively, I think my mileage is improving but it'll take a few fillups to measure and confirm that. One final note: the previous fillup pre-Regane was an experiment with 89 Octane. I noticed no difference with 89, but because there was still some 89 left over in the tank, for consistency I decided to spend the 3 cents/liter extra and stick with 89 for the Regane fillup.

Having only burned half the tank, it'd be premature to give it a full thumbs up just yet. But my impression so far is very favourable.

-Spyder

My 2000 VE has been in need of some tuning since I bought it in May, but with limitations on tools, time, and finances, I've only gott...

 

Acceleration is also much, much quicker. The "sluggish" feel that the car had before is just gone. ....

Having only burned half the tank, it'd be premature to give it a full thumbs up just yet. But my impression so far is very favourable.

-Spyder

Is your acceleration good when only 100% gasoline is used ?? or do you still have some of the potion in the fuel tank ??

Additives can increase the "octane" or releaseable concentrate of combustable energy when mixed with gasoline.

My 2000 VE has been in need of some tuning since I bought it in May, but with limitations on tools, time, and finances, I've only gott...

Acceleration is also much, much quicker. The "sluggish" feel that the car had before is just gone. ....

Having only burned half the tank, it'd be premature to give it a full thumbs up just yet. But my impression so far is very favourable.

-Spyder

Is your acceleration good when only 100% gasoline is used ?? or do you still have some of the potion in the fuel tank ??

Additives can increase the "octane" or releaseable concentrate of combustable energy when mixed with gasoline.

There's still about half a tank of treated gas left. Those were just my initial impressions (that the oil got so dark so fast was interesting, and I think proof that it is loosening up the sludge and/or cleaning out carbon deposits), I'll follow up when the tank is near empty and I've put some km on the untreated fill up.

A few other notes: car has 103,000 km on it. Serpentine belt was replaced at about 50,000. Tensioner at 95,500. VSV was replaced at about 35,000 km. Air filter last changed at about 98,000 with a generic Fram. All sensors are factory, ditto for the rest of the engine components. Only other work done, besides replacing the battery, was suspension and brake related (also some exhaust work - pipe gaskets, welding, and muffler hangers at about 65,000 km). This is all from memory after a couple read throughs of the original owner's service invoices, so mileage is very approximate.

Fluids all changed at Toyota spec'd intervals (except one missed oil change where she went 12,000 km on dino and that was when the dealer replaced the serpentine belt), car is running fresh Toyota shop oil (dino) and has used dino its whole life. Next OC I plan to switch to Valvoline Maxlife (the synth blend) and OEM or NAPA filter.

I've also run two different fuel injector cleaners through it (STP and Prestone), each one a couple thousand km before changing the oil and didn't notice any results with either of them.

-Spyder

Sounds like it worked pretty well - thanks for the review.

Gumout Regane is still one of the few that still uses PEA (polyetheramine) as the working additive. Redline SL-1/SL-2 happen to have the highest concentrations out there. Valvoline, BG44K and Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus also have a good dose of PEA, though there has been info floating around the web that both BG and Chevron has cheaped out and now use basically esters and kerosene to keep profit margins up. Sad, as Chevron patented PEA in the first place.

It would be interesting to see how the next couple of tanks of virgin gasoline run in the car - good to hear that you've experienced smoother idling, now see what the fuel economy does for you. The treatment tank doesn't count, as most run the piss out of the engine to pump that solvent around.

Just my 2 cents worth, while you are addressing the fuel system there is still those oil deposits. For that I've always done a stepped up oil change interval.The detergents in the oil get used up fast so I use the Pennzoil that has more detergent and change it out at 3,000 miles a few times.

Just my 2 cents worth, while you are addressing the fuel system there is still those oil deposits. For that I've always done a stepped up oil change interval.The detergents in the oil get used up fast so I use the Pennzoil that has more detergent and change it out at 3,000 miles a few times.

