Interesting!!  I was in a Lexus dealership garage and asked a mechanic about an engine being torn down because of sludge;  the mechanic told me the owner had driven it since new w/o changing oil 35K miles and that was the reason.  True?

  I have mentioned to certain list members that the blanket statements about Toyotas is just that.  Why did I have such CRAPPY service from my 1990 Lexus es250 (Same as Camry)??  I finally "offed" my Lex Toyota (130,000miles)  for $150 with smokey exhaust, bad transmission-shot, rear deck lid that munched itself, growling ps since day one and an exhaust system that decayed every 15 months  paperwork to prove it.  Whenever I brought these problems up with the mechanic was told, "yea, that's about right" in other words: most do that.
  Yea, I bought it because I thought it would go untold distance with total abuse and no maintenance...WRONG!! I took good care of it--it cost me a lot but I was let down.
Meanwhile my 90 Vanagon with 100% original engine is about to hit 190K miles.  Which vehicle would you have rather bought?  The Vanagon at $20K or Lexus at $22,500.

  Chris C
  90mv

Mike S <mikes@FLATSURFACE.COM> wrote:
  At 10:48 AM 5/3/2008, Andrew Grebneff wrote...
>Toyota has the right idea... cars that will go untold distance
>with total abuse and NO maintenance...

Dream on.

You've apparently not had a Toyota Previa/Estima with the 2TZ-FZE
engine, which had frequent issues with its EGR system. And maybe Oz
didn't have any of the 3,500,000 owners of Toyota/Lexus engines with
severe sludge problems, even when following recommended maintenance,
which Toyota denied up until legal action forced them into a settlement
-
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/01/toyota_sludge_settlement.html