Celica 1.8 St Drinking Oil

[sotal]

Cheers cookci this is the sort of thing I needed to know! I am just reading up on the different ones you can buy.

I feared it may be something that you had to send the car to the garage to have done at great expense, but a DIY kit sounds great. I expect I will buy one tonight on my way home. !Removed! Clocks have gone back though so it will be dark every evening from now on :(

Cheers again

[edit]

I guess this is the thing?

http://www.halfords.com/opd_product_detail...9&type=0&cat=67

not much to it! will it tell me what the results mean?

[/edit]

[cookci]

thats the one.

kinda of gives you a brief explanation of what the results might mean on the back of the box yeah.

there is a possibilty that the results might still leave you wondering if its one thing or another though but def worth doing.

[sotal]

for that price I can't argue,

from what I can you just take the spark plug out and screw this thing in then get someone to start the car?? and read the results??

Have you tried one? or anyone else? would just be useful if anyone has tried one on a celica 1.8ST with no problems, and could post the results I should be getting!

[cookci]

from what I can you just take the spark plug out and screw this thing in then get someone to start the car??

no dont get someone to start the car

1) Pull all the HT leads off... so the car doesnt start!!

2) remove one of you spark plugs... lets start with cylinder 1.

3) screw your tester in nice and tite (using your hands)

4) keep turning over the engine using the key for about 5 seconds (i think its 5 seconds... it could be ten).

5) read the result from the tester

6) reset the tester by pressing the button.

7) move onto cylidner2

[Kevstir]

instead of taking all the leads off and having a possibility of mixing them up just take off the coil lead to the dizzy cap.

[sotal]

great stuff, just got the tester from Halfords in my dinner break, will test tonight (probably in the dark) any suggested readings would be useful if anyone has got any. It says to look in the owners handbook - I had a quick flick through but couldn't see any

[cookci]

cant remember what the tester measures in?

btw its the difference between cylinders which your looking for really and the difference in results between wet and dry

[sotal]

ahh,

wet and dry that's what I was going to ask about. Is that the putting a teaspoon of oil down the spark plug hole first? If so what exactly does that do? and what differences should I expect?

ie. Is it normal to get the same results for wet and dry, and there is a problem if they are different or is it the other way round and you should get different results and if they are the same there is a problem.

**Found out that If it has worn valve seals or rings, a wet compression test will show a marked increase in pressure. **

[cookci]

also each cylinder will give different results and a wet test may even out the results

[sotal]

Right I got the tester, got home (it was dark) so I got a big torch and started!

I followed the instructions, and did a dry test for each cylinder. Here are my results:

Cylinder 1 = 11.3 bar

Cylinder 2 = 10.6 bar

Cylinder 3 = 10.9 bar

Cylinder 4 = 11.2 bar

The instructions say that even new cars have a difference of upto 1 bar between cylinders, and that if the difference is less than 1 bar then everything is fine, otherwise do a wet test.

So I haven't bothered with a wet test. It also says to compare against the manufacturers recommended values, but I can't find these anywhere

Any clues or suggestions anyone??

[daktari]

Most petrol engined cars have a compression figure around the 150psi (10.5bar)mark. I dont think your problem is related to bore wear or valve stem wear. Which narrows it down a bit. (More headscratching)

[GT4 BOOSTER]

i think you would tell by the cars performance up hill if compressions were really low in any given cylinder . its like clutch slip.

[sotal]

well now I'm stuck! That should rule out valve stem seals.

What else can it be? Since starting this thread I've lost nearly 1 litre of oil.

It looks like a trip to the local garge may be in order atleast I can hopefully save a bit of money by telling him everything I've checked? Is there any other way for it to burn oil?

The engine always seems to be quite hot when it's been run, I say this because I noticed today whilst filling up with petrol that my bonnet was steaming slightly as the rain evapourated off, and a quick look round showed that nobody elses was, but then again all the other cars were run-of-the-mill cars like corsas, fiesta etc - maybe the celicas shape makes the bonnet closer etc?? The temp gauage never goes above half way, if it does raise at all the fan kicks in and it drops back down.

I can't think of anything else :(

[daktari]

OK. Clutching at straws now. Have you tried running the engine until its at full operating temperature. Leave the engine idling and open the bonnet. look for signs of oil burning off the exhaust. (Smoke haze) Its just an idea. Unlikely, as you`d probably smell it befor now.

[sotal]

I'll check it does sound sensible, I had noticed an odd smell last week but that mostly stopped when I removed the dead bird from the radiator! Since then I do get the odd wiff of a strange smell.

Are you thinking that it may be leaking from somewhere and dripping straight onto the exhast?

[cookci]

when was the last time your engine visited the redline - the rev limit?

how many miles have you done for a litre of oil?

[sotal]

redline - I think I reached it once during an overtake a couple of months ago. I don't normally go above 4000rpm. Most of my driving is slow. I leave the house, join a traffic queue travell at a a maximum of 5-10 miles an hour for a mile or two, have one quick burst where I have to pull out across two lanes, then slow again for another 3 miles, finishing with a tiny stretch of dual carriage way which I go at about 50 max, (the dual carriage way is so small I never actually get on to it - I just go on to the slip road and it joins to the slip road off) - Then I do the reverse at night. It sometimes gets a little exercis as we use it as the main car if we go out anywhere etc

I did wonder if my shortish slow journeys were doing it any harm, but it has done this since I had the car.

