HPL EC treatment started. 2007 Camry 2AZ-FE 153k consumption.

[LeakySeals]

My sister has a 2005....I personally saw it smoke blue on startup once or twice...it has not had oil consumption (2005 is not really as prone to it apparently), but we did replace the valve cover gasket as that was leaking when she bought it a couple years ago. I don't think it's smoking on startup anymore, so not sure if that was valve seals or not. It's had 3k synthetic oil changes since purchase. Previous owner I think never changed trans fluid which is why it's on its last legs at 180k. Oil I think was changed every 3k but I'm thinking the lady retired and then 3k ended up being all short trips taking maybe over a year to achieve...so the oil gets dirty quickly now.
Can the valve cover gasket leaking actually let enough oil past the spark plugs to cause smoke on startup?

Could be better maintenance with synthetic oil changes as cleaned something up. It’s a good transmission. Try a drain and fill. I think T-IV is still around. I never had a problem with it and I didn’t start changing it until I picked up the car around 120 K

 

[JimPghPA]

The 2az engines are known to be to be major oil burners because they have low tension piston rings. Toyota knows that they messed up with this design and they have an upgrade for the piston rings. I'm pretty sure they even extended the warranty for this but I don't know how far it was been extended. Check with your Toyota dealer. There is a YouTube channel called The Car Care Nut and he does a rebuild of a 2az and explains the problem that the piston rings were not properly designed from the beginning and shows how he has to install the new type of piston rings. He actually ripped one down and put it back together on one of his YouTube videos. Look for the YouTube video of "Car Care Nut 2az" and you might find it. Even if you don't managed to find the video and watch it, you should talk to your Toyota dealer and see if they will take care of it for you you might be getting a very good surprise.

 

[skaughtz]

Update #5

January 1, 2024. 154,692 miles. 1572.5 miles into OCI1. 341 miles since last top off. ~1.0 quarts added. ~4.6 quarts total burned.
Burn rate history: 266.3 miles/quart, 482.5 miles/quart (250+miles highway), 286 miles/quart, 347 miles/quart (110 miles highway).
Burn rate since last top-off: 341 miles/quart.
Cumulative OCI burn rate: 342 miles/quart.

My driving habits were essentially the same as the last update, and the burn rate is almost exactly the same. The only difference is that I did not make any extended highway trips this time (110 miles last time) and the burn rate was the same. It would be nice to interpret that as a slight improvement, but I will have to wait and see until next time to confirm it. Oil is looking pretty dark on the stick at this point. On to the next one.

 

[skaughtz]

Update #6

January 18, 2024. 155,021 miles. 1901.4 miles into OCI1. 329 miles since last top off. 1.0 quart added. ~5.5 quarts total burned.
Burn rate history: 266.3 miles/quart, 482.5 miles/quart (250+miles highway), 286 miles/quart, 347 miles/quart (110 miles highway), 341 miles/quart.
Burn rate since last top-off: 365.6 miles/quart.
Average OCI burn rate: 348.1 miles/quart.
Cumulative OCI burn rate: 345.8 miles/quart.

Same as last time. I had to make a new M1HM/HPL EC mixture and used the empty HPL quart bottle to measure the top off. It slightly overfilled, so going conservative she was 0.9 quarts low. Previous fills have just been an eyeball quart refill so I have been uncharacteristically non-precise throughout and they may in fact be in-line with this one. These numbers improved the burn rate just a tad, but nothing significant. If I continue to see incremental decreases in the burn rate I will chart it for S&Gs, but I'm not expecting much before 3,000 miles and the BG EPR run. On to the next one.

 

[michaelluscher]

I'm impressed with the facts and figures of you're journey
But wouldn't a piston soak (if not already attempted) be a faster and more effective strategy?
Or is this exercise more of a test of the HPL EC itself?

I will say this is much more scientific, when I did a piston soak I went heavy handed throw everything at it
You should be able to quantify what chemicals helped and when

How did EPR treat you?
I plan on buying some

 

[skaughtz]

I'm impressed with the facts and figures of you're journey
But wouldn't a piston soak (if not already attempted) be a faster and more effective strategy?
Or is this exercise more of a test of the HPL EC itself?

I will say this is much more scientific, when I did a piston soak I went heavy handed throw everything at it
You should be able to quantify what chemicals helped and when

How did EPR treat you?
I plan on buying some

I decided to try the HPL EC first since it came highly recommended here. My problem is likely mechanical, but since I'm not addressing that physically I figured I would give the chemical route a shot. At the end of this 3k mile OCI I am going to run a can of BG EPR. If I see improvement after that then the HPL EC can keep slowly doing its thing. If not, well then I have my answer and I might attempt the piston soak with Berrymans. Although it might not be worth the time or effort if neither the HPL EC or BG EPR make a dent in the consumption since then it is almost certainly a physical ring issue.