With the oil darkening so fast I'd been thinking about doing an early OCI, especially where about half the mileage I typically put on it is stop & go city and/or short trips of 10 km or less. 3,000 miles will be the upper end of this OCI - but I may change it even sooner if the oil starts to look too nasty before then. I think the previous owner did 80% or more of her driving as short (under 10 km) trips, rarely drove on the highway, and had the car idling a lot in the winter after starting with the remote start. All of that, plus the missed oil change she had, along with the deposits I've seen and the performace issues pre-Gumout, lead me to think there was a lot of carbon and sludge built up - inspite of its low mileage.

I have 480 km put on the Gumout treated tank, which I'm still expecting to be due for a fill of plain gas by the weekend. The first 300 km were all highway, the last all city. Even though I didn't notice any difference with the pre-Gumout fillup of 89 octane, its possible that it could be helping it along too; i.e., maybe this particular car prefers 89 and one fillup of 89 wasn't enough for the ECM to adapt to the stepped up octane. Pre gumout, I averaged enough fillups out to work its mileage out to 30 mpg on 87. With just the one fillup of 89 and no gumout there was no change. That's doing about 50/50 city/highway which is what I'm shooting for now (as that's my typical split on most tanks). When I refill I'll post the gumout plus 89 octane mileage, and then the results of the next fill which will be just virgin 89. I'm going to stick with 89 now as the price difference here is almost negligible - 3 cents per litre difference, gas is currently almost $1.10 a litre, and the full 50 litre tank costs $1.50 to step up to 89, a little over 2% difference in cost.

My experience so far has been nothing but positives - but then I had a pretty dirty engine too, so any decent cleaner should have made a difference. I chose Gumout, because like Fish said, it has a decent amount of PEA in it; not as much I think as in Redline, but I couldn't get it here. Agreeing with fish again that its the PEA that is the magic cleaning ingredient. And its probably why the fuel injector cleaners I tried previously produced no noticeable effect (no PEA, mostly kerosene, too little concentration of any kind of solvent to be anything other than snake oil IMHO).

-Spyder

A while back(89 I think) I bought some STP "Complete"cleaner that mentioned combustion chamber for a 92 Hyundai(before knock sensors)that was pinging badly. When it didn't work I called the 800 number on the back, and for some reason I was put through to a chemist.He asked about my pattern of driving and when I said ~200 miles a day he said to try another bottle then explained. 89 was the year that gas formulations changed and wreaked havoc until knock sensor(s)adjusted timing to meet combustion. Pryer to knock sensors people were advancing timing, but that made things worse because it changed ignition/spark timing. So I did and the pinging went away! The approach is to make the deposits brittle so they would them be burned, It just needed time.

That was then, STP doesn't work for me anymore, so they must have changed the formulation. Now Redline seems to work, but while STP went way down on price Redline is about $8.00 here in DC.

Interesting - makes sense. STP usued to be some decent stuff, but like almost everyone else, changed formulations to be compliant with emissions and fatten the bottom line.

Yeah, Redline stuff is getting harder to find. I was fortunate that I was able to find several bottles being clearanced out at a Pep-Boys in Manassass, as was at a Honda Bike dealership, and stopped in Peb-Boys next door for some oil. They had them for $1 a bottle - bought all seven that they had left, but that was a couple of years ago. Now I'm down to a single bottle and will have to make a trip out to Summit Racing and see if my buddy can hook me up with a case there.

A while back(89 I think) I bought some STP "Complete"cleaner that mentioned combustion chamber for a 92 Hyundai(before knock sensors)that was pinging badly. When it didn't work I called the 800 number on the back, and for some reason I was put through to a chemist.He asked about my pattern of driving and when I said ~200 miles a day he said to try another bottle then explained. 89 was the year that gas formulations changed and wreaked havoc until knock sensor(s)adjusted timing to meet combustion. Pryer to knock sensors people were advancing timing, but that made things worse because it changed ignition/spark timing. So I did and the pinging went away! The approach is to make the deposits brittle so they would them be burned, It just needed time.

