I'm surprised and upset that my Camry is knocking. It did not have any problems the 50,000 miles I put on it the past 3 years. Backstory that occurred all within this month. It started out as a coolant leak that would only occur when the car was warm. I would add coolant but one day it started overheating it would slowly climb to H but would not stay there for long it would bounce from normal to close to the H. I did not drive long after it started overheating. Called my mechanic and had him change the water pump, air filter, sparkplugs, & serpentine belt. So it stopped the leak and car did not overheat again. Few days later I take it to a local Valvoline and get my oil changed and transmission fluid change. Go home and no issues. Few days later I'm driving back home and the red oil light starts to flicker then eventually stays lit. I was close to my home so i'd say a mile I drove it with the light on. Next day I open the oil cap and see that i am getting oil pressure up and check on the dipstick and it's dark. Not completely dark but for it only be driven less than 100 miles from the oil change it was pretty dark. So I drive it around my block a few times and about 3 mins driving the red oil light comes on. I go back and park it and few days later I ask the mechanic, he said add oil treatment because the mechanics put too thin oil (OW-20), so I added STP oil treatment which was pretty thick. I drove it around the block a few times and then started hearing a rough noise when in the high rpms with no oil or check engine light on. Then took it to a close shop that said they couldnt diagnose it because of no compression. Thats when I got from them the low end knocking noise they said but the knocking doesnt start till the high rpms. What I want to figure out before I give up on the car is, What couldve caused this issue, the camry not detecting a problem till it was to late, my mechanic or the Valvoline guys? This all occured within 300 miles

 

Did you ever fix the overheating problem?

The 0W-20 is one of the recommended oils.

It would have been better to change to 5W-30,10W-30 or an even higher viscosity oil rather than add STP.

Did the oil light go off when driving (higher engine RPM's) or stay on?

Does the engine still start and run?

Don't run the engine with the oil light on?

Did anyone check the real oil pressure by installing a pressure gauge?

Are you sure the oil change place added oil and enough oil? This has happened before.

 

Yes overheating problem was fixed with the waterpump.
I agree that it would have been better with higher grade oil than the oil treatment.
I didnt really drive it in the high rpms. Maybe it turned on when at a high rpm? Oil light has not came ont after adding the STP.
Yes engine starts and runs still. (I havent drove it since coming back from the shop.shop is less than a mile away)
Valvoline usually checks oil pressure and tells the customer during the oil change but this time they did not tell me the oil pressure.
When I checked the oil level the following day it had the oil light come on, The oil level was good but dark.

 

Once the water pump was changed, did the coolant level ever drop and need topping off with coolant on a regular basis?

Many times the issue is the oil light will come on at idle and go off at slightly higher RPM say 900. A shade tree way to fix this can be changing to a higher weight oil. Here the 0W-20 may be to "thin" even though it is called out in the owner's manual.

The light coming on when driving as I down the road (engine not idling) can be a something different.

Oil pressure increases with engine RPM to a point. After a certain pressure a valve in oil pump assy moves to prevent further increases in pressure. The valves also moves to adjust pressure higher atlower RPM.

Other then the noise, does the engine run OK. Just use your memory here and not start it. An engine with no compression typically will not start and if it does will run poorly. Here having less power, a rougher idle.

This issue is the noise.

Review the thread at the link below about knocking. It could be rod knock.

https://www.camryforums.com/forum/en...dilemma-54976/

Review the video on the post and compare the knocking sound to your yours.

If a rod or main bearing sooner or later the engine will fail.

 

No I did not have to keep adding coolant after the water pump.
Yeah the oil light turned on after driving it for 3 minutes which is weird maybe sensor going out or some other sensor got damaged with all the coolant leaking within the mileage period. I'm thinking about changing the oil at least (10w-30) and start it?
The engine actually starts right up and doesnt make the noise unless you hit the gas.
Thank you for the resources

 

UPDATE:

Confirmed with 2 shops now. Low compression in 2 cylinders misfiring. Why would just 2 of the cylinders fail, after discussing what I did to it?

 

Adjacent cylinders?

Could be a warped head and or head gasket failure between cylinders (not uncommon). Two cylinders is not uncommon while all cylinders is rare.

 

Ok I see. I forgot to mention that there are codes even though the check engine light is off. Codes are p0300 p0301 p0302 p0304.
Shops said I need a whole new rebuild. I'll likely end up selling it, mechanic special. How much could it go for in the westcoast?

 

A used engine would be cheaper. There are also after market rebuilds,

Look on Craigslist for mechanic special prices. Try Edmonds.com for used car values including those with engine problems. Running it seems to be worth around $3K.

P0300 is a general misfire code.
P0301 is cylinder 1
P0302 is 2
P0304 is 4.

 

I'm no diy guy and I don't know/trust a shop that could swap my engine. Thats why i'll decide selling it. Thank you very much for your input!
I have an 09 4 cylinder now that i'm cherishing and gonna take care of. I believe it just burns some oil in between oil changes. I saw some people say to use higher viscosity oil it can help. But I should use higher viscosity anyway. I currently use 0w-20 full synthetic