Oil Burning Problem

[sibbs]

ive just bought a 2002 1.8 vvti 92000 miles on the clock full service history in supper red shes imaculate and beautiful to drive but reading all the horror storeys about this oil burning issue iam wondering weather my 970 quid was well spent or not, could any one shed any light on weather these vehicles are lemons or weather as long as you keep the oil topped up they still prove reliable i only tend to keep a car for 20000 miles anyway. oh yeah engine managment light came on also and stayed on, i have read about that too are these cars just lemons. be great to chat to any of you thanks simon

[igormus]

ive just bought a 2002 1.8 vvti 92000 miles on the clock full service history in supper red shes imaculate and beautiful to drive but reading all the horror storeys about this oil burning issue iam wondering weather my 970 quid was well spent or not, could any one shed any light on weather these vehicles are lemons or weather as long as you keep the oil topped up they still prove reliable i only tend to keep a car for 20000 miles anyway. oh yeah engine managment light came on also and stayed on, i have read about that too are these cars just lemons. be great to chat to any of you thanks simon

hi Simon

the matter is most probably yrs has 1ZZ-FE engine that suffers from oil shortage. The worst is you have to have a can with oil when tripped for a long distance more than 100 kms. I have had the same engine on my previous avevnsis of 2003. The reason is overheating of the pistons. You can choice whether to change short motor or to change an oil to 10w40 instead of 5w30. It is clear yr cat converter is burnt out due to an oil burning and the light is ON. Cheers/Igor

[Roker]

I note from the upgrade Service Bulitin that a new oil level gauge is fitted giving a further 0.5 litre of oil. Min Max has been increase by 10mm.

Should we do this in any case on the existing engine to help the problem?

[igormus]

I note from the upgrade Service Bulitin that a new oil level gauge is fitted giving a further 0.5 litre of oil. Min Max has been increase by 10mm.

Should we do this in any case on the existing engine to help the problem?

I think the way is to use 10w40 + add a bit more oil above max level.

cheers

[Roker]

Would 10w40 be thicker and therefore be less likely to splash around and lubricate the pistons.

I have one of the pre-modified engines, presently it does not use any oil, but I can hear a ticking when it is cold, which is either a valve tappet or piston slap. does other oil burning engines do this?

[sibbs]

ive just bought a 2002 1.8 vvti 92000 miles on the clock full service history in supper red shes imaculate and beautiful to drive but reading all the horror storeys about this oil burning issue iam wondering weather my 970 quid was well spent or not, could any one shed any light on weather these vehicles are lemons or weather as long as you keep the oil topped up they still prove reliable i only tend to keep a car for 20000 miles anyway. oh yeah engine managment light came on also and stayed on, i have read about that too are these cars just lemons. be great to chat to any of you thanks simon

hi Simon

the matter is most probably yrs has 1ZZ-FE engine that suffers from oil shortage. The worst is you have to have a can with oil when tripped for a long distance more than 100 kms. I have had the same engine on my previous avevnsis of 2003. The reason is overheating of the pistons. You can choice whether to change short motor or to change an oil to 10w40 instead of 5w30. It is clear yr cat converter is burnt out due to an oil burning and the light is ON. Cheers/Igor

hi well my oil level is high so it hasnt ran out and i will have to drive 500 miles or so before i can gauge weather mine is an oil burning lemon or not and ive bought a cheap code reader to try to get to the bottom of the engine management light if it comes up with a cat problem i guess i can start thinking thast yes indeed i do have a lemon on my hands which is burning oil. am i right in thinking the pistons wont over heat as long as oil stays clean and doesnt drop below a certain level or do these units just self destruct irrespective of tlc

[igormus]

ive just bought a 2002 1.8 vvti 92000 miles on the clock full service history in supper red shes imaculate and beautiful to drive but reading all the horror storeys about this oil burning issue iam wondering weather my 970 quid was well spent or not, could any one shed any light on weather these vehicles are lemons or weather as long as you keep the oil topped up they still prove reliable i only tend to keep a car for 20000 miles anyway. oh yeah engine managment light came on also and stayed on, i have read about that too are these cars just lemons. be great to chat to any of you thanks simon

hi Simon

the matter is most probably yrs has 1ZZ-FE engine that suffers from oil shortage. The worst is you have to have a can with oil when tripped for a long distance more than 100 kms. I have had the same engine on my previous avevnsis of 2003. The reason is overheating of the pistons. You can choice whether to change short motor or to change an oil to 10w40 instead of 5w30. It is clear yr cat converter is burnt out due to an oil burning and the light is ON. Cheers/Igor

hi well my oil level is high so it hasnt ran out and i will have to drive 500 miles or so before i can gauge weather mine is an oil burning lemon or not and ive bought a cheap code reader to try to get to the bottom of the engine management light if it comes up with a cat problem i guess i can start thinking thast yes indeed i do have a lemon on my hands which is burning oil. am i right in thinking the pistons wont over heat as long as oil stays clean and doesnt drop below a certain level or do these units just self destruct irrespective of tlc

The oil level is only to prevent an oil pump from dry suction and to have an oil pressure in the system. the pistoons overheating it is other issue -- the oil is converted into slag blocking drain holes on the piston skirt -- when these holes are blocked -- the oil has one way to combustion chamber to maintain burning process and not be drained into the sump. cheers