 

That was then, STP doesn't work for me anymore, so they must have changed the formulation. Now Redline seems to work, but while STP went way down on price Redline is about $8.00 here in DC.

I paid about $12 Cdn for the Gumout. Where it treats up to 80L, and the Corolla tank is only 50, I probably could have split the bottle between two treatments 3,000 miles apart. Instead for the $12, with the visible sludge, I opted to just empty the whole thing and fill the tank. The performance boost alone has been worth it. There was a 'pinging' too but I think that was valve chatter. It didn't go away with just the step up to 89 octane, but it has since using the Gumout. Although its still there for a minute or two until the engine warms up, then its gone. The difference in throttle response and acceleration have been what's impressed me the most though. I think this and then a switch to MaxLife combined with a couple early oil changes should keep those gremlins from coming back.

I still have the same persistent cold start problem I've had since buying the car in May, though I've since noticed (with warmer weather) that it only stalls if the fan/compressor is turned on when I start it. It stalls immediately then. Otherwise its fine as long as I give it a minute to warm up. If I don't, it'll loose power when I slow at the end of my driveway (or parking lot at work), idle will roughen as the rpm drops then surges, and it'll then (sometimes) stall. Maybe the IAC valve or sensor? That's what I plan to look at next. I'll figure it out before the summer's over - it'll only be a real issue when the cold weather comes back.

-Spyder

That particular type of stalling is almost defintely the IAC control valve in the throttlebody. Could also be the servo that actuates the valve, but given that you've seen signs of hit or miss maintenance on the car - very good chance that the IAC is just gummed up with carbon deposits and varnish. If it is really bad, might have to remove the throttle body to clean off the car. Alsod double check the screws holding the IAC onto the throttle body - depending on where the was manufactured - could be a 5-pointed star bit or regular philips head. I've seen some with hex-cap screws on there - so be prepared for anything.

That particular type of stalling is almost defintely the IAC control valve in the throttlebody. Could also be the servo that actuates the valve, but given that you've seen signs of hit or miss maintenance on the car - very good chance that the IAC is just gummed up with carbon deposits and varnish. If it is really bad, might have to remove the throttle body to clean off the car. Alsod double check the screws holding the IAC onto the throttle body - depending on where the was manufactured - could be a 5-pointed star bit or regular philips head. I've seen some with hex-cap screws on there - so be prepared for anything.

Thanks fish, I may get to look at it today where I'm off and its nice out. Also planning to glue my cracked front bumper and see how the glue holds. I picked up a pack of multi-grit sandpaper, and if it looks like it'll hold up well then I'll sand it smooth and touch it up. That's today's car plans.

My fill light came on today and I refilled with 89 octane and calculated the mileage on the gumout + 89 octane fill. Results:

Litres used: 37.516 (50L tank, reserve must be pretty big).

Distance traveled: 534 km (about 70% highway, 30% city)

Mileage 7L/100 km (33.6 mpg).

That's a modest increase above my previous average of 30 mpg. Now that I've done the "throttle to the firewall" runs to really pump the treated gas through her, my mileage should continue to increase as I return to my more conservative driving habits. Especially when I start replacing the tires as one of them just doesn't hold any more than 20 psi for more than a day or so and I don't always have time to inflate it. There's still a little bit of Gumout remaining in the unspent 12.5 litres of treated gas, but that shouldn't make much difference. I'll post updates on my next two fillups to show how its trending, and any notes on any performance changes.

-Spyder

Interesting - makes sense. STP usued to be some decent stuff, but like almost everyone else, changed formulations to be compliant with emissions and fatten the bottom line.

 

Yeah, Redline stuff is getting harder to find. I was fortunate that I was able to find several bottles being clearanced out at a Pep-Boys in Manassass, as was at a Honda Bike dealership, and stopped in Peb-Boys next door for some oil. They had them for $1 a bottle - bought all seven that they had left, but that was a couple of years ago. Now I'm down to a single bottle and will have to make a trip out to Summit Racing and see if my buddy can hook me up with a case there.

