98-02 Corolla and Oil Consumption

[mmorri16]

Hello All,

I owned one of these cars for several years with no issues (oil or otherwise), and so I recently bought another.

It's a 2002 with only 108K. I'm pretty sure it was mainly just local/city miles. Of course, that's not good. Some who own this generation of Toyotas report a quart of oil lost every 700-1,000 miles, even when they have done regular oil changes and an even mix of city and highway.

Mine in the hottest summer on record in GA is getting around 300 miles per quart despite no leaks. I know there are some outside chance fixes (PCV valve, MMO or Kreen, Synthetic Oil), but I also know the likelihood is this is just an oil burning engine for the rest of its life.

That's where my question comes in. I understand in general oil burning isn't a good thing, but with the overall reliability of this Toyota engine, I am finding multiple owners online that have put up with this issue and gotten tens of thousands of more miles from their Corolla. I know that catalytic converter may go sooner than the average car, but that's a $300 cost. I also know oil prices add up, but it's just not that expensive for a great MPG vehicle.

Some see posts about oil burning and immediately advise the person to find another engine. Do you think that is always necessary? Thanks for any guidance.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Find another engine if you can is definitely a good idea.

Just compare how much you drive with how much you'd spend on topping off oil, and those various oil treatments we all like to add from time to time, against the cost of another engine.

 

[crazyoildude]

You don't need another engine try a piston soak first sometimes the rings get gummed up.. also a good high mileage oil may help

 

[eljefino]

I had one with 170k that burnt a quart every 350 miles. It was otherwise not terribly inspiring either. The stock steel wheels bent if you looked at them wrong. Rust gobbled up the rocker panels. Lug studs were made of butter metal that sheared easily. The automatic tranny downshifted on the interstate at 70 MPH for imaginary hills that only the gutless car could detect.

I've done ring jobs on Saturns with the block still in the car. Am sure if you googled around you'd find a corolla forum (corolland?) where someone did this or researched the feasibility. Once you put in aftermarket rings your problems should end; the stock rings have low tension on purpose for MPG and don't have enough "oomph" to bounce out of forming sludge in their grooves.

I would dare say the 00-02 Saturn SL1 is a better car than the 98-02 Corolla, and saturns burn oil in pretty much exactly the same way.

My saturns loved 15w40 and I bet your corolla would, too. MMO soaks made my car run better (decarbonizing) but not burn any less oil.

 

[barkingspider]

When I git my beater in my sig, I knew about the oil burning issues but I got a good deal on it so I bought it anyway. I removed the valve cover and saw the valve area was not in good shape but not too bad either. The underside of the cover was kinda bad w hard crusty sludge and varnish. I soaked it in purple power de greaser which worked better than chemtool. New VC gasket, did a mmo piston soak over night, and 3K mile OCI with 5w30 from my stash. I drive it for work Mon-Fri, 90% highway, over 80 miles a day so it gets hot and revs high. Seemed to work for me cuz It does not leak, consume or lose any oil. I'm up to 5K OCI. It gets 35-40 mpg. I love my beater. I would absolutely buy another 98-02 corolla / Prizm. I understand many don't have the luck that I do and that's frustrating.

 

[MrQuackers]

Chemtool B-12 part# 0116, a few ounces in each cylinder overnight. Next day add some other product such as MMO or ATF and soak for a couple hours. Then expel/siphon/sop up, put plugs in and enjoy the smoke show! I personally change the oil and idle that and do a second oil change so the engine is fresh of any nasties from the procedure.

 

[eaglegreen48]

5 years ago I bought a 2002 Corolla for my daughter. Worst decision I ever made. The 2002-03 models have a poor engine design that causes sludge to build up and makes it very hard to clean out. I would sell that car and move on.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Liquimoly Mos2 has tons of Moly,could that help free stuck piston rings?

 

[daves87rs]

Seen quite a few of those years still going....burning or not...

