I did a thing...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
1,492
Location
Perris, CA
[Linked Image]

The car was free and the cost of a rebuilt engine without installation was worth keeping it on the road. I knew it was coming for quite a while as I was burning a quart or more per 1,000 miles. A month or so it started spewing smoke under anything but the most gentle acceleration and at that point I knew it was done.

Definitely not a lack of maintenance as I had the valve covers off earlier this year and it was absolutely spotless in there. Unfortunately I don't qualify for the extended warranty on this issue as it's a 2007, and my mom owned it at the time and never knew about it, despite getting it serviced at the dealership. I'm guessing they didn't want to make her aware of it.

The rest of the car has just short of 150k on it and gets used quite frequently; I put 20k on it between January and October of this year. I'm hoping to get at least another 100k out of it, if not more.
 
did they require a cor to trade in. i would be interested to see pictures of the piston rings to see the wear or coking that causes the smoke,

lots ot toyotas around that year had similar issue with oil consumption.
 
I wonder if you can drop in the later revised AR series engine in?

I know failure prone FoMoCo/Mazda 2.3 guys often upgrade to the 2.5

I like Toyota's, but that 2AZ-FE was a P.O.S from day one

Either it's the earlier RAV4s and Highlanders with head bolt/gasket issues resulting in coolant leaks or consumption

Or the later RAV4's and Camry's that drank a quart of oil every tank of gas

I'm told the 2.5 2AR-FE was a big improvement
 
Actually the 2 AZ-FE motors we're not all bad... Many many of them are still on the roads... I see them on my roads near me all the time. My lady's Camry a 98 version with the 2AZ-FE motor has been very good. Yes it burns about a quart of oil every 3,000 miles... But that is not bad compared to the later 2.5 motors which I have heard burned 1 qt every thousand miles or less... The shear number of Camrys I see that are 97-2001 on the roads near me tell me that if those motors we're maintained well they held up very well.
 
Originally Posted by Reddy45
attaboy!



I agree ^^^^

The body of the car seems to be in really good shape...
 
Originally Posted by bbhero
Actually the 2 AZ-FE motors we're not all bad... Many many of them are still on the roads... I see them on my roads near me all the time. My lady's Camry a 98 version with the 2AZ-FE motor has been very good. Yes it burns about a quart of oil every 3,000 miles... But that is not bad compared to the later 2.5 motors which I have heard burned 1 qt every thousand miles or less... The shear number of Camrys I see that are 97-2001 on the roads near me tell me that if those motors we're maintained well they held up very well.

97-01 Camrys have the bulletproof 5S-FE engine, which is entirely different. 02-09 Camrys had the 2AZ-FE.
 
Originally Posted by bbhero
Actually the 2 AZ-FE motors we're not all bad... Many many of them are still on the roads... I see them on my roads near me all the time. My lady's Camry a 98 version with the 2AZ-FE motor has been very good. Yes it burns about a quart of oil every 3,000 miles... But that is not bad compared to the later 2.5 motors which I have heard burned 1 qt every thousand miles or less... The shear number of Camrys I see that are 97-2001 on the roads near me tell me that if those motors we're maintained well they held up very well.

Maintained can even be an overstatement. My mothers camry is inching toward 200k on anything from 10-15k oci with that 2.5, however this is a lucky one that does not consume oil. Along with that her previous ones have gone a good distance on similar tendencies. So far in my lifetime my direct family has had a 93 camry that went 250k before wrecked, a 94 camry that went well over 300k before sold, 2000 camry that went 300k before sold, 2006 camry still driving at 215k and 2010 with 190k. It just seems these things love us.
 
Last edited:
Rings lose their tension and cant scrape oil off the cylinder walls, Piston oil return holes clog with carbon, valve seals wear out. Most of the time the bores are shiny glazed and not grooved.
 
Legenday Toyota Quality.

I had a 2005 rav 4 with a stick since new. Great engineered car - and Finally a Good drivers toyota. Possibly the only one ?

Too bad the engine was frail. It ran awesome the first 40K miles.
Very Porsche 944 esque.
 
Originally Posted by sdowney717
Rings lose their tension and cant scrape oil off the cylinder walls, Piston oil return holes clog with carbon, valve seals wear out. Most of the time the bores are shiny glazed and not grooved.

The 2AZ-FE though was cursed. Either they burned oil or stripped head bolts. Any time I get the urge to look at Toyota's from the vintage, I just wait until it passes, zero desire to deal with those 2.4's.

The 2.5 2AR-FE in the wife's Camry has been fine though, no real oil usage (yet). My 5S-FE, well it's so-so. Still trying to figure out where it's leaking oil from, despite various attempts. But it's such a slow leak it's more of a weep, 1 quart over 5k, and it's hard to tell how much is burn vs leak. Neither are what you'd call "powerhouses", just adequate for the job at hand, which is all I want out of a 4 door sedan.

Hopefully the OP's replacement engine goes the distance.
 
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
How much did that rebuild cost you? I'd be counting on 200K at a minimum.

Rebuild was $1800 delivered to my door, no core required. I put about 100 miles on the new engine yesterday without issue, of course I checked compulsively and didn't see any smoke (except from the transmission fluid I managed to spill all over the exhaust). FWIW, the rebuilder said to ignore the oil cap and run 5w-30, so that's what I put in.

Originally Posted by danez_yoda
did they require a cor to trade in. i would be interested to see pictures of the piston rings to see the wear or coking that causes the smoke,

lots ot toyotas around that year had similar issue with oil consumption.

No core required, the old engine is sitting in my garage as I'm not sure what to do with it. If curiosity does get the better of me and I end up taking it apart, it won't be for a while, as I have lots of other things lined up that need doing first.

