Engine oil consumption.. 2000 toyota corolla, 67K, every 250 miles need oil

WTF are you doing at a "stone" tire place - a brand with 30+ years of proven problems. Toyotas do not burn oil j

Is there any smoke of any color visible from the exhaust?

How do yo know that there is no leak? Do you park the car in a garage where leaks would be visible on the ground?

What is the condition of the engine coolant?

I recommend that you bring the vehicle to a Toyota dealer for diagnosis.

Hi Ray,

I forgot to mention, as a matter of fact I did take the car to a toyota dealer he said, that engine is consuming oil but could not tell the exact reason why, ( it took two trips to figure that out) he said it happens for (1 in 1000) vehicles. The only option he said was to replace the engine as there is some problem with it.. i bought this car from a private seller who did not tell me anything about this problem. I am not sure what to do I have been using the car since 3 months by putting oil every 250 miles.

Is there any solution to it... will cause any problems in the long run say for about 15K miles further.

anythoughts would be appreciated.

thanks Sai

Ray O wrote:

The reason it took two trips to determine how much, if any, oil the vehicle is using is because time and mileage have to elapse in order to determine consusmption.

The car was probably very badly neglected for it to be using a quart every

250 miles. With that kind of consusmption, the catalytic converter and/or oxygen sensors will probably not last very long.

There is no simple solution when the engine is using that much oil, other than to change the engine. These kinds of problems are why one should always have a used vehicle checked by an independent technician before purchasing.

I should defer to Ray, as I think he knows about 5000 percent more than I do. But, it is possible that it could be a bad oil pressure switch. Not likley, but maybe.

Much more like it is burning the oil. Possibly someone badly overheated it in the past. Still and all, a quart every 250 miles isn't horrible....that's about $2 a pop.

You could try something like a 20/50W oil and hopefully the heavier oil won't get past the rings, if that is indeed the problem. One of the snake oil cures such as Restore might also be considered as a last resort.

How long ago did you buy the car, and what was the mileage then?

Was this a private party sale, from a dealer, or (please say yes) a Toyota Certified Used Car from the dealer? Was the first owner of the car an owner, or a lessee?

What state are you in? (There might be a 'Lemon Law' type statute if the seller covered up or "failed to mention" a known and obvious defect, check with your state DMV.)

Did the seller provide you with any service records or other documentation?

Or if the prior owner "took it to the local garage for service" can the owner of that garage back it up and pull up the service records for the car?

I suspect that the piston rings might be toast, and the oil is going past the oil wiper ring on the bottom - if the original owner didn't change the oil on a regular basis, the crud in the oil accelerates wear. You can burn a lot of oil that way, and the catalytic converter will cover up most of the smoke. Until it gets fried.

There are other possible (and very nasty) problems that can crop up, but I won't worry you prematurely. Let's get the answers to the questions at the top of the page first.

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A bad oil pressure switch would probably leak oil all over the place.

Depending on how the oil is getting into the combustion chamber, detergents can sometimes make things worse.

If your engine has done over 250,000 Kilometres, Change your PCV Valve for a smaller one this will alter the vacuum ratio within the engine internal combustion environment reducing the amount of vacuum drawn from the top tube of the Valve cover outlet, this should reduce the oil consumption.

What is probably happening is imbalance of vacuum created by worn engine components causing a higher than normal suction from the manifold to Tappet cover pipe to be created in the top of the engine, by reducing the size of the PCV valve you reduce the suction thus reducing the amount of oil consumption I use a number 28 PCV valve in Camry Taxis after 400,000 kilometres.

I bought the about 4 months back, the mileage was 63K

Its from a private party, (not from a dealer and not a Toyota Certified used car). I think he was the owner.

state: Michigan, I checked that I think it said: when you buy a car from a private party "as is" you cannot do anything. Will have to cross check again.

he did tell he serviced the car regularly but did not provide any service records.

Not sure about that.

I will try the ENGINE RESTORER & LUBRICANT as mentioned by tim..

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions. Sai

Remember the old saying, if its not broke don't fix it!

I would think its safe to assume your oil consumption is bad news and engine wear for whatever reason was the cause and really should be fixed someday. But its most likely been doing that for a very long time and may never cause a real problem. Especially after your local Toyota said its running ok. Worn rings right?

If it helps any my trucks 22re engine burns a quart of oil and a tank of gas every 200 miles for at least the last

100,000 miles. It runs fine and the reason for only 12 mpg is the load. :// It still passes a California smog test.

GL Dan

No BLACK smoke.....well, unless oil has changed over the years, oil smoke is not black but blue-grey. Black smoke is the result of a too-rich fuel mix, as I recall. How about grey smoke coming from this vehicle?

Could just be the valve seals are leaking. Let the car idle for about 4-5 minutes and then rev the motor once with someone watching the exhaust.If you see a puff of smoke you have leaking seals. This can be fixed pretty easily.

Perhaps your vehicle is a victim of Toyotas infamous 'gelling' problem. Take it to a Toyota dealer, to be evaluated under the warrant extension provision to 'clean' repair or replace as necessary,' WBMA

mike hunt

The Corolla is not one of the vehicles covered.