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soft sludge on oil baffle

4K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  RTexasF 
#1 ·
I changed oil in my 2006 RAV6 last weekend. I noticed some dark oil on the oil fill baffle plate. While I poured new oil in (Penzoil Platinum), the "old oil" didn't get rinsed off. I touched it with my finger and it wiped out, it was super soft but nevertheless solid. Too late to take a picture. The thing is, I consider my oil changes intervals very conservative.

I used to change oil every 6 months at dealership under warranty. That amounted to 3-5k miles depending how much the car was driven. After warranty expired, I change oil every 12 months with quality synthetic oils. The car is driven even less lately, so it amounts to the same 3-5k miles intervals. The last interval was exactly 5k miles. Most driving is city with some hwy trips in between. Rarely, boat towing.

I never considered the 2GR-FE engine a sludger. Have you seen anything similar in RAV4?
 
#2 ·
Your post sent me out to check the situation on my '11 V6, since nearly all of its use is for short trip, small town driving, and only rarely for longer distances. It has about 10k miles on it. There is zero sludge on the baffle plate - looks absolutely clean. Oil and filter are changed each 6 months by the dealer even though the vehicle possibly could qualify as being under severe usage, oil used is conventional 5w-30.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Yeah, not many miles but relatively hard miles since nearly all of them have been accumulated on short trips (average maybe 2.5 miles per trip) in this cool climate area. That should be a recipe for sludge formation - it certainly would have been before detergent oils arrived. I don't think that I'll ever get to the 50k mile mark! :wink

I've worked on engines which has 75k miles on them and were sludge-free and engines with 5k miles which had sludge. Mileage by itself isn't the major determinant.
 
#5 ·
Just took a look at mine at 38,000 miles. No sign of sludge, just a nice thin film of clean oil. Just had my semi-annual oil change one month ago at the dealership. Averaging about 600 miles a month since I owned it.

 
#6 ·
JuneBug,
have you tried to touch it to see if any varnish wipes off?

Here is mine. The part on the left is soft varnish/sludge wiped with finger, the part on the right is still left intact. I illuminated the inside with LED flash light to get more details.

 
#7 ·
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