I had done the cleaning phase probably a year ago and I did not have any issues at the time. I did this because I noticed what looked like caked on oil where you put the oil in the car. I also did this because when I had my oil changed he said that it came out very black and took about 15 minutes for all of it to come out. Since then I have done the maintenance dose except for this last oil change. I went to long and my oil light came on. I had the oil changed and about 200 miles later my oil light came on again and so did my check engine light but that does not come on until my oil light is solid and not flashing. The code is P1349 which deals with the VVTi. The strange thing about this is that this does not happen when I drive around town as it just happens if I drive across town. I would say over 10 miles it starts to happen. It is strange as that is when the oil is running at it's best. I had a pinging sound when this happened but it has since gone away. I do not know if a cleaning would fix this problem or not. Below I have pasted some information that I got from another website. I may have to replace this but hopefully a good cleaning would fix it but need to find it first.
I found in the Haynes manual that I might need to take out the oil control valve filter and clean it. I am also supposed to test that it is getting enough ohms to it. I would think that as the oil comes through the engine that it cleans this but maybe not.
"VVT-i system varies the valve timing depending on engine load - if you are driving hard (accelerating) the oil control valve (OCV) will adjust valves timing to overlap slightly to not at all. This will allow more air/fuel mixture in, making more power. Driving at high speed or cruising, the valve overlap can be maximized for better emissions and fuel economy (do to enhanced breathing and cylinder filling).
All this happens on your intake valves - timing is varied according to engine revs, throttle position, engine coolant temperature, and intake air volume. If the actuator is stuck or jammed, it could be stuck somewhere in between - anything from very poor low speed performance but fine at highway speeds to very good low speed performance, but the engine chokes and dies at high speed.
I say one of the possible culprits - because the code is just an indication of what section of the flow of logic to the engine computer failed. It may be that code P1349 is caused by a bad coolant temperture switch or throttle position switch - depends on what other codes are stored at the time. If it just P1349 and no other stored or pending codes - then it could be a timing issue, VVT system, OCV, or ECM/electrical problem."
jm dennis has made the wise decision to do another Auto-Rx Cleaning based on an application tailored for him.
After many e-mails it seems another application of Auto-Rx with faithful following of instructions is going to
get rid of the gremlins.
A lot of car owners are not techs and understanding there are internal sensors that also get dirty or sludged up and will emit false readings until they are cleaned and rinsed.
They do not portray accurate condition of the component, however if you don't know that it creates great anxiety.
I am sorry as you are right I did not mention what kind of car that I have. I have a 2000 Toyota Corolla with almost 80,000 miles on it. The only things that I have done on this car since buying it is the tires, the breaks and oil changes. I believe that the car had about 50,000 miles when I bought it and before the used car dealer bought the car it was used as a rental car. I have not had the PCV valve replaced. I do have a Haynes manual so may do it myself but have not really done any thing myself other then replace the air filter and also clean my mass airflow sensor but other then this I have not done any thing. I wish that I knew more but I do not. This is why I was glad to learn about the product and to try it as you do not have to know much about the car for it to work.
It sounds like the variable valve timing system your engine has relies on accurate / precise control over oil flow (pressure). ARX is the perfect product to help you maintain the efficiency of your engine's oil system. First however we need to clean up what ever contaminants have built up over the last 80,000 miles.
Without a oil analysis or perhaps a peak under your valve cover it's hard to say what you're really up against.
Once you've completed the individualized cleaning program Frank has come up for you I would recommend that you consider going on a ARX maintenance program. One bottle of ARX used 3 oz. at a time is enough to take you through several oil changes so it's really not a big expense.
I would stick with Toyota's oil viscosity recommendation, be it 5W-30 or what have you, but tailor your oil change intervals to your driving patterns. Use Toyota's recommendation as a guideline. Change your oil more frequently if you do a lot of stop and go driving or otherwise fall under a severe use category as outlined in your owners manual.
