We dropped the pan, when we did the initial cleaning with diesel. After the first startup and flushing (go way back in the thread) we dropped the pan and found a noticable amount of gunk on the oil pickup. We cleaned it all up on the bottom end again, and then went with auto RX treatment and frequent oil changes.

Bottom end after cleaning with #2 diesel, before flushing cycle:




Bottom end after all the flushing cycles (no driving, running on jack stands, front diff and CV's out of the rig), you can see some bits on the pickup screen that were caught:





As of today she is still going strong 1 year later. The thing never changed how it drove, same power before and after. But, it is cleaner inside, we know that for sure, given all the mess we went through to get it cleaned.

 

155k without a oil change is a testimony to toyota trucks. forget about fixing the problem... call toyota and they will probably buy the truck for advertising purposes.

 

is really no news. 33,000 miles since the De-Sludge-ification. Runs great. Great power, same gas mileage. Heck, I'm so happy with the Runner that I bought a TRD S/C to bolt on about 10,000 miles ago...

Big thanks to OutlawMike for his great garage, his expertise and creative solutions to crazy problems.

 

Great to hear.
You got your money's worth.

 

A real testimony to how long these engines can go, even with neglect.

 

Another update,

Still running strong, the S/C has been on it for 20k+ miles now. It goes back and forth to Tahoe up Highway 50 dozens of times a year, no problems at all with it.

And it has great power with the S/C, really woke that motor up.

 

OutlawMike,
thank you for this post, i have a question what is a S/C?supercharger?
I lost oil pressure friday after i changed my oil, I do a flush every other oil change.I have used castrol 10/30 and a Wix filter since i bought this 4Runner with 125,000 it was fine till about 190,000 then i went out started it up an there was an engine knock.I replaced this engine with ...count em four yard engines till i found one that ran . Needed a headjob,did that.And i have been babying it since,4Runner is now at 221,000 and i did a OME upgrade.complete kit from Rocky Road Outfitters. While i was at it it needed a oil change, i usually supplement with lucas to the castrol..iDecided to switch to Mobil 1 High milage.4.8 quarts it calls for. On the way home i noticed that i had no reading on the oil pressure gauge about three miles from home,looked at the other guages an the coolant temp was fine, there was no knocking or noise from the engine.I went out this morning an checked the oil level it was middle of that cross hatched area on the stick.
half the cross hatch was exposed. Engine was started for 20 minutes an i went an checked the guage..was reading the last line on the left but still reading good at idle,when i stepped on the gas pedal to 3000 rpms it was in the middle. I dont know what happened.But i religously change my oil at 3000,new filter every other change when flush is done.
I wonder what happened. I love my 2nd gen , i have a 2003 an i love the motor but it drives like a car.also it needs a OME lift too.The 1995 is my Daily Driver as well as my Flyfishing/Hunting rig. I was always a chevy/dodge guy.That was eight years ago i am a Toyota guy for life now. 1995 Runner,2003 4Runner,1998 Tacoma, all are SR5 4x4's.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

S/C is a supercharger

Check the wiring connection to the oil pressure sender, since it is right next to the oil filter it can sometimes get hit while changing the oil.

 

Quick update, since someone replied to this thread.

The motor is still going strong, 30k miles now with the S/C on it (60k miles since operation de-sludge). No problems at all and the oil has cleared up, it does not turn black shortly after an oil change. Jon and I suppose this means that the rest of the sludge has now been flushed out with the Mobil 1 and frequent oil changes.

Moral of story, change the oil, and inspect/clean/replace the PCV valve and hoses as needed.

Now to do a 3.4 swap into my '89....

Mike

 

Mt Goat,
will look into that ASAP. thank you for the info i have the 3.0 engine though i wonder if the 3.4 an 3.0 have this wiring hookup in the same area?

 

Yes, exactly the same area. In any case I wouldn't freak out too much until you screw in a real oil pressure testing gauge and measure the oil pressure... per the FSM.

The sender looks like this, this is 3.0 sender screwed into a 3.4 engine. I use the 3.0 sender because I have 1993 gauges in my dash. The open hole below and next to it is where I put an oil temp sender.

 

Say thank you Penzoil !! Shop vac the crud out.

 

That's good to hear, you did a good job of cleaning that mess up. Does it use much (or any) oil between changes?

 

doesn't use a drop of oil. I've run Mobil-1 since. Feel really fortunate to have not ran in to any further problems. And I'm really enjoying the supercharger.

 

Wow, that's a lot of sludge! Here's what it looks like when it crystallizes:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fbonwwkzbl...9-08%20001.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m56bogvh3k...9-08%20002.jpg

This was on a 2004 Saturn Vue that came in with a loud tapping noise after we had just changed the oil. Most of the cam hold downs were broken and the cams were just flopping around! Notice how dry everything is... Fortunately the guy had just bought the car and had gotten an extended warranty!

 

Another quick update, I was PM'd about the motor. Still running with the S/C installed. I think Jon is approaching 200k miles on the motor, and something like 50k miles since we put the S/C on. Jon was just up in Tahoe over the weekend for a ski trip, it pulls like a champ up those hills with the S/C.

No problem at all, runs great, does not use any oil. All the crazy stuff we did to get the sludge out and clean the motor seems to have worked and not done any harm. Good 'ole diesel #2 and a shop vac, works every time...

 

Jon just hit 200k on his 4Runner this morning on the way to work. Sludgy is still going strong! The S/C is still on it, and it just spent the holidays up in Tahoe.

 

Gents,

Jon's Runner is still going strong with the supercharger. Recently it developed some valve ticking on the passenger side. So, last Friday we pulled the passenger side valve cover to measure the valve clearances. We ended up replacing 3 shims and swapped two of those three to other valves. All five were exhaust valves that had too much clearance. No more ticking, solved that problem pretty easily.

It was the first time that we had popped a valve cover since the engine slug saga years back. Below are pics of the passenger side valve cover on Friday night, another from after the cleaning job, and another of the sludge as we found it. Jon has been changing his oil with Mobil 1 synthetic and we have kept up on the PCV maintenance.

Pic from Friday night, no sludge, nice tan color:



Pic of what it was like when we buttoned it up years back, after cleaning with #2 diesel and a shop vac:



Pic of what it looked like when we pulled the valve cover and found the sludge during a valve cover gasket and timing belt change:

 

Gonna have to stop calling her Sludgie!! Great work...

 

I'm glad you updated this. I was showing this thread to a friend the other day. Glad it's still going strong