2007 Auris 1.6 Petrol - Oil consumption

[hcanning]

Hi guys,

Is this a common thing on these engines as it is on the older engines?  Ours seems to be using 750-1000ml every 1000 miles or so.  It runs beautifully otherwise.  

I've looked for a PCV valve to check but can't find one.

Thanks for any insight!

[cacafulla]

I have read before that Toyota's VVT-i engines can be prone to oil consumption.

But I have personally owned a 1.0 Yaris with 120.000 miles and now a 1.3 Auris with 70.000 miles, and either of them had any oil consumption issues. 

[hcanning]

Anyone else, I wonder?

 

Thanks!

[yossarian247]

I'd heard this issue with early VVT-i engines was supposed to have been fixed by the time the Auris came along?

[FROSTYBALLS]

An extract from the Honest John website:

"All Toyota VVT-I 1.4, 1.6 & 1.8L engines (1zz 1.8, 3zz 1.6 & 4zz 1.4) made from 2000 to mid 2005 may suffer from excessive oil consumption of 1L/600miles. The cause was insufficient oil capacity, poor piston and piston ring design. This led to the oil-ways sludging up, eventually causing hardened oil around the rings to misshape the bores. The use of poor quality or overly thick oils (thicker than 5w30) increased the likelihood of the issues above occurring. The fix was re-designed pistons, rings and short block - some were replaced under warranty; after about July 2005 the fix was applied new build Toyotas."

Excessive oil consumption was considered to be 1 litre in 600 miles.

No mention of excessive oil consumption on petrol engines in the Honest John review of the Auris 2007-2012 - https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/auris-2007/?section=good

[Konrad C]

The Auris uses the 1ZR-FE dual VVTi engine, which is a different design to the previous 'ZZ' engine, which was known to burn oil. Your engine should not have a high oil consumption, unless you are unlucky, you bought the car secondhand and the previous owners have neglected service, or the car has high mileage and a bit worn - preferred oil grade is 0w-20 but can use 5w-30.

Here are links to the technical specs - http://toyota-club.net/files/faq/12-11-01_faq_zr-engine_eng.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_ZR_engine

http://mywikimotors.com/toyota-1zr/

My Valvematic 2ZR-FAE engine hardly needs topping up between yearly oil changes. I have hardly heard anything about the ZR series in Europe, but check the US Corolla sites which use the same engine.

[hcanning]

Thanks for your replies.  Yes, I've done plenty of reading on the ZZ engines and their oil consumption woes, but can find precisely sod all that might indicate it's common the ZR engine.

 

It's baffling me tbh.  I've checked for blue smoke when starting from cold... Absolutely nothing. Not a puff.  I've also had someone follow me whilst I drive and put the engine under varying amounts of load / overrun, and not a single puff of blue smoke there either.  I'm confident it's not leaking it, as there's no sign apart from a little tiny bit of oil around the chain tensioner seal area.  If it's burning it (in any meaningful quantity), surely this would be evident through the exhaust pipe?

Still need to check the PCV valve but this looks like a right sod of a job since all the inlet manifold etc needs to come off... Is there another way of checking this without accessing the valve directly? I have bought  a vacuum gauge in order to check the engine's health.. Will this highlight PCV issues? According to a few guides online, when I hooked it up and tested it, everything seemed spot on.

It literally appears to be mechanically perfect, other than using about 500-750ml of oil every 1000-1500 miles.  

Bizarre.

[Konrad C]

Hi Howard again. I have to say that it is hard to measure the oil on the dipstick. Engine cold (not started all day). 

The oil is all the up the dipstick beyond the picture.

The oil is actually above the max mark - I changed the oil on Saturday.

I changed tactic to measure the oil level - wipe the dipstick the replace for about 10 seconds then pull out and measure. 

The oil being 0w-20 and new makes it hard to read. Even when the oil was oil it was not that dirty. The oil was up the dipstick so needs to be wiped.

Try the pull - wipe - dip - wait 10 seconds then pull - read, and see if that works.