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Service overdue

Tiny
MAWINO
  • MEMBER
  • 2012 SCION IQ
  • 1.0L
  • 3 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 50,000 MILES
Hi!
Recently my friend bought small city car Toyota petrol 68 hp vehicle listed above.
I was doing her a favor and changed oil and filters on car. I have noticed that old oil was very dark, thick and smelled burnt. Also oil level on dipstick was on minimum. Air and A/C filters were also pretty clogged up so, by looking into service records it looks like car hasn't been serviced for last 20,000 miles and almost 4 years. In old oil I could notice small metal flakes and after few weeks, when I checked oil level for her and wiped dipstick, there were also tiny metal flakes in new oil. What are your recommendations? Just keep regular maintenance until it inevitably quits running, oil flush, or something else?
Thank you in advance!
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020 AT 2:37 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
The metal flakes that you are seeing are bearing material. This means that there is currently or was at one time metal to metal contact on the crank bearings or rod bearings. When this happens, there is no reversing it without replacing the bearings.

It is normally only a matter of time and that is normally not long. Unfortunately once this happens, it normally needs an engine to repair it or at least have it rebuilt.

Clearly the first step would be to drop the oil pan and inspect the bearings but once we confirm it is bearing material we are going to need to replace them or they are going to fail.

You can try to use an oil additive but this is only going to buy you some time.

What is the oil pressure showing on the dash? If it is low then it may be too late.
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020 AT 3:04 PM
Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
  • MECHANIC
  • 52,797 POSTS
Good evening,

The metal flakes are not good at all.

In most cases, if they look like copper, it is bearing material from the engine bearings. That happens from oil, sledged oil and low oil pressure if someone let it go too low.

I would have a shop check it out and see if there is any future issues on the horizon. You may be looking at replacing the engine in the near future.

Roy
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020 AT 3:07 PM

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