I put in 2 bottles tonight and the oil light came on and is staying on. I am sure that in time this will go out. It probably realizes that it has to much oil in it. I should have considered this before I put them in. I just wanted to try the quick fix for my problem. I am sure it will work as I will just have to give it time to do it's thing.
If you have a hose on your pcv you might want to change it or blow it out and make sure it is not clogged up, a mechanic once told me that you can put a new pcv on, but if the hose is restricted with crud a new pcv is useless, unless of course you do not have a hose, but if you do check it out.
When I came home tonight my mom noticed that every thing in my trunk smelled really bad. I had brought home some items from Target. I am only 90 miles into the cleaning but was wondering if any one has a suggestion of some thing I can do. I know that the problem is probably the oil control valve plunger that is not allowing enough air flow through but not sure. She has allergies and I do not want to do any thing to upset this. I had my car smogged about a year ago and it passed with flying colors but that was a year ago. Would the replacement of the PCV valve help with this. It is only smelling in my trunk. I would like to know if a fuel additive would help this as well and what you would suggest? I know that I need to give it time to work but I do not want my mother to have to suffer each time I bring some thing home in the trunk.
Your trunk should be closed from exhaust fumes. If you can't smell anything when sitting inside or standing outside your vehicle with the engine running perhaps something has spilled inside the trunk causing the bad odor?
The first thing that I would check out is whether or not you have an exhaust leak. Exhaust gases should never enter the trunk or more importantly the driver compartment of the car. Carbon Monoxide entering the driver compatment can be sickening or even deadly. None of this has anything to do with Auto-Rx.
I don't know of the Corolla product and vintage, but if it has a filtration system for air flow in and out of the driver compartment, I would change that out.
Auto-Rx is pretty green chemistry, I can't see that it would have any impact on you Mom's allergies. Unless she was allergic to lanolin.
Does this car smoke excessively from oil burning? Does it run excessively rich from fuel/air mix out of whack. Is it running rich from improper thermostat functionality?
I would get a qualified person to check into the engines PCV system for operation.
Have you spilled a bunch of oil or ARX when adding to the valve cover filler neck? If so some of this may be burning off the outside of the motor while you drive. If so you may be getting some fumes blowing through the firewall. If so clean it up.
I was not saying that auto-rx was the cause of the problem. What I wanted to know if their was like a fuel additive that may help this problem. I do not believe that I am creating a lot of smoke but the end of my tail pipe is pretty black. I am probably not getting the right air flow because I believe that the oil control valve plunger is not allowing the right mixture into the engine because of the sludge. I know over time this will be fixed but I wanted to do some thing else along with it so that I can actually use my trunk when I need to. This has only happened with in the last week or so.
I am not sure what you mean by an oil control valve regulating the oil flow in the engine.
But I am very certain whether the car is running poorly or not it should not make the interior of your trunk smell.
If you think that you have fouled fuel injectors, you may want to try a bottle of Techron in the gas tank. Techron fuel injector cleaner is available at most auto parts stores, such as Advance Auto. Dirty injectors do not spray a nice pattern of fuel and thus can lead to poor combustion.
A real black tail pipe is usually a result of running a very rich fuel air mix. Or it can be from excessive oil burning. Auto-Rx will likely solve the oil burning from ring pack cleansing. It will likely help you burn the fuel more completely by regaining lost compression from stuck rings as well.
I found out that my fuel filter is in the gas tank so I will be be replacing this. The PCV Valve is metal and Toyota said is replaced as needed. I do not have a timing belt which is nice and just need the spark plugs as I have coils so no need for a distributor cap. The main reason I am writing is because of the fact that I went across town on Sunday and through that whole trip my oil light and my check engine light did not go on once. It was less then 300 miles into the clean. I know it may go on again as it does more cleaning but I was quite happy with the results so far. Since I used 2 bottles I have less then 700 miles until the rinse phase. I will probably replace my spark plugs this weekend and it will be interesting to see if they are clean.
