Landcruiser-no Power,oil Loss

[97Cruiser]

Hello, my 97 Landcruiser with 4.5 ltr in-line 6 cyl doesn't seem to have much acceleration power and has been needing a quart of oil every few hundred miles(does not appear to be burning oil and no sign of a leak). It has about 85k miles and is is great condition, just hasn't had much power since I bought it last year and now using oil......anyone have ideas? Thanks for any input I can get. Barry

[sandgroper]

You can take the spark plugs out and if they are dark brown/black then its almost definately burning oil.They should be whitish/beige colour.

A compression test or power leakdown test would be the next step.

An oil pressure test and vacuum tests may also help.

Any abnormal blowback out of the dipstick hole?

Is it running hot?

The 4.5 is the best petrol motor you can get in a cruiser and at 85k should be purring along.Theyll do 400k miles treated right.Its rare to hear of a faulty unit although I did see a identical post on a US site some time back but dont recall the final verdict.

[97Cruiser]

Thanks for the reply....the Cruiser is not running hot, changed the plugs and wires last month, appeared beige in color. No apparent blow-by from dipstick area. Just a question, a friend had similar symptoms with a v-8 Dodge van and it was diagnosed with a faulty intake manifold gasket. Any chance there is something similar going on here. Also, does anyone else know about the previous posts about similar problems and the final verdict on it??

[marksmith]

Might be a silly thing to suggest ... but is it an automatic ? If so does it have enough transmission fluid, or enough pressure ?

Thought of it as my Ford Laser just dumped it's transmission fluid all down the road and funnily enough it's got no power now :-)

[sandgroper]

97cruiser if the intake manifold was leaking it would cause it to run lean and lose power,but I dont think it would have an effect on oil usage.

Its a long shot but do you know if it has the correct grade of oil?

Was it like this since you purchased it or did it come on gradually?

Fuel consumption?

Air filter changed recently?(although a warning light would tell)

The tests I listed would certainly pickup the problem.

Probably only cost 1-2 hours labour.

You could also try the guys on 80scool.It has possibly hundreds of 80/100 series owners.