black flakes in oil

[MistaScott]

I was looking at my roomates Corolla (100K miles) and noticed some small (but definitely visible) black flakes on his oil dipstick.

My hunch is that this is carbon and he may have thrown a bearing (since he also is hearing "strange" noises coming from his motor). Does this sound right or is there something less bad that I may be overlooking?

 

[klrv6]

Free engine

Check with a Toyota dealership. If his car is new enough, he could get a new engine. While I feel Toyotas are great cars, they had a flaw with the design of some engines. Do a google search on " corolla sludge" or "toyota sludge" and become very scared about this problem. Last I heard the Camry V6 was no longer the only car with this problem. The list included 4 cylinder Camrys and Corollas. I lost my 90 Camry V6 engine to this problem. As far as the current car you found this on, about the only thing you could do is pull the oil pan and scrape it out (but wait until you find out if you can get the replacement engine).

What year is the car?
I have also seen the 98 and up ones crack flywheels a few times.

 

[MistaScott]

It is a 98/99. I had him change the oil and I will take another look and pull the pan if I see the flakes again (but I will have him check with the dealership too, apparently this isn't an uncommon occurence). Thanks for the help.

 

[Floydsbuick]

I had this happen on my 69 Buick 350. Turns out much crud had accumulated on the top underneath of the dipstick were it "cones" over by the handle. You know, were the tube and handle meet. I cleaned out all the crud and all has been well since.

 

[klrv6]

Poor head design

Toyota had the exhaust flow through the heads rather than straight out. The oil flows across the head and drains in the pan 30-50 degrees hotter than a normal engine. There are two choices with these engines ( I found out the hard way) you can run full synthetic or change the oil much sooner 2000 miles or so. Hotter oil breaks down faster and causes the sludge. If you drain the oil fashion some type of very small loop at the end or a metal rod such as coat hanger and try to scrape out some of the sludge from the drain hole. Nasty stuff!