Ah, today I got some at Salvo, and the Advanced Auto manager sent me there after explaining. For what it's worth he said most of the part stores don't sell it because it's too expensive. I guess it's hard to sell Redline for 10 bucks when the rest have gone down to the 4-5 dollar range.

He also said speed shops carry it too, and then said to look at the price of Redline motor oil....wooow!

Interesting - makes sense. STP usued to be some decent stuff, but like almost everyone else, changed formulations to be compliant with emissions and fatten the bottom line.

Yeah, Redline stuff is getting harder to find. I was fortunate that I was able to find several bottles being clearanced out at a Pep-Boys in Manassass, as was at a Honda Bike dealership, and stopped in Peb-Boys next door for some oil. They had them for $1 a bottle - bought all seven that they had left, but that was a couple of years ago. Now I'm down to a single bottle and will have to make a trip out to Summit Racing and see if my buddy can hook me up with a case there.

Ah, today I got some at Salvo, and the Advanced Auto manager sent me there after explaining. For what it's worth he said most of the part stores don't sell it because it's too expensive. I guess it's hard to sell Redline for 10 bucks when the rest have gone down to the 4-5 dollar range.

He also said speed shops carry it too, and then said to look at the price of Redline motor oil....wooow!

Its funny but Redline motor oil is easy to find here, but I couldn't find their engine cleaners anywhere. Based on my experience with Gumout, the Redline should clean your engine out nicely. Well worth the extra $5. Based on what I've read on their motor oil, its nothing special. I find engine oil is more a matter of taste though anyway, since all of the good oils are pretty similar. Some people swear by Mobil, others Castrol, others Amsoil, etc. I used to be big on Castrol, and I'd still buy it it happened to be on sale at the right time. MaxLife has gotten a lot of good endorsements here and elsewhere, so that's what I'll mostly likely go with - unless there's a really good sale on something else I trust.

-Spyder

If you do some research on BobIsTheOilGuy, Regane, Techron, and the Redline stuff are highly regarded...Rislone and Restore not so much.

I use Regane and Techron and I like them.

fish, thanks for the reminder about PEA...I do remember hearing that a while ago and methinks I'll stick with Regane from now on.

Redline trans fluid is VERY good stuff! as far as in the tank cleaners, its a shame about techron, I let my mother know since she's been using it twice a year for years. she has a few bottles in stock but she'll switch over once those are used. Its funny, I tell people to use the stuff but never use it myself, but I also only buy 'good' gas from big names like BP, Amoco, Shell, etc for the Celica which makes me wonder if I really even would need to use it. Used Techron in the Geo a few times with positive results, the twice a year regiment like my mother.

Redline trans fluid is VERY good stuff! as far as in the tank cleaners, its a shame about techron, I let my mother know since she's been using it twice a year for years. she has a few bottles in stock but she'll switch over once those are used. Its funny, I tell people to use the stuff but never use it myself, but I also only buy 'good' gas from big names like BP, Amoco, Shell, etc for the Celica which makes me wonder if I really even would need to use it. Used Techron in the Geo a few times with positive results, the twice a year regiment like my mother.
I use(or used to use)techron at about every 10,000 miles and every time I do I feel the difference! Now I just(about 1500 miles ago)used S1 and do notice the same difference. Seems kind of free to me because I seem to get about ~1-2 mpg increase if fuel economy.

Although I will be pricing out Regane, you never know, I'm cheep as all get out(of here)!

If you do some research on BobIsTheOilGuy, Regane, Techron, and the Redline stuff are highly regarded...Rislone and Restore not so much.

 

I use Regane and Techron and I like them.

fish, thanks for the reminder about PEA...I do remember hearing that a while ago and methinks I'll stick with Regane from now on.

