Hi Frank,
I spoke with xxxx at length. The Toyota shop cleaned the pan and pick up
screen. She drove the car 30 minutes on the way home and the check
engine/low oil warning came on and the valves started rapping.
She checked the oil level. There was no oil on the dipstick. So they added a
quart and started back towards the dealer. About half way they had to add a
second quart to make it back to the dealer.
What I am afraid of is that the oil gets pumped up to the valve train and
puddles under the valve cover, but can't drain back down by gravity to the
oil pan. The flow up to the top end is fine but the drain holes are plugged.
So the oil pan ends up empty and all the oil is sitting up in the valve
train. The rapping is likely the loss of pressure to pump up the hydraulic
lifters or there is so much oil up in the valve cover that it is being
sucked out the PCV valve and cuasing the motor to run poorly.
I asked her to have the dealer check and see if the oil can drain out the
heads at a fast enough rate to be able to run the car long enough to get it
home. Then she can run the Fast Track dose to see if we can't improve
circulation a little bit at a time. Her average drive is only 15 minutes.
Rich
