Quick tip diagnosing P0341 on Toyota 1.8 engines

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When you find this code on a Toyota 1.8 engine, the first thing you should do for yourself is pull the oil filler cap and look to see if somebody punched out the baffle underneath the cap. The nagging affliction with these cars is that the baffle makes it a nuisance to add a quart of oil. Given these engines are prone to burning oil, it makes it very tempting to punch that baffle in when you’re the guy always adding the quart. The problem with punching that baffle is that the shrapnel will either break off or bend down far enough that it’s interfering with the cam sensor & tone wheel directly beneath causing the code. I was dumbstruck to have found this code twice this year with both cars having the baffles punched.

There is a specific oil fill funnel you can buy just for your Toyota engine and that funnel will allow you to dump your quart of oil in as fast as you can regardless of that baffle. The only drawback is that they’re expensive for a funnel. They’ll most commonly sell in the $25 to $45 range. Spend the money if you check your own oil and you know you’re going to keep your Toyota for a long time. Google Toyota oil fill funnel and do your own shopping if you like. If you’re still content to just break that baffle, spend the extra time to pull the valve cover off and get the entre baffle out cleanly. Blocking that cam sensor will cause a longer crank time, stalling, and the occasional no start.

Thanks for reading!

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[Its me]

Good tip.. I have rebuilt several 1.8s before, but have never seen this. Will keep my eye out though, as I often buy my 1.8s from the pick n pull and rebuild them.. Quite frankly it doesn’t surprise me that people would try this, given that these 1.8s can be real oil burners due to the oil return holes in the piston ring grooves were manufactured too small. The 3 speed versions of the 1998-2002 Corollas were most prone to this, due to a higher rpm at highway speeds. FWIW I always replace the piston heads instead of drill out the old ones.

Thanks…

[Author]

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