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SolaraGuy.com • View topic - Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????
Stock talk about the Generation 2 and 2.5 Toyota Solara which was released in 2004-2007

Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????

Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????

Postby ahausheer » Tue Nov 16, 2010 5:30 pm

I recently bought a 2004 (gen 2) Solara V6. It has had oil changes (at stealership) every 5 K since new. It has 57 K on it now and drives perfectly. The oil, oil cap (underside), and dipstick, look perfect. But there is this hard crispy gritty stuff sort of baked on where you pour the oil in, it's like fine sand and evenly deposited about 2 mm thick. This stuff it located where the end of an oil funnel would rest if you were pouring in oil. It is flaky and I can break it off if I touch it why my finger or with a oil funnel. It is not Sludge, its hard. What the f is this stuff?????

Also on a side note, when you remove the oil filter (which faces downward) there is a piece that is specifically designed to help guide the oil so it doesn't spill/ drip all over the place. Well that sluice (if I can call it that) was PERFECTLY clean, I mean, like new from the factory, no grit, dirt, oil residue etc etc. I changed the oil filter recently and there is no way in hell you can remove the filter and then clean that sluice without leaving a little bit of residue behind. The filter is very tricky to remove.

Is it fathomable that the dealer NEVER changed the filter, is there any way I could prove this??????

Please help, thanks.
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Re: Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????

Postby Black Bob » Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:30 am

God knows what could be on the outside of an oil port rim--first guess would be where oil was spilled over the years from a shaky hand. Oil dripped on any exterior part of the engine will bake eventually to a nice black gunk and with being exposed outside the car oil will pick up dirt, bugs, etc. What is important is what you found on the dipstick and the actual oil. So far I wouldn't lose any sleep over the gunk found outside the oil port rim. As for the "sluice" I'm not sure what you're talking about exactly but any part that is located after the oil is filtered will be hella clean, as such any part that is before the filter will be dirty--think air filter: top of housing clean, bottom housing dirty. Again, this "sluice" wouldn't keep me up at night.

Dealers (especially "used" ones) are not required to change the oil or even do one second of maintenance on a car they're selling. When buying used, the 'used car warranty' is very important.
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Re: Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????

Postby SoSleek » Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:41 pm

Mine has the same crap. Dunno what it is, but my car only has 40k on it. It's a 2004 with 3.3L. I've never worried about it, and just tried to be careful of not disturbing it, lol. As for the "Sluice"....I am with you. I have changed my oil on my car about 7-8 times now. The first few times it was messy, but after picking up some car specific tricks there's not much to clean up after...but there is no way in HELL it could stay 100% clean. Not even close. How heavy was the damn filter when you took it off? lol. Thing was prolly PACKED with sh!t.
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Re: Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????

Postby SoSleek » Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:45 pm

Say they did clean the Sluice every time...check the belly pan/engine bay shrouds. The surface facing upward toward the filter ALWAYS gets dripped on when I change my oil. Check there. If that's spotless as well you got some OCD techs, or either that...the opposite.
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Re: Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????

Postby ahausheer » Mon Nov 22, 2010 8:04 pm

Didn't see any oil on the belly pan/ engine bay but thinking about it, it is super unlikely that the oil filter was never changed in all 11 oil changes. I mean even a bad dealer wont have all of their techs be that bad all of the time. They must have just been pretty dam clean. Anyway thanks for the replies, this site rocks. I guess the hard crispy stuff (on the oil splash guard, is it called?) is just carbon deposits from oil vapor.
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Re: Hard Crusty Baked on Grit under oil cap????

Postby SoSleek » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:26 pm

ahausheer wrote:Didn't see any oil on the belly pan/ engine bay but thinking about it, it is super unlikely that the oil filter was never changed in all 11 oil changes. I mean even a bad dealer wont have all of their techs be that bad all of the time. They must have just been pretty dam clean. Anyway thanks for the replies, this site rocks. I guess the hard crispy stuff (on the oil splash guard, is it called?) is just carbon deposits from oil vapor.


It's possible the engine bay was steam cleaned as well. That would easily get rid of any grime/build up from oil changes and road grime. As for the build up just being carbon deposits...sounds correct to me.
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