My brother was over for supper last night and we were discussing oil. I had advised him to use a better quality oil and be a little more conscious of his OCI. Well, he told me that he put in Castrol Synthetic 5 W 30 and his consumption so far is 2L in 4000 Km . He assures me that there is no oil leaks and that he is convinced that the engine is using oil. Anyone have any suggestions as to where the oil is going. I am not familiar with Toyotas and would welcome any opinions from the gang.

Cheers

Bry

still the usual steps in diagnosing for oil consumption:

(a) check for seal leaks. Oil puddle is usually a good way to tell.

(b) greasy valve cover gaskets, timing belt/chain covers, etc.

(c)check the tailpipe for oily smoke/blue smoke or "morning sickness" (puff of blue, oily smoke first thing in the morning during startup), or blue smoke during heavy acceleration (oil ctrl ring pack stuck). That's usually a sure sign that engine is in need of mechanical attention.

The 1.8L 4cyl. is known to burn some oil with a lot of high speed highway driveing. 2L in 4000KM is high though.You seldom see them burn more then a 1 quart every 2500-3000 miles. buster has more recent experince then I do with this car. I would figure he is useing an oil or oci that is not ideal fo rthe engine! If he has been running extended oil changes with 5W30 dino it could be carbon related ie ring sticking. I am not a big fan of Castrols products and will only use them if the price is really good. A lot of your follow Canadians like German Castrol 0W30 adn XD-3 0W30 and 0W40 by Esso! Maybe Sundurance might be an option too. Once it warms up and you do not have artic like conditions 15W40's are cheap and would also solve the oil consuption issue.

I have never seen a Toyota that did not like a 40Wt. oil! You could probably get away with a 5W40 G III oil if cost is an issue. Patman might be able to help as well as he know the products in Cananda better then I do.

Castrol GTX 10W-40 should cut down that oil consumption very nicely.

If it's the same 1.8 that's in my girlfriend's 94 Corolla, I'm not suprised. It's used oil since she's had it (got it with just under 100k, currently at 182k). The car currently uses at least 4 quarts between 3k mile "changes". There is what appears to be a small seal leak, but it looks to have sludged over, and it doesn't leak when parked anymore. The car was always run with 10w30 dino, so to calm the consumption I'm currently trying Citgo 10w40. The engine is noticably noisier with this vs. 10w30. So long as it runs, I'm happy

My parents 1997 RAV-4 burns about 2 litres per 7000 km. If they weren't spending money on oil you'd think they weren't even using the thing. 230K km and they haven't had to fix anything except the front springs and struts! You couldn't ask for anything better than this car and it is a 1st year model.

Cheers, Steve

The motor in a 98 Corolla would be the 1.8l 1ZZ-FE.I had the same engine in my 99 Corolla,it never used oil once.

Thanks for all your valuable input. I will suggest moving up to a 40 wt oil. Maybe the XD-3 0W40. There doesn't appear to be any leaks but I'm not sure about the "morning sickness". I will have to give the engine a thorough hands on inspection this weekend and look for oil deposits around the gaskets rear seals, etc. The car is mainly city driven and I somehow suspect that the oil may never reach operating temperature. If the problem is stuck rings, can anyone recommend an additive that could free them up?


Bry

RedNeck53,

There are TSB's (Technical Service Bulletins) that report that the engines in the Corolla's may consume oil when the car is driven at speeds above 70 mph.
If you do a search, you will find related links discussing the issue of oil consumption in 1998 and newer engines in the Toyota Corolla's and
Chevrolet Prizm (same Vehicle).
Not all of the 1.8l 1ZZ-FE engines will consume oil, and I do not think there were any remedies
found except drive under 70

If you are driving in the city most of the time and do little freeway driving, you may have another issue with the engine.

We rule out hi-speed driving as an issue. Stuck rings or an emission control problem? AutoRX is said to work well at cleaning an engine if you can get it shipped up there reasonably.

I have a 94 Corolla 1.8L that I bought 2 years ago with about 74K on the clock. It burned about 2 quarts per 3,000 miles. 2 runs of Auto-RX has cut that in half! I'd recomend doing that 1st. I would NOT recomed 40 weight in a Corolla. I tried that to cut consumption, and it made the engine dramatically louder and way less peppy. Sounds like it's just got some cruded up rings; Auto-Rx will solve that problem with ease.

I have a 2005 Corolla with the 1.8 and drive it mostly at 70 mph (2900 rpm) and with 10,500 miles on the engine, it's using about 8 oz of makeup oil in 2500 miles. This is using Castrol Syntec 5w/30 2 quarts and Castrol Syntec Blend 5w/30 2 quart mix.

I just put in 8 oz of Castrol GTX 5w-30 to top off.

Interesting that the previous 5k OCI with Castrol 5w-30 Syntec Blend NO make up oil was needed or did the dipstick show any level change...

The difference? The Last Oil was SL... This change was all SM.....

I wonder... 8 oz is not alot for 2,500 miles. So that would mean a quart every 10k miles!

I could live with that. I hope it does not get worst.

I wonder if going to Mobil 1 would the makeup oil useage get worst since it's thinner???

I've got 25k miles worth of SL Castrol 5w-30 Syntec that I bought for $3 a quart at wallmart close out. I also have 4 quarts of Mobil 7500 drive clean to try out... (Along with my almost 100 quarts of Pennzoil dino 10w-30 / 5w-30 in the garage. Oh and my case of Chevron 10w-30 and a case of QS 10w-30 all bought for .69 cents a quart.)

I need help....

Cheers, Bill

To be honest with you Bill I do not think anyone should ever use a dino 5W30 in a Toyota!! It just does not make for a happy union! I will reluctantly agree to 5W30 synthetic in a Toyota but only for winter use! Every Toyota I have ever seen run on 5W30 has either ended up sludged up, varnished up, or an oil burner!

For Spring up to the very begining of wintetr I like 10W30,10W40,5W40,0W40,15W40,15W50,10W60 as prefered weights for Toyota's! IF it is dino change it every 3000 miles if it is synthetic change it every 6 months of 7500 miles. I think the best products are going to be synthetic 5W40 or 0W40 as they offer year round protection.

From 1971 to present we have used either dino 20W50 in warm months and 10W30 dureing the winter months or Synthetic 15W50 dureing the warm months and 10W30 dureing the winter months. We have never had a Toyota that problems with sludge or oil consuption. We have never worn a Toyota engine out either! I have recently tried 5W40 last winter and it worked wounderful. I have M1R 0W30 in right now.

I did not notice any sludge issues or oil consuption issues as wide spread until Toyota went to 5W30 being the recomended oil and they increased the oil change interval.

[ February 17, 2005, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: JohnBrowning ]

0w-40 or 5w-40 if you go to a 40 weight (synth). That will reduce the colder thick oil blues.

Do the Auto-Rx treatments.

Live with the results and be happy.


Oh ..is the consumption always at the same rate ..or does it get worse as the oil ages??

Not sure about the rate or time period. He just mentioned that since he started with the Castrol, he has had to put in 2L of oil. Prior to my convincing him to use a better quality oil, he was pretty lax about OCI and other mundane car related chores. He's an electronics hardware engineer, what can I say

Bry