Losing Oil - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

Guest MarkD

Just bought a 2000 Chevy Prism a few months ago. It had about 50,000 miles on it and it now has just over 52,000 miles. We recently took about a 750 mile trip and burned some oil. I noticed black residue on the back bumper from the exhaust and then our check oil light went on. When I bought the car our mechanic didn't see any leaks, and I haven't noticed any either, so I don't think we're leaking anything. So when my check oil light came on, I added about 1.5 quarts to get the oil to show on the dipstick. Then I brought the car to an oil change shop - the guy noticed residue in the exhaust - so again, it is burning oil. Last night my neighbor and I looked at the spark plugs and they all had white on them. We also checked the pressure of each piston and they were all about 150 (psi?). Also, when I first got the car the "check engine" light was on - I went to autozone and the computer indicated it was misfiring and the guy recommended I change the plugs. But based on research, it seems the check engine light can come from a variety of sources, so I went with the unhook the battery to turn it off trick. It came back on when the "check oil" light came on, and went off after I had the oil changed. Since we checked the plugs, the check engine light is back on! I'm monitoring the oil regularly now and it doesn't appear to have lost anything since the oil was changed a few days ago. I'd imagine I just need to be paitent and monitor the oil for a few thousand miles to see how it goes. But thought I'd run this past you all to see what your impression was of the combination of 1) some oil burning, 2) white on the spark plugs, 3) piston "pressure" appears to be ok, and 4) check engine light. Would changing the plugs help? Sorry about the long, random description and thanks for any input!

When you mentioned "white" colored spark plugs - did you mean as in a whitish deposits or the plug is clean but has a white color. Normal plugs have a tan-ish, gray-ish color.

A white coloured plug is most likely caused by engine overheating. Some common causes are:

- Wrong type of plug, spark plug (too hot heat range)

- Too low of octane fue, bad fuell

- Timing is not set properly

- Cooling problems, low or no engine oil

- Air/fuel mixture is too lean (too much air)

- Leaking crankshaft seals, head gasket leaks, or oil starvation

A plug with fluffy white or off-white deposits (ash deposits) is usually caused by the type of oil used and adding a fuel additive. Excessive oil consumption can also cause this problem.

Both of these plug conditions will cause a misfire. I believe the 1998-2002 models of the 1ZZ-FE equipped Corollas and Prisms used Iridium plugs - which are pricey. Make sure that are the correct plugs - some people have not had any problems with aftermarket plugs - but some people did. Iridium plugs are supposed to last 100K - 120K miles. I took a peek at mine at the 60K mark and they looked perfect.

Plugs are fouled - I'd replace them or at least clean them up. Don't add any additives to the gas or oil - just plain oil and gas (5w-30 or 10w-30 and 87 octane). Fill up with your choice of dino or synthetic juice - synthetics tend to help in case of slight oil consumption - but if your engine is eating oil due to worn rings or valve guide, you'll still burn oil, just will cost you more. Wouldn't be a bad idea to look over the ignition system and fuel system. Probably a really good idea to get proper tune-up. Since it sounds like this could have been a pre-existing condition - plugs shouldn't do that on a car this new with relatively low miles.

Good Luck.

Guest MarkD

I appreciate the reply. There were not any actual deposits on the plugs - just white. But its the first time I've looked at spark plugs out of a car - my neighbor who works on cars thought they looked fine, but I think I'll save up some money and change them just to be sure. Thanks again.