The bulk of my research was actually done on that site, although this is the only automotive forum I'm registered on and read at least every few days. Risalone was endorsed by a UK site I don't have the URL to, along with the author's explanation as to why (backed by some science), and Restore had a few mentions on bitog, but like you said, not rated as highly as the author products you mentioned.

My own list was compiled not based entirely on the "best" products out there, but more by availability constraints. Seafoan and Auto-Rx both have a lot of fans over there too, but having never seen either product here, they didn`t weigh into my own considerations. Redline was my top choice because I thought initially I could get it at either amazon.com or NAPA but struck out at both (Amazon won`t ship it to Canada). So I went with Gumout and it didn`t disappoint.

I`m seeing more visible sludge, however. Initially I just noticed it on the crankcase cover; yesterday when I checked the engine I could see significant loose deposits all over the crankcase through the fill hole. I`m assuming that its stuff the Gumout has cleaned out of the combustion chamber, but the oil filter isn`t trapping it. So unless they start to clear up soon (I`m still just into my first post-Gumout tank of gas), that`ll be the next thing I`m going to have to solve. I don`t want add anything to the crankcase until after I`ve changed the oil, but its still too soon for even a very early oil change. I also don`t want to do anything as harsh as an engine flush.

I still have a few thousand kms to think about it. The oil filter was changed at 99,100, and the oil (because of leaking drain plug I posted about elsewhere) was changed at about 102,500. Between the sludge and the Gumout cleaning, I`m leaning toward an early oil & filter change at about 106,000 km. That`ll be 3,500 km on this oil and almost 7,000 on the filter. And to be honest, were it not for the self-tapping plug in the basepan, I`d probably do it even sooner.

I`ve read good things here about cleaning out sludge through a series of short OCIs using Valvoline Maxlife. This is probably one of the slower ways to do it, but probably the gentlest and least likely to new create problems (like leaking seals). Alternative method along the same lines is to switch to a pure synthetic, but where this car has been dino only and already consumes some oil, I`m hesitant to fix one problem only to wind up with another by way of minor consumption turning into major leaking (not saying synth will do that, only that any risk of that is too much risk for me).

I still have some time to monitor the problem and figure out how to best deal with. I`m open to and welcome any and all suggestions.

-Spyder

Your oil filter may be full and on bypass. But, I believe what you are seeing is a cleanup, but not necessarily the combustion chamber. I don't think you will ever see that. I would get out in the 100f weather and change my oil and filter now, and then check again!

Redline trans fluid is VERY good stuff! as far as in the tank cleaners, its a shame about techron, I let my mother know since she's been using it twice a year for years. she has a few bottles in stock but she'll switch over once those are used. Its funny, I tell people to use the stuff but never use it myself, but I also only buy 'good' gas from big names like BP, Amoco, Shell, etc for the Celica which makes me wonder if I really even would need to use it. Used Techron in the Geo a few times with positive results, the twice a year regiment like my mother.

I use(or used to use)techron at about every 10,000 miles and every time I do I feel the difference! Now I just(about 1500 miles ago)used S1 and do notice the same difference. Seems kind of free to me because I seem to get about ~1-2 mpg increase if fuel economy.

Although I will be pricing out Regane, you never know, I'm cheep as all get out(of here)!

Its too early for me to give a meaningful comparison of pre and post mileage results, as I feel I need at least 3 post-Gumout tanks to do that. Both products advertise mileage gains as a benefit, both use PEA, and from what I`ve seen so far - even though I don`t have the data to confirm it, I`m inclined to believe that at least 1-2 mpg gain should be had with either. Where the guys on bitog who use these products typically do so once or twice a year, if you averaged the cost out for say two treatments a year (early spring and late fall probably being the optimal times to do them in colder climates like where I am), then even with only 1-2 mpg gain then I agree with you - its paying for itself through just the savings on gas.

