New Avensis Oil Consumption

[dkan]

I've just brought a 53reg T2, 54k and reading throught the forums it seems like owners of the new Avensis are also affect by the heavy oil consumption ? Can anyone confirm this ?

Also, does this problem affect other VVTi engines, I also have a Celica 190, 42k miles 52reg, and it's been fine..not a drop of oil.

thanks

[bbmad]

I've just brought a 53reg T2, 54k and reading throught the forums it seems like owners of the new Avensis are also affect by the heavy oil consumption ? Can anyone confirm this ?

Also, does this problem affect other VVTi engines, I also have a Celica 190, 42k miles 52reg, and it's been fine..not a drop of oil.

thanks

I have a Toyota Avensis VVTI (2001) and oil consumption was normal until 6 months. I need to fill the oil after a long journey (200 miles). I am looking for possible leaks but so far have found nothing.

Cheers

Maj

[Steve84]

I've just brought a 53reg T2, 54k and reading throught the forums it seems like owners of the new Avensis are also affect by the heavy oil consumption ? Can anyone confirm this ?

Also, does this problem affect other VVTi engines, I also have a Celica 190, 42k miles 52reg, and it's been fine..not a drop of oil.

thanks

Engines effted are 1.4 1.6 1.8 vvt-i. Toyota claimed it was from 2000-2002 i had a 2001 1.4 vvt-i corolla that liked a drop of oil. I know of a 03 t2 1.8 using oil and a t4 1.8 53 plate drinking oil. the t4 has only done 27k.

[Ray99]

Toyota know about the heavy oil consumption and will help out in most cases. Get your dealer to do an oil consumption check. This will mean presenting the car and having the oil topped up to max. You drive the car as normal and go back to your dealer after about 500 miles. They top up the sump and do the calculations. If your consumption is more than 1 litre per 1200 miles, you should get a replacement short motor. That is a block, pistons con rods and crank. The rest is swapped from your original engine. For the old shape Avensis, Toyota will still replace your short motor up to 100,000 miles and 7 years old, but you have to prove service history. Not necessarily with a main dealer, just to show that the engine has had regular oil changes.

[Steve84]

Thats how it should be done ray99, but my local dealer took almost 25k to replace my corolla engine. I was going throw almost a gallon of oil per 1500 miles it was smoking had poor perfromance sounded like a bag of spanners all this on a corolla with 49k on the clock. I first noted oil problmes at 24k told dealer who was most unhelpfull. When they did swap it they messed it up that resulted in the new engine blowing up after 1500 miles.

[famz]

i have this same problem, i have a toyota avensis 1.8vvti 02 model and it DRINKKKKKSSS oil, i have to keep topping it up, so you say toyota will help out but does that mean they will do it for free as they know its a problem? what documents if any do i need to take down?

my avensis now makes a rattling noise at 2000rpm too now so i really need this sorting

thanx guys

[Ray99]

Hi Famz

Just your service book full of dealer stamps right on time! If you can't prove full service history, they may make an adjustment depending on how many services have been missed/late.

Sorry to hear of your engine problems Steve, your dealer is not typical, most of them are only to pleased to get such a big warranty job in.

[Electric]

Hiya,

The problem with modern cars is the manufactures have extended the service interval meaning the oil has to maintain its viscosity longer…

Make sure it’s fully synthetic and maybe change it sooner, once an oil breaks down it will leave your engine anyway it can, it’s not always a leak

Cheers

[Avensis luna 03]

Hiya,

The problem with modern cars is the manufactures have extended the service interval meaning the oil has to maintain its viscosity longer…

Make sure it’s fully synthetic and maybe change it sooner, once an oil breaks down it will leave your engine anyway it can, it’s not always a leak

Cheers

I think this is a well made point.

The new service intervals are too long, especially for cars that do a lot of city driving.

My wife drives a 1999 Avensis 1.6 that we have had from new. It is the Lean Burn engine but notwithstanding this, I always changed the oil and filter at 5000 mile intervals to the nearest 100 miles. I have always used branded semi-synthetic or synthetic oil.