Last time I worked it out I seemed to get about 3000 miles to a gallon (UK 4.55 litres) but I'm sure it varies, I look to have used about a litre of oil since starting this thread, but I have only done about 300 miles - but sometimes it hardly goes down at all.

One of the first times we noticed was just after we got the car. We drove up to Scotland, just before we left I decided to do an Oil change, so I knew it was upto the full mark and good clean oil. We left and drove up the motorway when we got there the light just flickered as I had to brake somewhere so I pulled over and checked it. The oil was just under the low mark (but still on the dipstick) I topped it up with the same stuff that was in (Castrol GTX quite thin stuff) we then drove about 800 miles around Scotland, I then checked it again and it ws down to the low mark. I had run out of oil now so, we went to the shop and got a cheap gallon, topped it up with that and finished driving round Scotland, checked it before we left and it was just under full, so I topped it back to the full mark. We left to come home and that was about 300 miles, got home and it had hardly moved (if any) then slowly it kept doing it after - I don't know if this indicates that it is when the engine is stopped/started or if it's just luck when it leaks or if it's just random??

Wow, you almost got my whole life story there!

[Kevstir]

could it just be that the Castrol you had in was to thin and the cheap stuff you bought was thicker thus causeing the consumption to go down?? just a thought , also at you next oil change try getting the right oil for the car from toyota its not that more expensive that Halfords also get a toyota oil filter while your there.

Iv got the GT and noticed that i was starting to use a little oil not much but i could tell it was enough to take notice, what i did was put the new Castrol high mileage oil in it and it helped a bit so that could be another option.

[daktari]

Are you thinking that it may be leaking from somewhere and dripping straight onto the exhast?

Always a possibility. It`s conceivable that it`s the rocker cover gasket leaking along the front edge, above the exhaust manifold.

I`m not holding my breath though. :D

[sotal]

I would hae thought that I would notice the front leaking, I was thinking if anywhere it would be the back as it is ahrd to see, but I have lay under with a torch and not seen a thing!

Kevstir, the Castrol was the recommended from Halfords, yes the cheap oil is thicker I'm using 10w40 cheap stuff which is the best I've found so far.

I am going to try the high mileage stuff soon - I was going to empty the lot out and start again with high mileage stuff. I also keep thinking about getting some of the wynns £4.99 a can seal repair stuff, but the compression test I did indicates that the seals are fine.

[daktari]

I am going to try the high mileage stuff soon - I was going to empty the lot out and start again with high mileage stuff. I also keep thinking about getting some of the wynns £4.99 a can seal repair stuff, but the compression test I did indicates that the seals are fine.

Wont do any harm to add it anyway. Could be a cheap cure. Real !Removed! mystery tho.

A gallon in 3k miles is a litre every 650 miles-ish. It would surely be noticeable on the plugs (As sooty oily deposit) at least. So i dont personally think its burning it. And even though you`ve got 2 cats to go through, i would have thought it would show up at the exhaust, Weird.

[sotal]

Yeah it's got me scratching my head!

Apparantley it only has one cat?? - The Americans have a 2nd in the header pipes??

I just can't work it out, there are no signs.

Toyotas answer is that it's probably just burning it. When I ask where they say "in the engine" and I ask where the smoke or oil is going they say "in the engine" I can't get much out of them. I popped in to see the local mechanic near my parents house (I used to know them quite well) and he didn't really want to know or look, his exact words were "oil is cheap" He said use it for a year or so, keep it topped up then partex it or sell it.

But I really like the car I've always liked the Celica Gen6 and the supra from 1994 onwards. I plan to keep this one with the wife ending up with it and me having the Supra to play with!

[daktari]

oil is cheap" He said use it for a year or so, keep it topped up then partex it or sell it.

It`s alright for him. It`s not his car. You sound a bit like me. If your going to keep it you want it to be right, or at least know whats causing it.

I`ve got a theory about main dealer 'mechanics'. Most of them are just glorified spanner monkeys. Just about manage to change an old part for a new un. But cant diagnose a problem without plugging it into a computer. Which is why i wont go near a main dealer. That and the fact that they charge you £60+ an hour.

[sotal]

Yes it's actually driving me mad!

Even if I just new it was xxxx that was starting to fail, I would then be able to weigh up if it is worth fixing or if I should just leave it until it gets worse, but not knowing is worse! It could be something which if not fixed causes the whole engine to break.

I guess I could try and pretend that it's not there and it's normal to fill the oil up at the same time as the petrol! :)

So far I have checked the following:

Compression test - good results so the following should all be good:

valve stem seals,

piston rings,

valve guides,

head gasket,

There is no smoke from the exhaust

There is no sludge in the oil, and no sludge in the exhaust

There doesn't appear to be any leaks anywhere. I'm buggered if I think of anything else

[cookci]

you should visit the red line ocasionaly

will help free up sticky rings.

Try giving it a thrash right to the redline (when warm)... expect to see some blue smoke out the back when you do it