Just a heads up as i got a letter today, apparently the 1997-1999 celica has a problem with oil gel and toyota will pay for any repairs (old or new) relating to it. you can check out www.oilgelsettlement.com for more info about it. sorry if this is a repost i didn't see anything when i did a search.

-Alex

I got that letter yesterday! Glad im not the only one

I'm trying to read the lawsuit and stuff but can someone translate it to English? That thing is so hard to understand...

What exactly happened?

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x2.

What vehicles are included in the settlement?
The following Toyota or Lexus vehicles originally sold or leased in the continental United States and
Alaska, equipped with 5S-FE four cylinder and/or 1 MZ-FE V-6 are included:

Toyota Camry 4cyl. 1997-2001
Toyota Camry 6 cyl 1997-2002
Toyota Solara 4 cyl. 1999-2001
Toyota Solara 6 cyl. 1999-2002
Toyota Sienna 6 cyl. 1998-2002
Toyota Avalon 6 cyl. 1997-2002
Toyota Celica 4 cyl. 1997-1999
Toyota Highlander 6 cyl. 2001-2002
Lexus ES300 1997-2002
Lexus RX300 1999-2002

What is oil gel or sludge?
Oil gel or sludge is a thick, gummy substance that impedes operation of the engine, causes damage to engine parts and can, in some cases, require engine replacement. A vehicle may have oil gel if blue smoke comes from the engine tail pipe, the check engine light on the instrument panel is on, or it consumes a lot of oil.

...the catch
If it's been more than 8 years since the car was first bought or leased you have until March 15, 2007 to make a claim and the damage must have occurred within the 8 year warranty period.


edit:

Excluding Yourself (this is what I got from reading this part)
If you exclude yourself you cannot get the benefits of this particular lawsuit but you can sue on your own at another time. If you do NOT exclude yourself you are entitled to whatever benefits are settled upon in this lawsuit and waive your right to sue at a later date.

This post has been edited by hurley97: Nov 21, 2006 - 8:14 PM

heres the letter:

Yeah I got one too.

I do have the blue smoke upon start-up but the funny thing is that I never got it checked because, from all the posts I read on this site, it sounded like it was normal and no big deal.

So supposedly I can get it fixed for free BUT it says in the letter that you had to make "reasonable maintenance efforts". So the question is, what is "reasonable maintenance efforts"? Do I lose out because I didn't take my car to the dealer to get the oil changed? Or follow their maintenance schedule?

We'll see, as I plan on checking into this. Good luck to all those that got this letter.

oil sludge problem, it's common in some 5sfe's, especially if you don't change the oil. this is why you should be religious about changing the oil on our cars.

my buddy's MR-2 had a simliar problem, but it isn't a later year 5s like this lawsuit claims. it was a 91 and still had the 'gel' issue.

glad to see this is getting fixed.

so the 7afe isnt included in this deal ??

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correct. I was going to try and see what I could get out of this deal but then I read the part about it affecting 5SFE or 1MZFE equipped cars

damn now i wish i didnt run mobile 1 and change the oil religiously in my ole 5s

does this include canadians too by any chance?

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its a nationwide lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales USA so probably not, and the detailed notice says this:
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lol. yeah you could have just beat the crap out of it then gotten all new parts from Toyota. damn not being able to see the future

Can this still occur with synthetic oils? I should know this as I'm an engineer who designs lubrication equipment but I guess I missed that day in class LOL. My car burns oil excessivly @91K. Could I have this problem? Also I am the second owner and some of the wording appears to say it is only valid for this 1st owner or maybe I'm reading somethin into it. I did not get this notice.

could this have anything to do with the emissions system?? like bad carbon canister? or vsv valve?? anything in emmisions?

I got it. Wonder if I could get a new 3S shortblock out of it?? I'm not worried, even though my 130K mile motor was on the way out when the swap was done though......

somebody had an amazing lawyer

i got the letter as well. i thought it was BS advertisement. is it legitimate?

sounds like all we have to do is tear off the ends and place it in your glove compartment.

the text makes it sound like we could get the entire engine replaced because of this issue! it's like getting another car... if the body doesn't rust/rot.