2005 Avensis 'using' Serious Amounts Of Oil

[caledonia]

Hey All,

My 2005 Avensis 1.8 T3-S has started using oil recently.

At it's last service the garage said it was litteraly just touching the bottom of the dipstick, but I'd never recieved a warning light (thankfully)

I've kept a regular check on it since then, and I'm having to tip in about 1Litre of oil every 1000miles.

Ok, so it's done 90,000 miles, and some of that has been longer journeys towing my camping trailer or with the bike rack, but I wouldn't say I was perticularly hars on my engine.

It is definatley not leaking it, as my garage floor is bone dry.

And I don't see it burning any as the emissions on the last MOT were fine and dandy...

So it's clearly absorbing it somewhere, and at the rate it's using it, I am worried it's a sick puppy.

Anybody got any experience as to what this may be ??

Car is booked into the garage again on Thursday (not dealer) and I would love to give him a pointer if it's a known issue with this car.

Many thanks.

Cale.

[mwilson]

Piston rings? should be okay on a 7 yr old car but if it has been thrashed they could be worn. Get somebody to follow you and watch for smoke. Does the engine bay smell excessively of oil? could be leaking in there and being burnt of as it drips somewhere like the exhaust manifold.

[pauljj]

one of the taxis where i work was doing that it was also using more petrol the usual,it was a valve

[The Cav]

There is supposed to be an issue with the 1.8 petrol engine ....of certain years that are known to be heavy on oil consumption

i am sure there's someone on the forum who can point you in the direction of the correct info....good luck

[igormus]

Hey All,

My 2005 Avensis 1.8 T3-S has started using oil recently.

At it's last service the garage said it was litteraly just touching the bottom of the dipstick, but I'd never recieved a warning light (thankfully)

I've kept a regular check on it since then, and I'm having to tip in about 1Litre of oil every 1000miles.

Ok, so it's done 90,000 miles, and some of that has been longer journeys towing my camping trailer or with the bike rack, but I wouldn't say I was perticularly hars on my engine.

It is definatley not leaking it, as my garage floor is bone dry.

And I don't see it burning any as the emissions on the last MOT were fine and dandy...

So it's clearly absorbing it somewhere, and at the rate it's using it, I am worried it's a sick puppy.

Anybody got any experience as to what this may be ??

Car is booked into the garage again on Thursday (not dealer) and I would love to give him a pointer if it's a known issue with this car.

Many thanks.

Cale.

the reason of this is those engines generation suffers from a piston cooling lack or the piston head is too thin and sharply heated leading to an oil slagging clogging drain holes in the skirt + oil scrapping rings blocking in the grooves.

regards / Igor

[revband]

If it's late 2005 you may be in time to get the engine replaced by Toyota, I understand that it is a known issue and they have extended the guarantee to 7 years or 100k miles, talk to your local Toyota dealer ASAP.

[caledonia]

Thanks for the replys so far guys.

I will ring the main dealer tomorrow, i've a good relationship with them even tho I don't get it serviced there. Will see what they say.

I've had the car since 30k so I know it's not been thrashed, but I do expect it to pull when I need it too.

If I was being overly critical I would say that yes, possibly a little down on power, but i put that down to using Tesco fuel. Went back to BP/Shell and 'seems' to be happier.

Where would I check to see which engine type/age I have ?

I can get the VIN number, but can't seem to locate and engine number... ??

Thanks again folks !

Cale

[T5NELtim]

see here for details about which are affected

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=131887&view=findpost&p=1172453

[caledonia]

Thank you once again guys.

Main Dealer want to see the car, they are going to do an Oil Consumption test (pre-requisite for diagnosing this engine fault) and let me know where I stand !

Cancelled the Service for now, and will keep you all informed how I go...

P.s.

(This shows as my first post, but I've been a member here for years and posted several times... has there been a flush of older posts ? )

[caledonia]

Quick update for those who have helped.

Very swiftly we clocked up the required 600 miles for the consumption test.

Mix of motorway and town driving, so a proper cross of the type of driving we do.

Dealer says it's "boarderline" for the requirements of the issue discussed.

They had said in our initial convo on the phone that i sounded like "I knew what I was talking about" which I'm not sure how to interpret.

Now just Waiting to see what the outcome is.

Anyone had this engine re-build done ?

How did the car feel afterwards ?

[T5NELtim]

Dealer says it's "boarderline" for the requirements of the issue discussed.

They had said in our initial convo on the phone that i sounded like "I knew what I was talking about" which I'm not sure how to interpret.

Now just Waiting to see what the outcome is.

Anyone had this engine re-build done ?

How did the car feel afterwards ?

Sounds like they realise that you are aware that this engine has had issues. It is no doubt one of the earlier engines without piston ring mods.

PUSH very hard for this to get fixed. Without the fix things will get worse as the reduced amount of oil contributes to the blockage problem that causes the oil burning. Most of these engines seem to end up with bottom end failure due to oil starvation - presumably as most users cannot manage to keep on top of the levels.

Good luck

Tim

[jirehn]

Why you didn't recieve a warning light? What is the cause of this? I am bothered in my car.

[T5NELtim]

Why you didn't recieve a warning light? What is the cause of this? I am bothered in my car.

I don't think there is an oil level light in any of these cars (and I am not going to look now...)

There is an oil pressure light but by the time this is on you will be very low on oil indeed. This means that the oil that is left holds much more dirt, runs hotter and gets worn out very quickly. This exacerbates the original problem of gummy oil deposits blocking free draining of oil past the oil control rings leading to even higher piston temperature etc. It is a vicious circle

BUT there is no reason to worry if you do not have one of these engines (roughly 1.8VVTI up to end 2005 but see earlier post for more detail)