Between the harsh climate here, the 25-30,000 km I anticipate driving per year, and the hit & miss maintenance done by the previous owner, based on my experience so far I`ll be going with the 2 treatments per year of Gumout, or Redline (if I ever find a place I can buy the latter locally).

-Spyder

On the Redline bottle it also recommends the BMW type method after a full bottle cleanup. It call for 1oz every tankful, but how do you measure it out and get it in the tank, that's what I want to know? If anybody has any suggestions, please do.

Your oil filter may be full and on bypass. But, I believe what you are seeing is a cleanup, but not necessarily the combustion chamber. I don't think you will ever see that. I would get out in the 100f weather and change my oil and filter now, and then check again!

Where the drain plug & basepan were both damaged when the oil & filter were changed by a quick lube, and the dealer I brought it into to document and correct, had to use

a self-tapping plug, I can`t change it yet. The only Toyota dealer here doesn`t have the oil pan for this car in stock and I haven`t gotten to ordering one myself yet, as I hadn`t anticipated having to change them this soon. They cautioned when they put the self-tapper in that they couldn`t say how long it`d hold up for. Maybe one oil change, Maybe 2. My worry is that when it comes out, they might not be able to seal it again with a self tapping drain plug. And then with no oil pan to replace this one with, I`m off road for at least a few days minimum. I do 7 shifts biweekly (six 12s and an 8), and I`m just about to go in for my second of three 12 hour nights, then two off and two on again. All I can do for now is keep checking the dipstick and looking into the crankcase hole in the hope that it starts to clear up some. If not, then I`ll have to order the oil pan - just in case, and have the oil change done a lot sooner than planned (I`m not setup yet to do them myself and finances are still pretty tight right now).

-Spyder

Your oil filter may be full and on bypass. But, I believe what you are seeing is a cleanup, but not necessarily the combustion chamber. I don't think you will ever see that. I would get out in the 100f weather and change my oil and filter now, and then check again!

Where the drain plug & basepan were both damaged when the oil & filter were changed by a quick lube, and the dealer I brought it into to document and correct, had to use

a self-tapping plug, I can`t change it yet. The only Toyota dealer here doesn`t have the oil pan for this car in stock and I haven`t gotten to ordering one myself yet, as I hadn`t anticipated having to change them this soon. They cautioned when they put the self-tapper in that they couldn`t say how long it`d hold up for. Maybe one oil change, Maybe 2. My worry is that when it comes out, they might not be able to seal it again with a self tapping drain plug. And then with no oil pan to replace this one with, I`m off road for at least a few days minimum. I do 7 shifts biweekly (six 12s and an 8), and I`m just about to go in for my second of three 12 hour nights, then two off and two on again. All I can do for now is keep checking the dipstick and looking into the crankcase hole in the hope that it starts to clear up some. If not, then I`ll have to order the oil pan - just in case, and have the oil change done a lot sooner than planned (I`m not setup yet to do them myself and finances are still pretty tight right now).

-Spyder

Sorry, don't want to bother you, but you could just change the oil filter for now. 4 bucks! And again I'm so cheep I have an oil extractor that I use when it's cold out.They suck the oil out from the filler tube.

Those clumps would scare the hell out of me!

Your oil filter may be full and on bypass. But, I believe what you are seeing is a cleanup, but not necessarily the combustion chamber. I don't think you will ever see that. I would get out in the 100f weather and change my oil and filter now, and then check again!

Where the drain plug & basepan were both damaged when the oil & filter were changed by a quick lube, and the dealer I brought it into to document and correct, had to use

a self-tapping plug, I can`t change it yet. The only Toyota dealer here doesn`t have the oil pan for this car in stock and I haven`t gotten to ordering one myself yet, as I hadn`t anticipated having to change them this soon. They cautioned when they put the self-tapper in that they couldn`t say how long it`d hold up for. Maybe one oil change, Maybe 2. My worry is that when it comes out, they might not be able to seal it again with a self tapping drain plug. And then with no oil pan to replace this one with, I`m off road for at least a few days minimum. I do 7 shifts biweekly (six 12s and an 8), and I`m just about to go in for my second of three 12 hour nights, then two off and two on again. All I can do for now is keep checking the dipstick and looking into the crankcase hole in the hope that it starts to clear up some. If not, then I`ll have to order the oil pan - just in case, and have the oil change done a lot sooner than planned (I`m not setup yet to do them myself and finances are still pretty tight right now).

