- This topic has 31 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Topic
-
The car is a 2002 Toyota echo, has about 230k kms, dad was driving home from work when the check engine light went off, about 15 minutes later the oil light came on. Immediately pulled over to check oil level, everything was good, no noise coming from engine that would indicate something is wrong. Drove it local all the way home without an issue. Scanned it and the codes were p0304 (misfire cylinder 4) and p1349 ( possible bad ocv or something wrong with cam). Started it up this morning the lights were on solid. I have watched Eric’s video on testing oil pressure unfortunately I do not have access to a tester. I checked spark plug 4 everything looked good. I am currently attempting to remove ocv to check for operation however it seems to be stuck in the engine. Is there anything else I should be checking?
-
Replies
-
the engine lost oil pressure, the oil controlling the variable cam sprocket emptied out and the camshaft the code is for lost timing. The 1349 set when the cam position sensor saw that the camshaft was not advancing properly (because without oil pressure, the cam cannot be advanced by the oil control valve). then the P0304 set because that happen to be the cylinder that misfired as a result of the cam timing being incorrect.
Why the oil pressure was low when the oil level is good is what needs to be diagnosed, and you’ll be pulling the oil pan off to inspect the oil pump pickup for clogging if you want to go any farther with that.
Thanks for the reply! Ok so I couldn’t get the ocv out and I felt like I was going to break it. So I put everything back together. I forgot the disconnecting the battery would reset all the lights so now I’ll have to drive it around until the lights come back on. If there was an issue with oil pressure would the light not have come on once I started the car?
The oil light will come on whenever the oil pressure is too low. The fact that it is not on all the time really suggests a clogged oil pickup. It could be sludge chunks or silicone gasket pieces in there that have to get pulled against the screen just the right way for it to be starved enough to cause a large pressure/volume drop. I wouldn’t bother trying to drive it until the check engine light comes on again, as you know what the code was and why it set. I certainly wouldn’t recommend trying to drive it to get the oil light to come on again, as you are risking engine damage anytime that light is on with the engine running. Oil pressure senders fail constantly and make a oil light come on when everything is fine, but your P1349 is pretty much a confirmation that there is an actual oil pressure issue happening.
Ok so unfortunately I didn’t get to do much today due to the weather, I read somewhere that once the engine is warm and idling, if you disconnect the ocv the idle should not change if it’s working, I did that and nothing changed. My plans for tomorrow (if weather permits) is to manually apply 12 volts to the ocv to see if it lowers idle or stalls (it should if it works). I will also drop the oil pan, if I do see any sludge build up can I just use a rag and some brake clean or am I supposed to use some special cleaner?
I don’t believe you need to bother looking at the OCV. The code is for that because that’s what the computer thinks is the problem. The computer doesn’t know that the oil warning light was on, and therefore it thinks that the camshaft stopped advancing because the OCV isn’t working right. It has no way of knowing, like we do, that there was a time of low oil pressure/starvation. I will also say that I think it’s incredible that OBD2 does not look at oil pressure.
If you find the oil pump pickup is dirty, pick all the crap out of it and then rinse it with brake cleaner. Expect to remove the pickup tube for this. The tube gasket can be re-used unless it’s obviously damaged.
I just want to mention something related to oil pressure problems. When you’re pouring oil out of a bottle that has a peelable seal over the spout, make sure to peel it off completely before jamming the bottle into the oil filler opening.
A friend of mine was having intermittent oil pressure issues on his Harley. When we removed his oil tank, we found several of those seals inside it, where they would occasionally block the oil feed to the engine.
Thank you guys very much! I believe I found the problem, I dropped the oil pan and found debris, but not gasket material, doesnt look like sludge. Looks like oil filter material, its a plasticy feeling sheet, covering the entire oil pan, looks like a chunk broke off and got sucked up blocking the tube.
Very very strange. Is it possible to get a photo of this plasticky stuff? Are you using any oil additives?
No oil additives, just castrol gtx high mileage 5w-30 and Toyota oil filter OR fram filter depending on if my dad makes it to the dealer or not. Is there a way to post pictures here? It feels like a rubber/plastic, plastic outside but solid rubber looking inside. I took off the pick up tube and tried to clean it but I shake it and little chunks of the debris keep falling out. Should I just get a new pick up tube?
Alright well, Eric’s not going to be happy but I had to use rtv, with today being Canada day Toyota wasn’t open and according to partsource the oil pan doesn’t have a gasket, it used rtv from factory (which I believe since there was no physical gasket when I removed it).I am waiting on the rtv to dry (allow 1 hour), I’m a little nervous hoping nothing leaks, can anyone verify if it is safe to start the car before the 24 hour curing period for the rtv? It says one hour to dry but 24 hrs to fully cure.
RTV is fine if it’s used properly. If you have a gasket, then you likely don’t need RTV. If you don’t have a gasket, RTV was made for that type of thing.
Good find with the junk in the pan. If your oil light comes on, you should really do what you can to check the actual pressure first thing. As you found out, that was the source of the problem. The testers are cheap, you can pick them up for around $20.
As for posting a pic.
For future reference with oil psi problems.
Thanks for the updates. Keep us posted on any new developments.
Put everything back together, no leaks detected, took it out for a test drive. Everything ran smooth, alot quieter than before. Does anyone know where that material came from that was inside the oil pan?
That has me completely mystified. I’d like to know what it is too.
My first thought is that Toyota might have used a cheap plastic windage tray in the bottom of the engine, but I’m not finding any evidence of that at all on the web. All I can think of is that someone had the pan off in the past, and for reasons incomprehensible to the average human mind, thought it would be a good idea to add a plastic baffle to the pan.
Well, celebrating time is over. Decided to go for a road trip tonight, drove perfect for the first I’d say 30 kms, after that the oil light came on (no cel this time) and it flickered, not in a pattern but almost like a faulty sensor. I don’t believe it is a faulty sensor because shortly after the light stayed on solid for about a minute in which it sounded like a diesel. The light came off and it sounded perfectly fine again. Checked oil, good, no leaks. Drove it almost all the way home and then it happened again. Could it be remainders of the debris in the system? I should also mention that I did change the oil and filter before going on the road trip (put a fresh batch in after sealing up the pan, flushed it after a test drive and put new oil in again as well as new filter)
After reading this I believe the chunks to be timing chain guides, not oil filter material. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/887774-black-plastic-pieces-in-my-oil-pan.html
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.