by "PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
Published 03/03/2017 at 11:05
by "PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
Published 03/03/2017 at 11:05
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STARS: 1
One day my sister asked for help buying a car. We found a car. We test drove it. Checked it all out. All looks great. Bought it. A month or two later, we check the oil .... nothing. Damn thing was burning oil but not always i.e. blue smoke wasn’t always appearing to catch it.
Is there some fool proof way to know right away if a car is burning oil? Compression test? Some other test?
Obviously, I can’t ask seller if I can borrow his car for a month to see if it will burn oil.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
03/03/2017 at 11:09, STARS: 4
Is there some fool proof way to know right away if a car is burning oil?
Yes there is. Does it have one of these in it?
Then yes, it burns oil.
"Nisman" (nisman)
03/03/2017 at 11:09, STARS: 2
I would say no. Oil burners can go through cats, O2 sensors and spark plugs so look for clues in the maintenance records. The most obvious sign would be black on the exhaust tips/bumper area. In my personal experience my oil burners haven’t been any worse reliability wise than my non oil burners. Just keep an eye on it every other fill up or so and top off.
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
03/03/2017 at 11:09, STARS: 1
If it is not blowing blue smoke or dropping oil and the oil is topped off, then there is no way to tell quickly if a car is consuming oil. A compression test is a good idea whenever buying a car, but won’t always tell you if a car is eating oil. Ideally you should check your oil at least once a week, especially on a used car. I check my oil when I get gas. Something weird is going on if a car eats through four quarts of oil without blowing smoke or dripping in one month.
"My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
03/03/2017 at 11:13, STARS: 0
I had a Saturn with self changing oil, no blue smoke, no leaks, no obvious signs, It burned a quart for every 2 tanks of gas, this equated to an oil change worth of oil every 2 months, I just changed the filter.
"TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts." (thebloody)
03/03/2017 at 11:13, STARS: 0
How much oil are you loosing between changes? Could be the valve seals are letting some oil seep into the combustion chamber.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
03/03/2017 at 11:14, STARS: 0
There’s only so many places oil can go. If it’s not dripping onto the ground or getting on the undercarriage, check the coolant. If that’s clean too, then I’d say it’s gotta be getting into the cylinders and burning off.
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
03/03/2017 at 11:21, STARS: 0
What car and engine?
There’s plenty of reasons why a car could be burning or losing oil, and some of those reasons are common to a specific engine or platform.
I have a feeling that if you’re not seeing blue smoke, then it’s probably leaking considering the amount of oil lost in the time period. I’ve had cars that smoked like crazy but were nowhere near that bad of oil consumption.
"ivnic8" (sasgxl)
03/03/2017 at 11:27, STARS: 0
It could also be a clogged PCV. Typically a cheap part, but could be difficult to change. Depending on milage, and engine model, there should be some information on the internet about this type of issue.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 11:32, STARS: 0
The issue was that the oil changes were not done at recommended intervals and the o-rings worn away prematurely.
However, I am not too concerned with that car. I am more curious to know if there is a way to catch oil burner before buying
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 11:34, STARS: 0
Corolla type S. Toyota said this problem exists if oil changes were not done at proper intervals. Piston rings wore out prematurely and this caused oil burning. Not leaking.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 11:36, STARS: 0
well, it was the last one. However, the blue smoke wasn’t always appearing. Only when you gunned to get on highway for instance... it was weird... but I want to know if there is a way to catch it right away
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 11:37, STARS: 0
She was losing about a quart every 1500 miles or so. That car is long gone and I don’t care about it.. or fixing it.
"MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s" (mastermario)
03/03/2017 at 11:44, STARS: 2
According to Toyota burning 1 quart every 1200 miles is “normal”...I’m a little salty about that one. We probably burn 1 quart every 1500-2000 miles but there has never been anything noticeable in the exhaust or the coolant.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 11:48, STARS: 1
yeah... “normal” if you know about it. If you don’t, car gets dead real quick
Some cars have a warning to change oil soon or whatever. This would have been a perfect example where a reminder light should have been added - check oil. oil low. add oil. O1234 error code. Something.
I don’t like cars that normally burn oil
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
03/03/2017 at 11:50, STARS: 0
I still can’t believe you’re burning through a couple of quarts at least in 2 months without seeing blue smoke at least occasionally. Plus, I rather doubt a low stress Toyota engine would burn its rings out by just missing an oil change, I’d bet it had an oil leak first that caused the rings to burn out due to lack of oil (unless it was 20k overdue on a an oil change).
Compression test would identify if the piston rings are the cause, but you’ll also see a lot of oily carbon build up on the spark plugs if it’s burning that much. If you’re sure it’s burning oil and not leaking on the ground, it could also be valve guides or a gasket on the intake or head that seals oil.
