Dip stick shows oil. Oil filter and sump plug removed...

Xcellor

OK so I decided to start looking after the servicing of my car, oil change, filter, spark plugs etc since it didnt appear to be so hard.

The car is 2002 toyota avensis 1.6 which has always seemed to use more oil than what I would consider normal but at just over 200,000 miles I am not overly concerned...

Yesterday evening I decided to change the filter and oil so I jacked up and removed the oil filter, black oil came out slowly but stopped after around 200ML! I removed the oil cap and dip stick, nothing more just small drip. Then I decided to unscrew sump plug, small amount of oil but nothing near....

The strange thing is when I dip the car its still showing oil... and the oil on the dip stick is not black. I'm thinking there is some build up of sludge in the sump area but I wouldn't have expected it was enough to cause this behaviour.

What are my options? Is there any tool brush/bristle or something that I could push into the sump hole?

Car does about 60 miles each day, no noises in engine, fuel consumption 38-40 mpg. Gets driven every day.

Sam Kade

Are you sure it's the sump not the gearbox?

Xcellor

Sam Kade wrote: »

Are you sure it's the sump not the gearbox?

I'm relatively sure but if it wasn't I would have still expected with just the oil filter removed for it to be splurting oil out.

jimgoose

Xcellor wrote: »

I'm relatively sure but if it wasn't I would have still expected with just the oil filter removed for it to be splurting oil out.

That would depend on the exact position of the filter on that particular engine. Around 200ml sounds right for the contents of the filter alone.

Xcellor

jimgoose wrote: »

That would depend on the exact position of the filter on that particular engine. Around 200ml sounds right for the contents of the filter alone.

OK but providing I removed the sump plug from the engine block which I'm almost certain I did where is the rest of the oil... I'm thinking sludge in sump?

jimgoose

Xcellor wrote: »

OK but providing I removed the sump plug from the engine block which I'm almost certain I did where is the rest of the oil... I'm thinking sludge in sump?

Assuming that yes, it is starting to look like it. But I'm thinking if the sludge situation was that bad the motor would have gone for a Grogan by now. I'd be inclined to drop the sump and have a proper look.

Xcellor

jimgoose wrote: »

Assuming that yes, it is starting to look like it. But I'm thinking if the sludge situation was that bad the motor would have gone for a Grogan by now. I'd be inclined to drop the sump and have a proper look.

Ive had a look at

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-to-remove-oil-pan-on-toyota-vvti-engine-video-73677.html#agal_0

But this has the whole engine block out , is it possible to remove the oil pan/sump in situ?

Avns1s

Xcellor wrote: »

Ive had a look at

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-to-remove-oil-pan-on-toyota-vvti-engine-video-73677.html#agal_0

But this has the whole engine block out , is it possible to remove the oil pan/sump in situ?

Before you take off the sump, could you post a pic of what you actually removed and from where you removed it?

Toyotafanboi

the 1.6 petrol avensis gearbox doesn't have a dipstick on the gearbox.

oil will look a lot cleaner on the dipstick generally than it does in a bucket because it is much thinner.

my guess is you have the car jacked up very high to get underneath it, so the oil has shifted away from the sump drain plug. leave your oil basin under the car and let the car jack back down and see does any more come out.

edit: also, have you actually quantified what came out exactly? iirc that avensis holds 3.9 liters, so say the car wasn't exactly full before you begun, say it had 3.4 liters in the sump, then you let approx. 200ml out the filter housing, you then probably only had around 3.0l in the sump. 3 liters doesn't look like much when it's in a 10-12 liter basin.

Xcellor

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

the 1.6 petrol avensis gearbox doesn't have a dipstick on the gearbox.

oil will look a lot cleaner on the dipstick generally than it does in a bucket because it is much thinner.

my guess is you have the car jacked up very high to get underneath it, so the oil has shifted away from the sump drain plug. leave your oil basin under the car and let the car jack back down and see does any more come out.

Yeah this could be. I did have the car jacked up quite a bit since I wanted to identify everything more easily. Will repeat, weather permitting this evening.

Thanks for input.

Xcellor

Avns1s wrote: »

Before you take off the sump, could you post a pic of what you actually removed and from where you removed it?

Will hopefully do this evening and post pics.

bonzodog2

Might be worth ensuring the oil filler cap on top of the engine is removed, it might be causing an airlock/vacuum effect

cletus

Is the sump plug at the back of the sump? If so, I can't see jacking height being to much of an issue

Seth Brundle

Xcellor wrote: »

OK but providing I removed the sump plug from the engine block which I'm almost certain I did where is the rest of the oil... I'm thinking sludge in sump?

The engine block?
Can you describe whereabout exactly the screw that you removed was?

Xcellor

Ok job done. Newbie mistake thought i didnt need to take out sump screw completely. When i did it was more whooshing oil dip stick showed empty. Put in 3 litres which brought up to happy middle will check tomorrow and top up if required.

I used some wynns oil treatment to see if it helps any with oil consumption.

Engine running smooth will take for a spin just to be sure.

Thanks for the replies. Id defo say to anyone doubting doing an oil change its quite straightforward just put down old carpet and have a flat basin and its fine.

Will change sparks tomorrow...