'99 Toyota Corolla not burning as much oil

[synthetic_crazy]

I have embarked on an experiment with my '99 Toyota Corolla. I typically burn about a quart of oil every 1700 miles or so. I have read that the 4 cylinder that Toyota used in these cars contained rings that "never set right" or something to that effect. Consequently Corollas of this vintage through 2002 tend to consume oil. The last week or so I have been driving the car faster than I normally do. (Typically I drive 60 on the interstate and drive it very gently) However, I have gotten it close to red-line I'm sure(just going by the engine sound) in order to clean out the engine a little i.e. italian tune up. I have noticed that my oil level is not dropping as quickly as it once was. My current fill is Pennzoil Ultra; possibly this in conjunction with my high rpms will help clean off the rings of any deposits and as a result reduce my oil consumption. Any thoughts?

 

[chubbs1]

Wow that is a tough one, I say you should try a couple of changes to see if this sticks. Maybe the harder driving seated the rings better? IDK, but I do know that I love PU, I just switched to it in my civic. I didn't tell anyone and my brother cranked on the key to turn the car on and it was running already he was really stumped on why it was so quiet. It is a huge change in engine smoothness. That thing used to rattle like a snake. Shame WM pulled the jugs.

 

[hate2work]

It's too bad you switched oils at the same time you did the Italian tune up. It would have been nice to see if just using Ultra would have helped the consumption by itself.

Have you noticed your oil darkening sooner than usual? That might indicate some cleaning of carbon deposits around the rings which might slow the consumption.

 

[shadow7]

My 02 Corolla burned a quart every 700 miles until i sold it. Bad memories.

 

[Spyder7]

My consumption is higher than yours. I have done a few 'Italian tuneups,' with and without a PEA cleaner added in, and noticed no impact on consumption.

If you are seeing consumption loss, and those are the only variables, I would be more inclined toward crediting the detergent package in PU with removing carbon deposits around the rings. That build up, over 10s of thousands of miles, is what leads to progressive loss of oil control and increasing levels of oil consumption.

I am trying a few different angles over the winter OCI to see if I can get mine down. Come spring I'm planning a series of shorter OCIs with QS GB (bought 2 jugs for $9.88 for 5L), with the intent of doing a series of piston soaks at the end of each OCI. May alternate MMO with either the Molasoak or Molasoke. Whichever method, I will do one 16 hour soak at the end of this OCI, drive a few blocks, change the oil to QS GB, trend it over a 4k OCI, then rinse and repeat up to three times total; unless I'm starting to see progress by the third soak, in which case I will continue it.

After a certain point the carbon build up progresses to ring wear, and once you hit the point where the rings are too worn, nothing short of a small block rebuild is going to have much impact; the problem is that, unless you're willing to tear it down, you can't really tell if its reversible until you try various methods and allow them time to work.

As this car took 10 years to get to where its at, I don't consider a year of experimentation with different approaches unreasonable. But once that year's up I'll know whether or not I caught it early enough for any approach to be successful.

-Spyder

 

[mechtech2]

I think the improvement is due to freeing up the rings in their grooves/lands, possibly from the nice high pressure WOT puts on them..
Sticky rings don't seal or control oil very well.
The PU may have contributed to this also, for a similar reason. The rings are cleaner, and move freely to seal on the downstroke from gas pressure, and have oil control when you need it.

You did not seat the rings at this point in the car's career by stepping on the gas a bit.