I’m still saying you should do a full inspection all around the engine and chassis for oil leaks though.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 11:59, STARS: 0
I was in as much shock as you. I saw no visible signs of oil burning. but there it was. no leaks. low miles. dry engine. Car was black, so it was hard to see any black soot around exhaust... or it was cleaned well when we were looking at it. but come to think of it, we didnt see any even when we owned it. Just a plume of blue smoke at random. not always
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
03/03/2017 at 12:19, STARS: 0
Yeah, without time to watch for dropping levels, I don’t think you can reliably diagnose oil-burning without some proper tools. If you do get that blue smoke or black residue, then that can be a dead giveaway, but a lack of those symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t burn oil.
"brianbrannon" (brianbrannon)
03/03/2017 at 12:27, STARS: 0
There is no mechanical test. Watching the exhaust for smoke on cold start up before the catalytic converter warms up or on some cars checking for positive pressure at the dip stick or oil cap with the engine running.
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
03/03/2017 at 12:28, STARS: 0
The random blue smoke makes me wonder... could it be an internal leak somehow? Dripping a lot of oil in a short time into a cylinder only for it to get pushed out the exhaust? It’d be obvious with a oily and wet spark plug or oil in the exhaust. I suppose it could be piston rings, but I think they’d be more steady in their smoking.
I’m not very familiar with the Corolla engine, but two places that could cause a “internal leak” like that are the valve guides (which would likely cause a noticeable puff of smoke during startup after sitting for a while, and probably wouldn’t cause that much oil loss) or the PCV setup which is meant to pull vapors from the crank case but not oil.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 12:28, STARS: 0
dang it. I will now forever be paranoid
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 12:31, STARS: 0
There was a way to find out... when we still had the car. now it will forever be a mystery.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 12:33, STARS: 0
Thanks for confirming my fears. From now on, I’ll ask seller if I can borrow their car for a month or two. I might not own cars for a while
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
03/03/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 0
Sorry to be disheartening. Eliminating ALL risks when it comes to buying used vehicles sure is a tall order. Some cars are NOT easy to run a quick compression check on.
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
03/03/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 0
Ah, missed the part where you sold it.
Yeah, problems are much easier to diagnose if you still own the car.
"MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s" (mastermario)
03/03/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 1
Nor do I, but the car is paid for and it’s something I’m at least aware of so it’s not too big of an issue. But still, 1 quart/1200 miles is not normal no matter what Toyota says. The warning lights would definitely have been a help. The first time I noticed it was starting to burn oil I checked the oil at like 3000 miles after the most recent oil change and there was nothing on the dipstick.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 12:40, STARS: 1
yup. :( and toyotas were good back in the day. I don’t like them so much anymore
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 0
Original post was looking for information how to find it, not how to fix it anyway.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 12:43, STARS: 0
no need to be sorry. You didn’t invent the wheel. You simply use it.
I was just curious to know if there was a way. If there is not, I’ll read car manual - because that’s exactly where it says 1q in 1200 miles is normal use.
"MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s" (mastermario)
03/03/2017 at 12:57, STARS: 0
This car kind of killed my respect for Toyota. I can understand the car having an issue, all cars do, but not fixing the problem and saying it’s “normal” is BS
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
03/03/2017 at 13:08, STARS: 0
Is that a 10k mile oil change interval car? I had a caddy sts with the older 3.6 that would burn/lose a quart every 1500 or so. I blame the oil change interval and the rings sticking. I don’t let any vehicle go that long on oil changes anymore. Recommended or not.
At l say when I sold it I let the buyer know the situation before purchase. Didn’t want him grenading the engine cause it lost a quart or two.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
03/03/2017 at 13:52, STARS: 0
to be fair, it is in the car manual. They knew this was happening. They just didn’t call it a problem.
I since bought a 2005 lexus truck. Same problem in car manual... not in real life tho. go figure.
"MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s" (mastermario)
03/03/2017 at 15:16, STARS: 0
It’s a 5k mile interval, this particular engine has a common oil burning issue due to the ring design, common enough that it’s actually on the Wikipedia page for the 2AZ-FE engine
There have been complaints of this engine “burning oil” in North America with the issue starting after 45k miles, though mostly after 60k-75k miles. Piston ring design has been identified as a problem. Toyota has even issued a TSB (Technical service bulletin) TSB #0094-11 in August 2011 but have refused to issue general recall. Also more convincingly reported as a head gasket problem the 2AZ-FE aluminum block head bolt threads wear out on the back 3 middle bolts (closest to firewall). There are several class-action lawsuits underway regarding this widespread issue. In January 2015, Toyota North America caved in and issued extended warranty notification (ZE7) for this issue. However, Toyota still insists that burning 1 quart of oil every 1200 miles is “normal”. This applies to Toyota North America vehicles only.