-Spyder

Sorry, don't want to bother you, but you could just change the oil filter for now. 4 bucks! And again I'm so cheep I have an oil extractor that I use when it's cold out.They suck the oil out from the filler tube.

Those clumps would scare the hell out of me!

They are, but getting stuck with having to do a base pan swap before I could do it scared me more - but I hadn`t thought of going the route you mentioned. That`s what I`m going to do though first chance I get (one more night shift to do first). I`ll go the Max Life + Toyota OEM or NAPA oil filter (most likely, definitely won`t be using a Fram in any case). Where I just used the Gumout I`m going to avoid any oil additives and just do a short OCI (3,000 - 4,000 km) with the MaxLife.

Any suggestions on the easiest, and cheapest way, to safely get at the oil filter - I just have the OEM car for the spare and nothing else.

-Spyder

I was suggesting for now just to put a new oil filter on it. You won't be able to get at it from the top anymore, but if you're stuck ramps will work, or even park on a curb so one side of the car is high enough that you can crawl under the car and do the filter swap. Takes me 5-10 minutes, but don't use that method to change the oil just the filter. Your oil sounds like it's still good and just needs filtered. Remember this is a temporary solution that will make mechanics pull their hair out(those would be the ones that ruined your pan).

Btw, try turning the filter with just your hand.It's not supposed to be tighter than that and will save you 5 bucks on a filter wrench.

I was suggesting for now just to put a new oil filter on it. You won't be able to get at it from the top anymore, but if you're stuck ramps will work, or even park on a curb so one side of the car is high enough that you can crawl under the car and do the filter swap. Takes me 5-10 minutes, but don't use that method to change the oil just the filter. Your oil sounds like it's still good and just needs filtered. Remember this is a temporary solution that will make mechanics pull their hair out(those would be the ones that ruined your pan).

 

Btw, try turning the filter with just your hand.It's not supposed to be tighter than that and will save you 5 bucks on a filter wrench.

Took your advice and, after doing some comparison shopping online, settled on a a set of 12,000 lb. rated ramps. They`re made of some kind of plastic compound, but they should last forever and I had no trouble setting them up and getting the car up on them (no slippage, despite their light weight). $60 bucks for the pair at Canadian Tire, which is not bad considering they should easily pay for themselves over time, and I can do stuff under the car besides oil changes I couldn`t do before. For the filter I bought and installed a Mobil 1 Extended Performance oil filter. It was a bit pricey but if it delivers what it claims on the box to do, it should start trapping the loose sludge.

Between spillage when removing the old filter, and burn off from a few high speed highway runs on our hotter days (before the $100 speeding ticket), it was down 750 ml. I had confirmed after taking off the dealers lot when they did the band-aid fix on the ruined base pan, that it was topped completely with no over-fill. So this is just a mix of burn off and spillage during the filter change. Maybe half and half. I topped it to 3 quarters of the way to the fill line with what was left of my GTX High Mileage, so there`s a blend of GTX HM and whatever Toyota uses as their 5W30 shop oil. I`ll need to add some more before its due to be changed, and I`m debating throwing some pure Synthetic in there as top up oil. It`ll be a bit of a Frankenstein blend regardless of what I use, since it won`t be Castrol. Either Supertech (because its decent oil and its cheap), or the pure synthetc Valvoline. Most likely Supertech as I`ve been seeing 4L jugs of it lately at Walmart for the same price as plain Dyno from Castrol, Valvoline, etc.

-Spyder



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