 

[dumkid]

I did a test once with old diesel injection nozzles. Oven cleaner removed the carbon the fastest, b12 was second, kerosene, mmo, and gasoline didn't do anything. The carbon on diesel injectors is of the very hard and slightly oily variety, while intake manifold carbon is softer and you can just scrape it off sometimes.

Anyhow b12 is good stuff. I wouldn't go pouring oven cleaner (basically lye) into my engine

 

[Adambomb7777]

I’m going to get flamed for this. I promise this is a true story. And I’m not suggesting this is going to fix your issue or anyone else’s issue. But it did work.

My cousin moved in with my family and has the same 2007 Camry and same engine. He was at 190k miles and burned a quart every 1k miles.

I suggested a few things to him and he let me work on his car (he is paranoid about his car, he loves it, and uses his car for work as a merchandiser for Walmart)

I fixed his consumption issues doing this.

5w30 Amsoil SS with a bottle of Ceratec and an Amsoil filter (Eao34 I had sitting around). I’d also suggested the next 2 fill ups to use top tier fuel with Amsoil’s upper cylinder lubricant. I changed his spark plugs, coil packs, and air filter at the same time. He did what I suggested with the fuel and UCL. This was 3 years ago.

Consumption immediately stopped. He ran the Amsoil/Ceratec combo for 8k and it didn’t lose a drop.

When I changed the oil I cut the filter open and it was loaded with crud. Not sure if the crud was from the rings or somewhere else in the engine but it was loaded nonetheless.

It now gets a diet of HPL 5w30 no VII and he does 10k changes with fe3600 filters. Still has zero consumption.

His car now has 320k miles and runs like a top

 

[dumkid]

I’m going to get flamed for this. I promise this is a true story. And I’m not suggesting this is going to fix your issue or anyone else’s issue. But it did work.

My cousin moved in with my family and has the same 2007 Camry and same engine. He was at 190k miles and burned a quart every 1k miles.

I suggested a few things to him and he let me work on his car (he is paranoid about his car, he loves it, and uses his car for work as a merchandiser for Walmart)

I fixed his consumption issues doing this.

5w30 Amsoil SS with a bottle of Ceratec and an Amsoil filter (Eao34 I had sitting around). I’d also suggested the next 2 fill ups to use top tier fuel with Amsoil’s upper cylinder lubricant. I changed his spark plugs, coil packs, and air filter at the same time. He did what I suggested with the fuel and UCL. This was 3 years ago.

Consumption immediately stopped. He ran the Amsoil/Ceratec combo for 8k and it didn’t lose a drop.

When I changed the oil I cut the filter open and it was loaded with crud. Not sure if the crud was from the rings or somewhere else in the engine but it was loaded nonetheless.

It now gets a diet of HPL 5w30 no VII and he does 10k changes with fe3600 filters. Still has zero consumption.

His car now has 320k miles and runs like a top

I've heard of ceratec helping with oil consumption, but only one or two examples. It could also have been the amsoil

 

[panthermike]

Interested to see what happens with your EPR run. From everything I've read and what I did myself was to run it longer than it suggests on the can. I can't remember exactly but I just ran it at idle for 22 minutes or so some people do 30. I did not add it in the crank until after it was fully warmed up.

 

[BrendanC]

i do 2000rpm for 20 minutes using EPR. oil always comes out gritty and jet black afterwards.

 

[wlk]

EC is not going to fix your consumption issue. You seriously need to try the piston soak and then see if it makes any difference. Otherwise, you are just throwing good money after bad. If the soak makes zero difference you have a mechanical issue then. If it cuts the consumption then go with EPR at the end of your next run/s. I would also try Rislone, Gumout Multi-System Tune-Up, Liquid Moly Motor Oil Saver, or even Lubegard biotech for the full runs or Kreen at the last 1k of your OC. Run oils with ester and AN oils like HPL, Amsoil SS, the new Valvoline Restore and Protect, or the bio-based Havoline Pro RS. Something that will clean but even these are not a quick fix several runs will be required.

 

[LeakySeals]

Piston soak won’t work either unfortunately. It’s clogged piston oil return holes. Only removal and a drill can fix that.

