Hello good Scotty! Hello everyone in the community!
Hope you all are having a good day!
My 2003 Corolla makes a noise. It comes whenever I increase the load on the engine. It subsides if I add extra oil to the crankcase. The engine burns 1/10 of a quart for every 1500 miles
It is coming from the head of the engine, where a hose from intake meets the head.
Most noticeable after cold start. Goes away completely after engine fully warms up!
Please help!
It definitely seems to have a little noise but cold start you’ll always have some I would say you should let it warm up for a few minutes before driving so you can actually warm and circulate the oil and not rev it cold like that
Probably needs a new timing chain, guides and tensioner.
When I fully warm it up, the noise goes away completely. Noise started after I changed the oil, 1 oil change ago. I added some Seafoam in the crankcase (3oz), some MMO (10oz) and then, after driving for 300 miles I changed the oil.
I've replaced the tensioner. There is a little bit of play in the chain, perhaps 1/2 inch. The sludge on the old tensioner tells me it extended by 1 or 2 teeth to compensate for the stretched chain.
What kind and viscosity oil do you use in that engine? This noise could be caused by the valve head not getting lubricated enough when the engine starts. I'd try changing the oil to one with a bit lower "cold" viscosity index (e.g. 5W-30 instead of 10W-30).
I'm using 5W-30, Mobil1 GF-5 or GF-6A, whatever is on sale, along with WIX XP. I just did a few engine oil flushes (ran SeaFoam with new oil and filter x2, followed by LiquiMoly Proline engine flush x1, drain and new oil and filter again). I do not hear the noise when the engine is warm anymore, however it is louder on cold start.
I think you are right that its not getting enough lubrication as the noise is coming from above the cylinder 3, and when I opened the valve cover, the camshaft in that area was slightly more gunk'd up and had more old, dirty oil on it
In that case it'd be better to try and clean up that gunk on the valves and check/adjust valve gaps (since you've already opened the head). After that I'd recommend you to run the car on a better oil (that has more cleaning capabilities) for one or two oil change intervals. That's what I'm doing right now on a freshly-bought used car.
As for the cleaning capabilities, use oils with cleaner synthetic base and higher TBN, so it can help you clean the engine block. Oils based on Group IV and V base stock (PAO and Esthers) with high TBN can clean a lot of gunk off fast.
I've checked out some MSDS for such oils and most of them have a mixture of heavily refined mineral base oils and Deocenes (?) aka PAO. What oil brand and name do you use? I was also recommended to use ACEA A3/B4 oils. What do you think about that?
Not sure about older Corollas, but for modern cars ACEA A5/B5 is usually preferred over A3/B4 or C3. "Heavily refined mineral base oils" sounds like hydrocracked base stock (aka Group III, HC-Synthetic and VHVI). These are not as bad, but still, full-PAO base stock is much more preferable, albeit more expensive.
I personally chose Amsoil Signature Series as the oil to clean and "rejuvenate" the engine (if the word "rejuvenate" can be applied to it this way :D). Currently using 0W-30 as my winter oil and planning to change it to 5W-30 when spring arrives here. The only downside is its price — for me it costs almost twice as much as any other oil, mostly because it's a small-scale import here in Russia. Might be much cheaper in the US, from what I understand. 🙂
You don't have to use Amsoil too, basically you just need to check its MSDS and look for known good oils with similar composition. Any motor oil enthusiast forum might be a great help with this — check "Bob is the Oil Guy" for example, I heard that this is one of the best English-speaking oil forums.
And I thought that someone in the West now knows as much about PAO as all those Russian YouTubers. Thanks for the help!
А я уже подумал что кто-то на западе знает о ПАО, естерах и кряк! Но нет, Российский Ютуб впереди планеты всей!
Спасибо за помощь. Я живу в Канаде и масло тут относительно дешевое, главное знать где покупать и когда скидки.
I don't really watch any oil-related YouTubers, but Russian Oil-Club forum is my good friend. 🙂
Greetings from Eastern Siberia to North American Siberia! 😀
Run Royal Purple for a couple oil changes. Oil is cheaper than a new engine.
To avoid damaging your engine, change the oil more often (stick to the manufacturer's recommendation for oil viscosity). You may benefit from adding Lucas oil additive.
I think I will definitely benefit from it.
After performing three engine oil flushes, the engine does sound a little better. I will continue to try to flush out the system.
Using Lucas will be my last resort before I give up on the poor thing.
I have changed the oil 6 times in the past 9k miles, in attempts to flush out the gunk
Use fully synthetic oil and use good brand. I think you do but just to emphasize.
I'm been trying to find a good, truly full synthetic oil. So far, just because the temperatures are warm enough and my drain intervals are short, I have been using Group 3 oils
I have that exact car... it is a bit noisy when cold but it has never gone more than 3K between oil changes. I would guess that car rarely had oil changes. Seafoam I think not great for that, do the Gumout stuff. I also find that it really does need to be warmed up when it is cold. Same with my old Rav.
Thanks for the pointer. I've only been able to find Gumout fuel system cleaner. Is that good to do inside the crankcase as well?
Yeah, my car was owned by three ladies before 🙂 🙂
After running SeaFoam and FRESH oil for 15-20 mins, the oil came out brown, similar in color to the deposits in the engine