stuzbot
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2021
- Messages
- 430
My posts are like buses. You wait all week for one and then three come at once!
Anyway, wiping things down round the sump area today, while doing my oil change and I noticed in a few places what seemed to be strips of foam placed around that area. Most tucked away where I couldn't get in for a photo, but this one was relatively exposed.
They seemed to be kind of tucked in in places such as where there was gap between the wall of the sump and some surrounding metal, or [as in the case of the bit in the photo] stuck along a seam in the sump. As I said, at first I thought these were just strips of foam and wondered why the hell Toyota would have stuck them where they were when they were bound to get soaked in oil. So decided it was more likely some previous owner had done this for some reason. To stop some rattling?... To try and mop up drips from a leaking sump?
Then I had another less pleasant thought; what if these weren't strips of foam at all, but evidence that someone had used some completely incompatible sealant to seal the sump and it had reacted with the oil and started turning into some kind of odd foam?
Anyway, I pulled a bit off and cleaned it up as best I could with brake cleaner and I'm still none the wiser. It feels very soft, almost slimy. Though that may be due to being soaked in oil. But it is porous like sponge and seems to hold its form when squished, rather than lumping together like I'd imagine a frothed up sealant would. .
So I'm still not sure one way or the other. Anyone else got oil-drenched bits of foam round those parts of the engine?... or heard of a sealant reacting with engine oil to form a kind of foamy sponge? Obviously when you hear oil & foam you immediately think of head gasket woes. But this is quite solid and stable and, from what I can see, given its dilapidated state, seems to have been placed there deliberately.
Anyway, wiping things down round the sump area today, while doing my oil change and I noticed in a few places what seemed to be strips of foam placed around that area. Most tucked away where I couldn't get in for a photo, but this one was relatively exposed.
They seemed to be kind of tucked in in places such as where there was gap between the wall of the sump and some surrounding metal, or [as in the case of the bit in the photo] stuck along a seam in the sump. As I said, at first I thought these were just strips of foam and wondered why the hell Toyota would have stuck them where they were when they were bound to get soaked in oil. So decided it was more likely some previous owner had done this for some reason. To stop some rattling?... To try and mop up drips from a leaking sump?
Then I had another less pleasant thought; what if these weren't strips of foam at all, but evidence that someone had used some completely incompatible sealant to seal the sump and it had reacted with the oil and started turning into some kind of odd foam?
Anyway, I pulled a bit off and cleaned it up as best I could with brake cleaner and I'm still none the wiser. It feels very soft, almost slimy. Though that may be due to being soaked in oil. But it is porous like sponge and seems to hold its form when squished, rather than lumping together like I'd imagine a frothed up sealant would. .
So I'm still not sure one way or the other. Anyone else got oil-drenched bits of foam round those parts of the engine?... or heard of a sealant reacting with engine oil to form a kind of foamy sponge? Obviously when you hear oil & foam you immediately think of head gasket woes. But this is quite solid and stable and, from what I can see, given its dilapidated state, seems to have been placed there deliberately.