 

[proveitwithdata]

Piston soak won’t work either unfortunately. It’s clogged piston oil return holes. Only removal and a drill can fix that.

at this point every cleaner needs to have a label, "bad design nor lack of maintenance cannot be fixed by this product"

 

[wlk]

Piston soak won’t work either unfortunately. It’s clogged piston oil return holes. Only removal and a drill can fix that.

Maybe but a $5 can of Berryman's B12 Chemtool is worth a shot

 

[350Rocket]

Could be better maintenance with synthetic oil changes as cleaned something up. It’s a good transmission. Try a drain and fill. I think T-IV is still around. I never had a problem with it and I didn’t start changing it until I picked up the car around 120 K

I am hoping our oil changes are what has cleaned it up. We replaced the valve cover gasket and it was not sludged up, just some varnish, but it does dirty the oil fast compared to my 05 Silverado.
Transmission fluid was bad, it was still almost black even after 2 drain and fills. Now it's running maxlife (only reasonably priced stuff we could find recommended for t-iv on the Sunday) and Lucas (it helped prior to the last drain and fill). I told her we would never use Lucas in a good transmission but this one seems to be on its last legs. So far it's apparently slipping much less with both the fresh maxlife and the Lucas in it.

If I had time that day to help her wrench on it then we could have started with just the maxlife to see if the fluid itself fixed the problem, but she was doing this on her own. The car was having difficulty just merging onto the highway prior to the Lucas being added.

 

[53' Stude]

EC is not going to fix your consumption issue. You seriously need to try the piston soak and then see if it makes any difference. Otherwise, you are just throwing good money after bad. If the soak makes zero difference you have a mechanical issue then. If it cuts the consumption then go with EPR at the end of your next run/s. I would also try Rislone, Gumout Multi-System Tune-Up, Liquid Moly Motor Oil Saver, or even Lubegard biotech for the full runs or Kreen at the last 1k of your OC. Run oils with ester and AN oils like HPL, Amsoil SS, the new Valvoline Restore and Protect, or the bio-based Havoline Pro RS. Something that will clean but even these are not a quick fix several runs will be required.

YUP! As The Critic told me “there’s no fix it in a bottle that will fix a oil burner”


Either fix the rings or continue to burn $$$$

My junk Camrybwithbsame engine never stopped burning oil either. 210K and I traded it in

 

[LeakySeals]

Maybe but a $5 can of Berryman's B12 Chemtool is worth a shot

Absolutely! Even if the piston oil return holes are clogged freeing up the rings may help. Another issue I had with my high mileage 2AZ – FE was valve seals. High mileage oil really helped with that. M1 HM worked pretty good. Maxlife worked even better. Probably because it was a semi. I think it was a semi, its been a while. But it consumed the least of that with no blue smoke. Ultimately the oil consumption caught up with it. One of the valves broke. Cracked in half.

 

[skaughtz]

Absolutely! Even if the piston oil return holes are clogged freeing up the rings may help. Another issue I had with my high mileage 2AZ – FE was valve seals. High mileage oil really helped with that. M1 HM worked pretty good. Maxlife worked even better. Probably because it was a semi. I think it was a semi, its been a while. But it consumed the least of that with no blue smoke. Ultimately the oil consumption caught up with it. One of the valves broke. Cracked in half.

I have been feeding her high mileage oil since 80k, either Pennzoil Platinum or M1. I was planning on switching her over to Supertech since she is consuming so much and I can get that high mileage for about $18 a jug, but good to know about the Valvoline for the future.

I and many others on Toyota forums swear by the Maxlife ATF. It holds up so much better than the Toyota WS ATF and performs like the transmission was designed for it.

 

[skaughtz]

Update #7

February 12, 2024. 155,390 miles. 2270.5 miles into OCI1. 369 miles since last top off. 1.0 quart added. ~6.5 quarts total burned.
Burn rate history: 266.3 miles/quart, 482.5 miles/quart (250+miles highway), 286 miles/quart, 347 miles/quart (110 miles highway), 341 miles/quart, 365.6 miles/quart.
Burn rate since last top-off: 369 miles/quart.
Average OCI burn rate: 348.1 miles/quart.
Cumulative OCI burn rate: 349.4 miles/quart.

Same as last time, I filled the empty HPL EC quart bottle with my M1HM/HPL EC mix to measure out exactly 1 quart and dumped that in. It just slightly overfilled above the top dot on the dipstick, meaning she pretty much burned exactly 1 quart since the last time I added a full quart to her she overfilled to the same spot. I started charting it because I seem to have too much time on my hands. On to the next one.