At 120,000 miles the engine sounds and drives like the day it came out of the garage. In fact, at the time of an oil change, the old oil comes out golden brown rather than black-brown which would be the norm.

I would look towards cutting the recommended service inerval in two. The car will be the better of it!

[DTO]

My engine (2002 1.6 VVTi ) must be one of the bad batch but I'm currently at 48k and have been changing oil every 4.8k miles (every 7500kms for those on mainland Europe) after the first 10k mile service (severe service schedule according to dealer service schedule). I use the basic 10W-40 semi synthetic Toyota oil. There is virtually no oil consumption at the moment but I'll be watching for the next 20k.

Even Toyota in their TSB dated May 2006 note that "oil consumption may increase if vehicle is driven frequently at high speed". I don't drive at high speed (I max out at around 70mph due to the kid) and if I go by the tyre mileage of my tyres (47k on original tyres) I'm probably not pushing it too much. Sure the 7 yr warranty is reassuring 'cause there is no way I'm going to reach the mileage limit but it means paying over the top for a simple oil change during the scheduled 10k services. When I do the intermediate 4.8k service I'm only essentially paying for the oil (the labour charge is 15% of the normal labour rate since not really considered a 'service').

I'm thinking people are getting us worried to keep us in the dealer network. Anyway since things are getting changed under warranty I'm not going to start worrying too much. As long as I don't see the garage more than 2 times a year (for oil changes) I'm happy. And after 4.5 years things will go wrong and they probably will be expensive but less than the depreciation on the thing. And the 60k service (done at 90kms=56kmiles must be pretty expensive considering that valves have to be adjusted etc.

Probably if it was built in Japan it would probably have been much more reliable (I can testify that a 1995 diesel Carina is still going strong (albeit scruffy) having hit the 400k mile limit living somewhere as a taxi) but costwise it would probably been out of reach and uncompetitive feature-wise. You can't have everything.

[cubix]

I thought there was an article here in Dublin about this but it was mainly affecting 00-02 corola's and from what I can remember it was down to falty valve seals which were allowing the oil to escape and get burned so there was no sign of oil leaks.

So just to confirm this is affecting the new shape Avensis and Toyota know about it?

Just wanted to ask what is the "53" and "T2/T4" in the post?, is 53 something to do with the year and T2/T4 the model, is so can someone fill me in

Thanks

[Steve84]

I thought there was an article here in Dublin about this but it was mainly affecting 00-02 corola's and from what I can remember it was down to falty valve seals which were allowing the oil to escape and get burned so there was no sign of oil leaks.

So just to confirm this is affecting the new shape Avensis and Toyota know about it?

Just wanted to ask what is the "53" and "T2/T4" in the post?, is 53 something to do with the year and T2/T4 the model, is so can someone fill me in

Thanks

[/quote/]

53 would be the year it's either a late 2003 car ie after september the 1st or before march 2004. The T2/T4 is the type of model of avensis.

[Slowtraveler]

Affected engines with high oil consumption was 1.6 VVT-I and 1.8 VVT-I.

I have such problem with my Avensis 2002 1.6 VVT-I this spring.

At milleage about 25-30k.miles oil consumption suddenly rised to above 1L/700miles.

Local Toyota service center said that these engines have such problems due to wrong design of pistons.

Some parts of pistons overheated and piston rings locks....

Extended warranty was applied (5 years / 150000km).

Here local service have not changed short block(different local warranty policy).

They replaced pistons (old pistons have been mechanically like brand new - without any wearing) with new design pistons (additional oil cooling provided), piston rings and oil level measuring stick(oil quantity increased by 500ml).

I clocked about 10k miles from that repair and everythink is OK - no any oil burn....

My collegue have exactly the same avensis and have the same problem few years ago (when car have 20k miles).

Toyota replaced only piston rings (it was 2 years ago) and up to this very moment my collegue hasn't any oil consumption, despite, that he clocked more than 120k miles already...

I think Toyota already corrected the problem generally, but of course some local technical problems are possible.

