196,000 Miles and Doesn't Burn a drop of oil

"Fyoeu" (fyoeu2)
09/05/2018 at 22:47 • Filed to: None

That 1MZ-FE is one hell of an engine.

I am just so surprised that my ‘ 95 Camry V6 Coupe doesn’t burn ANY oil! I check it every other week and it’s always at the same level. I’m not necessarily easy on the throttle, which is why I’m so surprised...

Only time I have to add oil is during the winter. There’s a pretty bad oil leak that only makes itself known when the whether starts to get cold, so that’s something I’m not looking forward t o....

I think I need new valve cover gaskets, but if I’m going to change out the valve cover gaskets, I might as well change out the spark plugs since they’re still all original...

Just can’t justify the amount of money it would cost to pay my mechanic to do such a job. :(

DISCUSSION (19)

NKato > Fyoeu
09/05/2018 at 23:04

Yeaaaah. You typically change the plugs between 75k and 100k miles. The queen was still on her original spark plugs at the engine's 77k miles. Changing them out was like breathing new life into it.

DipodomysDeserti > Fyoeu
09/05/2018 at 23:10

The oil on that dipstick looks preeeeety fresh.

HammerheadFistpunch > Fyoeu
09/05/2018 at 23:11

im shocked too. The 1mz-fe had a thing with valve stem guides where they would fail and leak so making it to 200k without a loss of oil is pretty great!

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Fyoeu
09/05/2018 at 23:13

Stop rubbing in the fact you own the greatest Camry ever made !

wafflesnfalafel > DipodomysDeserti
09/05/2018 at 23:29

A re you suggesting a vast conspiracy!? (Toyota engineers breaking into this poor man’s Camry Coupe every week just to add new oil?)

Fyoeu > NKato
09/05/2018 at 23:30

oh i bet! I c an only imagine how much of a difference new spark plugs would make in my car.

Fyoeu > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
09/05/2018 at 23:38

hahaha ok, ok, I’ll try not to rub it in so much.

(btw, in case you’ve forgotten, I do in fact own the GREATEST Camry ever made! #MakeCamryGreatAgain)

Fyoeu > DipodomysDeserti
09/05/2018 at 23:39

Yeah, only about 1,500 miles on this oil.

Fyoeu > HammerheadFistpunch
09/05/2018 at 23:40

huh! Guess I did get lucky!

DipodomysDeserti > wafflesnfalafel
09/05/2018 at 23:41

That, or it’s like my ‘66 GMC that never burns oil on account of the rear main seal leaking it out before the engine gets a chance to burn it.

Can burn oil if you cycling in a fresh quartevery week [axlefoley.jpeg]

glemon > Fyoeu
09/06/2018 at 00:05

90s Japan was their golden age, I was more of a Nissan guy, had a similar era Maxima and an SE-R before that, they were pretty much indestructible. But you couldn't really go wrong with a Toyota, Honda, Nissan or Subaru.

Michael Woyahn > Fyoeu
09/06/2018 at 00:30

I’ve got the descendent of your engine with the 3MZ-FE and I can also confirm it’s amazing how little oil these engines burn. 246k on mine and the only oil mine loses is from a leaky valve cover gasket, too. And 5 out of 6 of the original spark plugs on my car made it to 222k. New ones didn’t actually seem to make that big of a difference, weirdly. It has to downshift less on hills and gas mileage might be a bit better, but that’s it.

Brian Gray > Fyoeu
09/06/2018 at 00:31

I can see that you are cheating, holding the dipstick up so the oil runs down and just makes it look like it is full! Opposite of what the gas station guys would do.

Fyoeu > Michael Woyahn
09/06/2018 at 07:10

So you had 1 spark plug fail?? How di d it fail/ what happened?

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Fyoeu
09/06/2018 at 07:21

Chrysler 3.0 V6: 225k when pulled, used no oil between 5k changes on conventional, still had the hone marks on the cylinder walls and perfect bearings when I tore it apart to build it.

Chrysler 3.3L V6: 195k before a bad valve cover gasket caused it to start using 1/2 qt between 7.5k intervals. Again on conventional. Changed the gaskets, solved the oil use.

Chrysler 4.7L V8: 214k, 15k intervals on synthetic, no oil use between changes.

Ford 300 I6: 384k, oil changed when we felt like it (usually around 10k on conventional since new), used 1/4-1/2qt between changes.

All of them have/had been ran hard and put away wet.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > HammerheadFistpunch
09/06/2018 at 07:22

A Toyota with an issue Chrysler got shit on for, yet it’s overlooked #becausetoyota

diplodicus > Fyoeu
09/06/2018 at 08:39

My M30B34 apparently burns oil, got no leaks but it isn’t visible in the exhaust either. My theory at this point is that it’s due to the higher than normal temps we’ve been having and I like to get on it pretty hard, gets pretty fucking hot in that engine bay. I should try and put a thermocouple on the head and see if it’s reaching flash point temps of the oil.

I’m not to worried about it tho since the coolant and oil both look fine, and compression seems fine. If you leave it in gear down a 7% grade it will slow down. So it’s just one of those old BMW things I guess.

Michael Woyahn > Fyoeu
09/06/2018 at 09:29

So the ignition coil is actually what failed which made the spark plug stopped working. There was no warning for it though . We were able to limp it to the mechanic because it was only about 3 miles away, but we were driving to Chicago at the time so it could’ve been quite an issue ! I think the spark plug went bad just because the car was misfiring so it got fouled up This was at 196k. The weird thing is an ignition coil went bad in my dad’s car and it only misfired for 4ish seconds and then it was totally fine so I guess they can fail in different ways.

jasmits > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
09/06/2018 at 12:21

Oh I’m sure it’s not overlooked. If you read Toyota forums you’ll leave thinking that the 3VZ is possibly the worst, most unreliable engine ever produced. I wouldn’t want another one, but mine was chugging along just fine past 220k miles with minimal maintenance besides oil changes and a warranty head gasket replacement at 70k. But I mean, you can only expect a good 250k out of one, instead of 350 or 400k from the 22R or 5VZ.