[sibbs]

ive just bought a 2002 1.8 vvti 92000 miles on the clock full service history in supper red shes imaculate and beautiful to drive but reading all the horror storeys about this oil burning issue iam wondering weather my 970 quid was well spent or not, could any one shed any light on weather these vehicles are lemons or weather as long as you keep the oil topped up they still prove reliable i only tend to keep a car for 20000 miles anyway. oh yeah engine managment light came on also and stayed on, i have read about that too are these cars just lemons. be great to chat to any of you thanks simon

hi Simon

the matter is most probably yrs has 1ZZ-FE engine that suffers from oil shortage. The worst is you have to have a can with oil when tripped for a long distance more than 100 kms. I have had the same engine on my previous avevnsis of 2003. The reason is overheating of the pistons. You can choice whether to change short motor or to change an oil to 10w40 instead of 5w30. It is clear yr cat converter is burnt out due to an oil burning and the light is ON. Cheers/Igor

hi well my oil level is high so it hasnt ran out and i will have to drive 500 miles or so before i can gauge weather mine is an oil burning lemon or not and ive bought a cheap code reader to try to get to the bottom of the engine management light if it comes up with a cat problem i guess i can start thinking thast yes indeed i do have a lemon on my hands which is burning oil. am i right in thinking the pistons wont over heat as long as oil stays clean and doesnt drop below a certain level or do these units just self destruct irrespective of tlc

The oil level is only to prevent an oil pump from dry suction and to have an oil pressure in the system. the pistoons overheating it is other issue -- the oil is converted into slag blocking drain holes on the piston skirt -- when these holes are blocked -- the oil has one way to combustion chamber to maintain burning process and not be drained into the sump. cheers

ok thanks bit clearer now

[alan333]

I can hear a ticking when it is cold, which is either a valve tappet or piston slap. does other oil burning engines do this?

My 05 plate does this too, worse in winter. The service schedule on Autodata states that the tappets should be checked/adjusted at 5 years or 60k miles. Mine has 75k on it. I reckon it's tappets. Perhaps yours is the same ie over 60k and never been checked?

Hope this helps :)

[Roker]

Ignormus. Its not to do with the pump suction, if it goes dry for a second the bearings are knacked, which is no no, The more oil that is in the engine the better the chance it has to cool the pistons etc. because it is spending more time in the sump

[Druid Boy]

I may be missing something here but I thought if you over fill the engine oil you can put your seals under threat due to increased pressures (as the pistons thrash up/down) and the extra oil in the sump can get burned off too because it gets thrashed into a mist by the crankshaft and then sucked up the breather pipes and burned in the cylinders.

My old bike used to burn oil like a 2 stroke. I simply made a point of keeping an eye on it and if I went touring always took spare oil with me. 2 litres if it was a long trip. Not bad for an engine with a sump capacity of 3.5l....

[Roker]

Why would the seals be under more pressure? the pump is pumping the same pressure, there is just more in the sump (not up to the seal). As long has it is not high enough to interfere with the crankshaft and it don't hit the oil, I would think it would have to be long way up/full to do that. As I said one of Toyota's mods is to increase the level by 10 mm.

Druid boy, if you are burning oil like your old bike, the chances are you are also losing compression

[Druid Boy]

The car is fine & doesn't burn a drop. It was the bike that was burning oil - right up to the point I crashed it. Oops.

[igormus]

Ignormus. Its not to do with the pump suction, if it goes dry for a second the bearings are knacked, which is no no, The more oil that is in the engine the better the chance it has to cool the pistons etc. because it is spending more time in the sump

the issue with an oil burning could be rectified subject to have all piston cooled by means of an oil jets taken from an oil main via angle tubes. this system works perfect in other cars. cheers

[sibbs]

my engine light was on due to an 02 sensor which i have now fixed for 25 quid but my car is clearly using a lot of oil as is the majority of other early vvti engines shame i was hoping mine was one of the few that got away

[winco576]

ive just bought a 2002 1.8 vvti 92000 miles on the clock full service history in supper red shes imaculate and beautiful to drive but reading all the horror storeys about this oil burning issue iam wondering weather my 970 quid was well spent or not, could any one shed any light on weather these vehicles are lemons or weather as long as you keep the oil topped up they still prove reliable i only tend to keep a car for 20000 miles anyway. oh yeah engine managment light came on also and stayed on, i have read about that too are these cars just lemons. be great to chat to any of you thanks simon

I have two Toyota's one is a Carina E 221,000 miles, it uses no oil between changes.

The second is a 2001 Avensis 1.8vvti Automatic with 96,000 on the clock. The engine has been using oil at the rate of 1 litre every 700 miles since 37,0000 miles.

On another forum I read of a cure. The person who posted the reply claimed that by using about 4 tankfulls of High Octane unleaded instead of ordinary unleaded the problem improves.

As an engineer of 50 years I was not convinced about this but then I though maybe the detergents used in the High octane may be better that the ordinary unleaded & may clear sludge or crud from the oil scrapper ring groove, so I tried this out.

Well, 4 tankfulls of high octane later, the oil consumption has dropped to 1 litre every 3000 miles. I am going to use one more tankfull then revert back to ordinary unleaded to see what happens.

Give it a go it may work for you.