A 1999 Toyota Camry that has enjoyed timely maintenance

Toyota 1MZ-FE sludge...or not...
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As stated earlier, Toyota has had a "problem" with their 1MZ-FE 30L V6 engines. About 0.1% of them have come down with the nasty sludge virus, about 3,000 out of 3,000,000 currently on American roads. Some individuals feel rather strongly about the reputation of the motors they've spent hard-earned money on. One of those individuals is Yota, who has provided this sequence of photos, as well as some very interesting data generated during the time he's owned this car.

The oil in this engine was changed roughly every two months, or 3,000 miles, with Mobil1 5W30.

The appearance of this engine prior to removal of the cam covers.

I don't know exactly where Yota is located, but it is definitely a warm-state region. Notice that even though the car is six years old, there is no visible trace of the sort of corrosion I experience after a single winter. This car has 85,000 miles on it, or about 14,000 miles per year, a fairly respectable figure.

A little background from Yota: "A typical day for this Camry (the bulk of the miles) is a 14 mile  commute in each direction with 70% highway and 30% city in the southern U.S. I drive it gently as evidenced by the 27.6 MPG for the last 20K+ miles on tab 2 of the Excel spreadsheet  [PDF version] (which is the estimated hwy only mileage on the Monroney sticker). I spend about $400-500/yr on -all- maintenance. This includes oil, trans flushes, air filters, tires, windshield wipers, timing belts, etc. Regular maint is not expensive."

More clean aluminum, and total absence of sand and corrosion.
I tell ya, as a car nut, I live in the WRONG country.

Throttle body cleanliness is a dead giveaway of a well-maintained engine. A neglected one will be choked with soot, if not oil. This one is spotless, as it should be.

A clean throttle body is a benefit for both you and your ECM / ECU / PCM / whatever your car's computerized brain is being called today. A clean throttle body means that the computer will be able to control fuel and air exactly the way Toyota intended that it should. This means proper driveability, mileage and emissions.

Another dead giveaway is the condition of the cam cover. Just look at this one. Not a trace of sludge. The sludgers are a different breed entirely.

You can clearly see the valve buckets and their springs.
Absence of sludge means that heat dissipation and oil drainback are at Toyota-intended levels.

Yota has provided some interesting data on the history of his car:

Maintenance performed (PDF)
(Excel spreadsheet of above)
Fuel mileage graph (PDF) (notice the dips in winter weather)
Fuel mileage data (PDF)