Corolla 2001, Excessive oil burning with low miles

[Cheeseybob]

Hi guys, so my first car is this Corolla 2001, I've had it for about a year 1/2 now. I've noticed that it's been burning oil excessively and has been for a few months now. I'm just about to hit 65,000 miles but I have to add about 4 quarts of oil basically every 1-2 weeks.

I read from other posts on here that the Corollas from this time had issues with this, is there anything I can do? Or is it just better to buy another used car? I do drive a lot of miles (about 94 miles each day) but this oil consumption seems excessive and it wasn't always like this.

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

there is not much about it that you can do unless you are prepared to spend good amount of money for engine repair.  I don’t know if it’s worth it in that old car, but will depend how is then general condition of the car and how long do you want to keep it. 100 Mike ss day is a good miles, perhaps a newer model, hybrid for example to save you some cash from the fuel bill. Oil consumption most likely as a result of stuck piston rings and glazed cylinders, not a easy diy job. There ar swine methods to use sea foam but that can even cause more damage. What you can do is a few engine flushes and few oil changes in short period of time and hope that this may help a bit but I can’t expect really a huge difference. Perhaps you may want to keep the car use cheaper oil if you buy bulk and top up regularly. 
Regards  

[oldcodger]

Yes, some early models did have oil burning problems caused by problem pistons/rings/bores,  but there is no way you can get anything from Toyota these days, thats long gone.

Is yours petrol or diesel ?

It could be Valve Stem oil seals thats the problem, usually identified by a cloud of smoke when you press the accelerator after a down hill overrun, but again its a garage job to fix, though nothing as bad as the piston problems.

Burning so much oil, expect it will fail any local emissions tests ( IE ?)

[DerekHa]

Hi Daemeon,

I bought a colleagues 1991 Toyota Corolla(1.3 petrol). Was back 1996, it only had around 40k miles on the clock. Loved the car but soon had problems with it blowing blue smoke on start up and pulling off after being stationary in traffic. Obviously burning oil, not a huge amount as I remember but knew it wasn't normal and would get worse if left.

Was told that the 1.3 Toyota engine back then had issues with the valve stem oil seals leaking prematurely. Seems that they hardened and allow oil to run down the valve stem at tick and over overnight, it didn't blow a lot of smoke whilst being driven. Had the seals replaced and it totally cured the blue smoke issue. Left the car with the mechanic for a few days whilst he took the head off and did all work needed, fairly sure I bought a full head gasket set for this. I didn't fancy taking this on myself at the time so left to a mechanic.

If you have the 1.3 engine with relatively low miles would suggest the valve stem oil seals could be at fault. Was told that the piston rings and bores are usually good. I was told the larger engined Corolla's didn't suffer the same issues as the engines were a better design.

If your handy with the spanners you may be able to do a head overhaul yourself.