In any case Toyota can provide convinient solution for you, to allow you to use your car problem free

[Black Knight]

Very close to the story I heard too

[toyato]

I am new on here, but want to join in the discussion about Avensis and oil consumption.

Purchased 02reg 1.8 vvti Avensis about a year ago. Recently had it given 40k miles service after they which they told me that oil level had been low. Having owned a Toyota Carina before this, which never did need any oil despite its age, did not have the habit of checking oil much, let alone having to worry about topping it up !

Not sure how much oil they did put in during the service, but they started to monitor the cosumption since then. Had to come back after 1200 miles after which 0.5 litres had to be added, which was still within toyota consumption specifications apparently, though I find it a lot. Have to come back after next 1200 miles to see if it worsened or not. Having read lots of stories on here though about this I might demand some things looked at properly before the extended warranty, that I negotiated during the purchase, expires.

I am also wondering the following one thing: before I went to the dealer lately to have them check the oil consumption I did the conventional dipstick oil level check, which appeared to be in order. However, after that they told me that they topped it up with 0.5 liter of oil. How low on oil does the engine have to be in order to be able to tell this from the dipstick check. How much is half a liter compared to the total that an enginge (should) contain(s) ? I am clueless about this, so any feedback for this would be good to know.

[Avensis luna 03]

I am new on here, but want to join in the discussion about Avensis and oil consumption.

Purchased 02reg 1.8 vvti Avensis about a year ago. Recently had it given 40k miles service after they which they told me that oil level had been low. Having owned a Toyota Carina before this, which never did need any oil despite its age, did not have the habit of checking oil much, let alone having to worry about topping it up !

Not sure how much oil they did put in during the service, but they started to monitor the cosumption since then. Had to come back after 1200 miles after which 0.5 litres had to be added, which was still within toyota consumption specifications apparently, though I find it a lot. Have to come back after next 1200 miles to see if it worsened or not. Having read lots of stories on here though about this I might demand some things looked at properly before the extended warranty, that I negotiated during the purchase, expires.

I am also wondering the following one thing: before I went to the dealer lately to have them check the oil consumption I did the conventional dipstick oil level check, which appeared to be in order. However, after that they told me that they topped it up with 0.5 liter of oil. How low on oil does the engine have to be in order to be able to tell this from the dipstick check. How much is half a liter compared to the total that an enginge (should) contain(s) ? I am clueless about this, so any feedback for this would be good to know.

I have a 03 1.8 VVTI which has just had the engine replaced under warranty at 65K miles. It started using oil at about 45K miles. Up to that, it was fine. At the finish it was using a bit over a litre per 1000 miles. I think you need to start to monitor your oil usage more closely. If you do end up driving the car without oil, I'm pretty sure Toyota will have some qualifications on their warranty!

On your other question, I would say that if you check your manual you will get the oil capacity of the engine usually about 4 litres and the amount of oil to get from minimum to maximum on the dipstick.

[Slowtraveler]

Avensis 1.6 VVT-I engine have engine oil capacity - 3.7L .

Service center explained that after repair they increased total engine oil capacity to 4.2L.

On 1.8 VVT-I oil quantity will be between 4 and 4.5L.

As per my observations it is about 1 Litter between Max and Min marks on dipstick.

I was surprised how reliable is Toyota engine

On my regulary oil level check (before repair) i observed NOTHING.

Put 2 litters of oil and oil level come just in the middle between Min and Max marks....

During last 200 miles i drove very fast, but no any alarm about oil shortage (temp was stable and oil pressure lamp wasn't lit )...

And that was with about 1L oil totally in the engine

[mats]

Today I was about to close the deal for a 2002 Avensis 1.8 VVTi STW (83 000 km). Last evening a good friend of mine warned me about this model and high oil consumption, and then I found this forum with very valuable info! Thanks! :)

So I checked with the previous owner, and had a long dicussion with the reseller. For the last 7000 km, they had added 1,3 liter oil. At first, the reseller was prepared to prowide a warranty for this known design defect, in case Toyota would not. When he eventually had to put something in writing on the contract, he became more and more unsure. And finally he wouldn't take on the responsibility himself as a reseller, being unsure what oil consumption can be considered normal. My father has fixed cars all of his life and said right away that 1,3 liter oil for this new car is way too much, no matter what Toyota officially states. He's maybe "oldskool" but he knows engines.

