I have a 2007 Camry LE 4 cylinder with the 2AZ-FE engine at about 80,000 miles. As is common with these engines, mine consumes a slight bit of oil. From my estimates, it is about 0.3 or 0.4 quarts per 1,000 miles average. I purchased the car when it had 60,000 miles on it and since that time I have run Pennzoil Platinum 0W-20 in it at about 5,000 mile OCIs. I ran the shorter 5k OCIs with the intent of cleaning out the engine a little, knowing that PP has a pretty good detergent package.
Anyhoo, life got in the way of my last OCI and I let it go to about 6,100 miles. I noticed that the engine seemed to consume noticeably less oil in the later portion of the OCI (between 4,000 and 6,000 miles) than in the earlier. At the beginning of the OCI I filled the oil to the high mark on the dipstick, then I kept a few notes about when I needed to top it off, and they are as follows (according to the manual, the low and high marks on the dipstick represent a difference of 1.2 quarts):
o 2,963.3 miles since last OCI - Topped off oil to just above high mark on dipstick. Dipstick reading at lowest marker. Added 1.2 quarts. (0.4 quarts/1,000 miles consumption average)
o 3,918.0 miles since last OCI - Topped off oil to approximately 0.25 quarts above high mark on dipstick. Burned around 0.5 quarts since last top off. (0.5 quarts/1,000 miles consumption average)
o 6,114.8 miles since last OCI - Burned around 0.3 to 0.5 quarts since last top off. (0.15 to 0.2.5 quarts/1,000 miles consumption average)
I changed the oil at 6,114.8 miles. I realize this didn't exactly follow the scientific method of research, but it did it seem to indicate that the engine consumed less towards the end of the OCI. Now I am trying to determine what could be the reason. The car is a daily driver, mainly about 40 miles each day on the highway with some stop and go depending on backups/accidents/etc. The only difference in that schedule is that in the beginning of the first 3,000 miles she went on two 350 mile all-highway trips (700 open highway miles). The same also happened after the 4,000 mile top off (700 open highway miles). I'm pretty sure that had something to do with it, but why would she consume less oil running non-stop at 70+ MPH on the highway? Wouldn't the constant heat and friction result in increased consumption? One other variable that I am interested in is that I overfilled a bit at 4,000 miles. Could that have resulted in decreased consumption for some reason?
I'm rather curious for anyone else's insight/personal experience/etc. into these observations or changes in oil consumption in general.
Anyhoo, life got in the way of my last OCI and I let it go to about 6,100 miles. I noticed that the engine seemed to consume noticeably less oil in the later portion of the OCI (between 4,000 and 6,000 miles) than in the earlier. At the beginning of the OCI I filled the oil to the high mark on the dipstick, then I kept a few notes about when I needed to top it off, and they are as follows (according to the manual, the low and high marks on the dipstick represent a difference of 1.2 quarts):
o 2,963.3 miles since last OCI - Topped off oil to just above high mark on dipstick. Dipstick reading at lowest marker. Added 1.2 quarts. (0.4 quarts/1,000 miles consumption average)
o 3,918.0 miles since last OCI - Topped off oil to approximately 0.25 quarts above high mark on dipstick. Burned around 0.5 quarts since last top off. (0.5 quarts/1,000 miles consumption average)
o 6,114.8 miles since last OCI - Burned around 0.3 to 0.5 quarts since last top off. (0.15 to 0.2.5 quarts/1,000 miles consumption average)
I changed the oil at 6,114.8 miles. I realize this didn't exactly follow the scientific method of research, but it did it seem to indicate that the engine consumed less towards the end of the OCI. Now I am trying to determine what could be the reason. The car is a daily driver, mainly about 40 miles each day on the highway with some stop and go depending on backups/accidents/etc. The only difference in that schedule is that in the beginning of the first 3,000 miles she went on two 350 mile all-highway trips (700 open highway miles). The same also happened after the 4,000 mile top off (700 open highway miles). I'm pretty sure that had something to do with it, but why would she consume less oil running non-stop at 70+ MPH on the highway? Wouldn't the constant heat and friction result in increased consumption? One other variable that I am interested in is that I overfilled a bit at 4,000 miles. Could that have resulted in decreased consumption for some reason?
I'm rather curious for anyone else's insight/personal experience/etc. into these observations or changes in oil consumption in general.