Another plea for some help with a Toyota. Thanks for giving the time.

Whilst driving how does one run out of oil? Do you use more than a quart per tank of gas? Do you keep a case of oil in the trunk? Are you converting to diesel without the benefit of an engine change.

That vintage Tercel was known for having leaking valve stem oil seals. I believe the replacement seals are more durable. You are very lucky that the engine did not completely seize on the 2 occasions that you ran it out of oil. I am not aware of any safety cut out device in the engine management system. The engine died because of the lack of lubrication.

California. Not surprisingly it uses quite a bit of

speeds (40 to 60 mph) the engine has completely died

time it was noticed that the engine was virtually out

On both occasions the car re-started (after adding

that it might be a safety cut out coming into play

thoughts on the AAA mans suggestion or any other ideas or

Although I doubt this would be your engines problem it reminds me of one I had that stumped me.

First it started using a lot of oil. Then some time later the engine started to just die at random times. But only when actually driving it. It would turn over but not even try to fire. Then after a few minutes it fire right up and run normal. Its a manual transmission so there is no doubt the engine died by the time the car stopped.

Turned out the PCV failed in a way that basically non-vented the engine and when the crankcase pressure built up high enough it stopped running. Then when the pressure went down it ran again.

Fixed the PCV and it quit burning, leaking oil and dyeing.

Why aren't you surprised? I can't imagine a decent engine that has been properly maintained using so much oil that you can't keep it filled by adding a small amount each time you fill up the gas tank. 125,000 miles in the mild Southern California climate should be a snap. With any sort of regular maintenace the engine should not be using even a quart between changes. Is yours using more than a quart every 1000 miles?

Ed

That'd be surprising if the car had a history of regular oil changes (say, 5,000-mile intervals). I've owned three Toyotas (two pickups and a Supra), one with 150K when I sold it and the other with over 170K, and none used more than a quart between oil changes.

How could you allow your car to get that low on oil? If it used a lot, wouldn't you naturally check it more frequently?

I've never heard of such a cut-out, but I don't claim to have encyclopedic knowledge of such things.

Geoff

Damn! My '95 never used ANY oil!

I just did oil changes with one check in between. Sounds like someone whooped that car!

Some model engines tolerate neglect better than others...