 

[ziggy]

I have a 98 corolla, VE model. MY father had bought this back in 2002 or so, had 36,000 miles on it. Now i own it, and has 86,000 miles. My dad used too take the corolla too jiffy lube. I had noted over time, under the oil fill cap, black burnt on oil, like it would have too be scraped off. He went by the 5-6000 mile rule. Now, toyota has updated from 7,500 mile changes, too 5000 mile changes, due too not enough oil holes in the pistons, and the rings, supplied by nippon, were larger than they were supposed to be. Toyota knew of this and gotlots of complaints, but brushes it under the carpet and screwed the buyer over.
The car, when i got it, had 56,000 miles on it, back 2010 or so, and was burning about 75% a quart in 1,700 miles. so, what i did....i cut oil changes back too 4,000 miles. I used only fram extraguards, napa platinum, napa gold filters. I switched form citgo oil (which in my neon was bad gas, as my oil was thick n black by 700 miles) and nowuse only top tier, shell 87 and mobil 87, and once in a while, exxon 87. the extra detergents help clean. I have used pennzoil dino, but i use 10w30 in the summer, as its thicker and lubes a bit better than 5w30. in winter, i use synthetic 5w30. supertech cleaned up VERY WELL! a year or 2 ago, i did the marvel mystery oil, ran it for 500 miles, nothing happened. risoline concentrate, did nothing. it was the the synthetic oil, supertech i noted that did the best cleaning ( pennzoil dino did some cleaning not by a whole lot), and top teir fuel. I am now burning virtualy NO oil. its a slow process, and under the oil cap, i can basically see metal again, not tar baked on carbon.
Hope this helps! i have noted at 4,000 miles with any filter the oil starts turning black, and by 4,100 miles its completelyblack, meaning the filter is loaded.
the 98-02 corolla should never have been marketed with the pistons and rings toyota was completely aware of. its recommended on corollaland and toyotanation too use synthetic oil only, and do 4-5000 miles changes as a sever service interval, becasue the rings and oil holes.
another thing ide like too recomend, is beofre each oil change, get crc intake cleaner, spray it into the intake, then change the oil. it will help remove deposits off the valves and intake but not 100%. unless maybe you run 203 cans of the stuff. this is what helped me going from burning 75% a quart synthetic or dino in 1,700 miles, too burning virtualy 0 in 4,000 miles.

 

[SonofJoe]

Try using a full 'proper' synthetic 10W30. Think Amsoil do one. This stuff has a Noack volatility of about 5 wt%. You might find it fixes you oil loss problem.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

I eventually slowed, nearly stopped the consumption issues my wife's '02 Corolla had. Hers wasn't too bad but was still losing a quart every 1.5k miles or so. Now it's barely half a quart per 3k miles. I'm not really sure what helped but I did start using synthetics and I would top off with MMO for the last few hundred miles, as much as a quart (25% of what was in the crankcase) a few times which is a lot, but something worked.

 

[bigt61]

mmorri16 - Try the SuperTech synthetic as mentioned above and see if the situation improves. 5W or 10W-30 for a few 5000 mile OCIs. Any cheap Walmart filter is fine. If improvement is substantial, you can extend OCI to 7500 miles if staying with synthetic. It's important to always keep your oil level topped off.

 

[mmorri16]

Thank you guys. It seems though that there will always be a debate with oil burning cars. Some say find a whole new engine, others say go with what you got, try treatments. I hope to lower consumption but even if I can't...

A quart a week is still only $150 extra per year. What is a new engine going to be compared to that? Am I over-simplifying?

 

[slomo]

Originally Posted By: eaglegreen48
5 years ago I bought a 2002 Corolla for my daughter. Worst decision I ever made. The 2002-03 models have a poor engine design that causes sludge to build up and makes it very hard to clean out. I would sell that car and move on.


Thanks for the heads up. Never heard anything about this. Must be hundreds of thousands of people with slugged up engines out there [censored] off.