I really liked that car, and everything else felt right, but I backed out from the deal. :(

Maybe I should try to find a 2.0 litre engine instead, as they don't seem to have this defect.

[Slowtraveler]

My opinion (which is different from sellers/producers opinion ) is that 'normal' oil consumption appears, when you dont need to full up additional oil between oil change (15,000km)....

Or if you drive extreme, to fill up maximum 0.5l for this period is acceptable.

I mean when you make oil change to fill up to the MAX mark, and during whole oil service period (between changes) oil level to be above MIN mark....

But my previous OPEL ASTRA G (Vaux.) on 100,000km burns about 1L/6000km and i sell it....

I dont think that Toyota 1.6 and 1.8 VVT-i engines are bad, but when you buy 2-nd hand car you must be sure that you are at safe side and to have guarantee...

Meanwhile you can contact your Toyota local service and to check with them if they will take resposibility, because it is Toyota fault but not reseller's.

Despite my car was out of warranty period (3yrs/100,000km), specially for this problem Toyota here (in Bulgaria) extends warranty period to 150,000km (and at least 5yrs period)....

So it is possible that Toyota will cover repair under warranty...

[Black Knight]

Avensis 1.6 VVT-I engine have engine oil capacity - 3.7L .

Service center explained that after repair they increased total engine oil capacity to 4.2L.

On 1.8 VVT-I oil quantity will be between 4 and 4.5L.

Not quite.

It was 4.2L increased to 4.7L and thats thae same across 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8L VVT-i engines

[Slowtraveler]

Avensis 1.6 VVT-I engine have engine oil capacity - 3.7L .

Service center explained that after repair they increased total engine oil capacity to 4.2L.

On 1.8 VVT-I oil quantity will be between 4 and 4.5L.

Not quite.

It was 4.2L increased to 4.7L and thats thae same across 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8L VVT-i engines

I never measured oil quantity in my 1.6 VVT-I engine, but in my user's manual for 1.6VVT-I there was clearly noted 3.7L. After repair in service center they advised me that they increased volume with 0.5L(changed dipstick with shorter one)....

On next oil change i will check by my eyes and then i can told you exact quantity.

[famz]

hey guys

i have this problem with my 2002 1.8vvti Avensis, it just drinks oil and i went down toyota dealers yesterday and they said that its not under warranty, whats the way around it that they help as its their fault i have this problem or was i just speaking to the wrong person?? the assistant there said that id have to pay for the repair which i definately dont want to. its only done like 58k mileage to.

Is it definate that toyota will sort the problem?

[Ray99]

Hi Famz

You need to insist that they check with Technical or on TOTSS. There is a Technical information that increases the warranty period to 7 years/100k. All you need is a service history. Also insist that they put in a prior approval request. This is a way of approaching the warranty department to see if they will honour the claim. If you still get a blank get on to customer services. See my previous posts. You will only get what you kick up for. If you are prepared to be fobbed off then you will get nothing.

[famz]

hey ray99

thanx for the advice, read your last post, loving the customer service threats when you say full service history what do you mean, does it have to be done by toyota? or is a normal garage service ok? and just curious how much does their bonus get cut by?? and does the threat always work?

thanx again, really appreciate it

[Ray99]

Hi Famz

The mentions of customer service should not be threats, be prepared to go to CS with all your details. So keep records of refusals and rudeness, lack of cooperation etc. The service does not have to be done by Toyota, just as long as it's a recognisable garage, preferably with a current telephone number so that the service book can be verified, if required. I've no idea just how much the bonus gets cut, but there was talk of our outfit not making the grade recently and the management were sh*tting themselves. The penalties come in the form of smaller rebates, smaller discount rates for car purchase etc. Plenty of ways to make it hurt. Like I say, don't make the threat unless you are ready to phone CS. You are going to look pretty silly if you threaten then keep quiet. Best of luck. Let us know how you get on. Cheers Ray