Originally Posted by supton
Still trying to figure out where it's leaking oil from, despite various attempts. But it's such a slow leak it's more of a weep, 1 quart over 5k, and it's hard to tell how much is burn vs leak.

Try some high mileage oil if you haven't already. My Mustang would leak a few drops on the ground every time it sat, I switched to the cheap high mileage Supertech and within 1,000 miles there were no more drops. Been that way for months now.

Either way, beyond using a HM oil I wouldn't worry about a quart per 5k especially on a car that old.

Quote
Hopefully the OP's replacement engine goes the distance.

At least the issues with this engine are well known at this point, and there are revised pistons and head bolts that are supposed to correct the flaws (which I confirmed the rebuilder used). It was still driveable with the old motor, but getting to the point where I was adding about half a quart of oil every time I filled the tank, and it's due for smog next month which it absolutely would not pass while emitting visible smoke
frown.gif
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Anduril

Try some high mileage oil if you haven't already. My Mustang would leak a few drops on the ground every time it sat, I switched to the cheap high mileage Supertech and within 1,000 miles there were no more drops. Been that way for months now.

Either way, beyond using a HM oil I wouldn't worry about a quart per 5k especially on a car that old.

I think I've tried some HM oil and didn't see a change, maybe I should try again at the next change. I usually don't care as I buy oil in the 5 quart jugs, but only need 4 per OCI--I just add the 5th around 2,500 or 3,000 miles, give or take.

My only concern right now is passing inspection. My old shop closed and I'm worried that a new shop will try to soak me for gasket replacement. Once they write up the fail I'm stuck getting it fixed, somehow. I should go read up on the state laws on this, though. Edit: Hmm, I see nothing about it in state law, so perhaps I don't need to worry about this.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by supton
My only concern right now is passing inspection. My old shop closed and I'm worried that a new shop will try to soak me for gasket replacement. Once they write up the fail I'm stuck getting it fixed, somehow. I should go read up on the state laws on this, though.


Wait, they would fail you for some oil leaks? Ooof, nothing of mine would pass inspection then...
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted by Delta
Originally Posted by supton
My only concern right now is passing inspection. My old shop closed and I'm worried that a new shop will try to soak me for gasket replacement. Once they write up the fail I'm stuck getting it fixed, somehow. I should go read up on the state laws on this, though.


Wait, they would fail you for some oil leaks? Ooof, nothing of mine would pass inspection then...
lol.gif


The "Live Free or Die" state has some pretty stringent demands for inspection. A coworker had a car fail because one of the rear passenger doors didn't work. I nearly failed one year because one of the windows wouldn't roll down (it wasn't seated properly and was froze in window frame). Both wiper speeds must work, etc.

But on looking, I don't see anything about oil leaks, so I should be able argue that. It's not that I'm trying to pass something really bad, but this isn't marking my garage, so I know it's not leaking badly.

Although I'm now convinced that I'm on the hook for a new windshield, been skirting that by for a few years but this appears to be the year that it gets one.
frown.gif
Crack more than 2 inches long is a no-no.
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/saf-c3200.html
 
Originally Posted by supton


But it's such a slow leak it's more of a weep, 1 quart over 5k, and it's hard to tell how much is burn vs leak.

Old Toyotas don't usually burn oil unless its out of gross abuse. The 5S-FE does have 3 leak points which are all easily serviced. The oil pump O-ring/shaft seal and distributor O-ring. If you're due for a timing belt soon, the oil pump has 4-5 bolts and off it comes. The distributor O-ring can be done along with the valve cover and spark plug tube seals.
 
Originally Posted by supton

My only concern right now is passing inspection. My old shop closed and I'm worried that a new shop will try to soak me for gasket replacement. Once they write up the fail I'm stuck getting it fixed, somehow. I should go read up on the state laws on this, though. Edit: Hmm, I see nothing about it in state law, so perhaps I don't need to worry about this.

I wouldn't think an oil leak presents a safety concern unless it's getting all over the brakes or something, so I wouldn't expect it to cause you to fail inspection.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by supton


But it's such a slow leak it's more of a weep, 1 quart over 5k, and it's hard to tell how much is burn vs leak.

Old Toyotas don't usually burn oil unless its out of gross abuse. The 5S-FE does have 3 leak points which are all easily serviced. The oil pump O-ring/shaft seal and distributor O-ring. If you're due for a timing belt soon, the oil pump has 4-5 bolts and off it comes. The distributor O-ring can be done along with the valve cover and spark plug tube seals.

Did those, and the oil pan gasket too, and it's still leaking.
21.gif
But I'm no mechanic so who knows, I probably got something wrong. I did just tighten up the oil pan bolts as I think some got loose and that might be the current leak, so fingers crossed that it's fixed. For now...

I'm not too far off from doing another timing belt (sometime next summer) so I'll redo all those items.

Originally Posted by Anduril
Originally Posted by supton

My only concern right now is passing inspection. My old shop closed and I'm worried that a new shop will try to soak me for gasket replacement. Once they write up the fail I'm stuck getting it fixed, somehow. I should go read up on the state laws on this, though. Edit: Hmm, I see nothing about it in state law, so perhaps I don't need to worry about this.

I wouldn't think an oil leak presents a safety concern unless it's getting all over the brakes or something, so I wouldn't expect it to cause you to fail inspection.

I can't think of any friends who have failed for an oil leak but I'm guessing a new shop may want to take me for all it's worth. Inspection doesn't pay that much but the work sure can. Just sayin'. I had the dealer tell me they would fail me for a TPMS light being on but I knew the state law didn't mandate it so I took my business elsewhere.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top