VVT means “variable valve timing”, and 16 valve means it has 4 valves per cylinder, 2 intake, 2 exhast. 4 valves x 4 cylinders == 16. The “i” means it is fuel injected.
Unfortunately the “VVT” feature presents another problem here. It is very sensitive to damage from low oil conditions.
First thing to do is a complete oil and filter change, and return the oil level to the top of the dipstick, and no higher. Be sure to use the exact oil specs Toyota recommends. If you still have the rattling noise then, post back.
Don’t know. Just repeating what I was told. We knew we could never get our money back with selling it. So I sold my car with only 64K and only 1 previous owner to drive this thing. To at least put our $ to use
I’m sure it’s probably happened, but in all my years I’ve never seen low pressure caused by a worn out oil pump. The pump is a very simple design, two simple interlocked impellers, that spends its entire life bathed in and washed with fresh oil.
Premature wear of the bearings due to oil depletion, however, is a very common cause of inability to hold oil pressure.
Update: we did check the pressure with a gauge and it did drop. Took the oil pump off, cleaned the pick up while we were at it. The pick up was aweful! Went ahead and replaced the oil pump. Cleaned up the old one and tested it and it worked fine. My motor is gunked. Light gone, sound gone.
your rebuilt motor with low miles was either not rebuilt or poorly maintained if at all after it was rebuilt. you say the guts of the motor look bad with the oil pan off. you replaced the oil pump but the top of head could be totally fouled with crud which may mean your repair effort could be short lived. what to do? did your mechanic pull the valve cover to look at things?