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Oil Issues

By xracer390, November 8, 2015



New guy to this forum, I know there are multiple posts on oil here but this seems kind of extreme for what I am seeing. I just bought a 2001 Corolla, auto trans, lots of miles. Overall seems to be in good shape and drives well. Guy said it uses a quart every 1000 miles. Well that's 50 trips to work and back for me so no issue right? I get it home and its a quart low so I top it off. I proceed to put about 5 miles on it and fill it with gas. I get home and it took another quart plus to top it off. WHAT THE HECK!!!

What I don't get is there are no visible wet spots under the car, no drips on the driveway and I do not see any smoke. Ive stood behind it while it was started and revved up and no smoke. The tailpipe is black but seems like it is running rich. Also it will not idle cold and has a hesitation when accelerating.

Ideas? Thanks.

Known issue on some 1ZZ-FE engines, they just guzzle oil like there is no tomorrow. Unfortunately, at the rate it is being consumed in your engine and how it consumes it - only an engine rebuild will fix this issue. Thicker oil will help slow the oil consumption down temporarily, but if you research this issue, the heavier viscosity may cause the oil consumption get worse afterwards. Additives, at this point, will not do anything. They only are effective before it gets this bad. You have to open the engine up and physically scrap/chisel the deposits off.

Even with this extreme consumption - there may not be any obvious signs of oil loss (smoke at exhaust, oil leaks, etc.). Much of that oil is trapped in the catalytic converter and burned internally in the engine (self-EGR setup).

Take a look at some past posts on oil consumption on this forum. Majority of the issues surround the oil drain holes on the piston (oil ring), and the piston rings above it - in cases of excessive oil consumption, owners have found those drain holes completely plugged with carbon, the piston rings packed with deposits (stuck rings). Some also found the valve seals to have hardned up and leak from there as well.

Some owners have just opted to keep driving with the oil consumption - as long as you keep the crankcase topped off, it will keep going. To me, sounds like the original owner dumped his car off on you - ie, he misled you on the actual oil consumption usage.

Not to ague but no matter where its burned, combustion chamber, EGR, or converter it has to go out the tail pipe so at that rate there should be signs of smoke right?? I have had V-8 motors that had a fog behind them going down the road with less oil use than this. I just got the title transferred today so I will be able to start driving it and really see how much its going through. I was thinking the oil was getting trapped under the valve cover or something. I was also doubting my ability to read a dang dipstick and Ive been doing that for 40 years LOL

Either way I only paid $200 so I can always scrap it.

Hey......I see the turbo set up for sale here. Will that bolt on this car? That might be an awesome experiment.

Visibly, that black soot in and around the exhaust is likely the signs most will see with oil being consumed in your engine.

But as far as a strong visible smoke existing the exhaust - just doesn't seem to happen with the 1ZZ-FE.

I agree - I've had a number of domestic muscle cars in the past that leaked a little oil around the rings / valves - even at a consumtion rate of 1 quart every 500 to 1000 miles - they make a prodigious amount of smoke. Sometimes on the verge of being comical.

For $200 - I'd live with the oil consumption. You'd also make an easy profit by parting it out, if you go that direction. You'd have to drive it around a bit more to figure out the true oil consumption. Some cases, it will guzzle oil at an alarming rate initially only to automagically slow down afterwards.

As for turbocharged setups on a 1ZZ-FE - haven't seen a "true" bolt on one that didn't grenade the engine right away. The Toyota 1ZZ-FE didn't enjoy the popularity of modding like some of the other engine and other manufacturers. Still - be a pretty nice experiment. If the engine let go, no worries, it was heading to a rebuilt anyways. That, or swap in another motor - there is someone that has swapped in the 3.5L V6 2GR-FE from a Camry into an 8th gen Corolla (280HP/260ft.lbs - 150lbs heavier, though still lighter than the enthusiast 2.0L 3S-GE and its variants).

I will drive it, no matter how much oil it uses I'm sure it will be cheaper than driving my 8.1 liter Silverado. 10 mpg is pretty much max. Any idea on the cold idle or hesitation issues? Thanks

I'd double check the plugs, if you haven't already done so. Burning that much oil definitely would foul those plugs. Probably couldn't hurt to replace the PCV valve and clean the throttlebody. Lots of oil consumption can also mean lots of oil blowby - could easily foul up the PCV and throttle body.

Also not uncommon to have the timing chain tensioner o-ring leak on these cars - especially with this amount of miles on it. Tensioner looks like a diamond shaped plate with two nuts on the back of it - on the pulley side of the engine, close to the firewall, rear corner of the cylinder head.

Valvecover can leak as well - especially around the sparkplug wells. I've seen cars were the plug well was full of oil - causing intermittent misfire - leading to poor idle and hesitation at speed.

The 1ZZ-FE is also extremely sensitive to electrical noise. Loose or damaged chassis grounds can cause all sorts of headaches. Can make the engine run poorly, as the ECM is getting spurious signals from the various sensors. I make sure that the chassis grounds are on tight and no corrosion under the mounting bolt. Hit them with a little grease from time to time to make sure that moisture stays out of them. Just trace back the wiring from the battery cable (ground side) to find those chassis ground points.

Also a possiblity that the catalytic converter and possibly the O2 sensors are completely borked by the high oil consumption. Though I'd try to rule out the simple stuff first before you start swapping parts out. If it does come to swapping those out - this particular family of engines prefers OEM parts (ie, Denso or NGK) - some owners have luck with aftermarket, but a surprising number of owners ran into all sorts of problems running aftermarket O2 sensors / sparkplugs. For the slight difference in cost, I'd always suggest OEM branded parts if you can get your hands on them.

In the interest of courtesy, and not wasting peoples time, I have read the posts on my topic before posting my question.

I own two 2002 (eighth gen.) Corollas. I have already experienced the oil tensioner leak on the first car, and taken care of it. However, I just bought the second corolla, and I don't know its history except for the fact that the previous owner was driving it on the freeway when the oil pressure went to zero and he pulled over immediately and then had the car towed home. When I filled the crankcase with oil, and then started the car, oil began litteraly pouring, relatively profusely, down the passenger sided of the engine, and off of the oil pan. It very much looks like it is coming from the timing chain tensioner, BUT the quantity coming out, and the instantaneous nature of how the failure occured on the freeway, isn't quite in keeping with the most common way the tensioner o-ring seal fails, that is, slowly weeping over time.

Do any of you folks know of the o-ring essentially blowing out instantly? The young guy at the dealership says that this in fact can happen, but I have got bad info from our local dealership, MANY, MANY times now. They are batting about zero, seriously.

Lil help?

J

Unless the o-ring was damaged on installation, very difficult for them to just "blow out", just the function of the design of an o-ring setup.

Oil literally running out of the engine - that is not a good sign. Possible that the o-ring fell off prior to installing the chain tensioner, debris got caught between the tensioner and the head, or possible there is some RTV or similar inside and on the o-ring glan.

O-rings are designed to work by themselves, I've seen cases where some enterprising mechanic smeared RTV on the o-ring - that just ended up causing to leak like a sieve.

I'd double check that the valve cover gasket is in good shape. There is a transition between the head/block with the timing chain cover right around that area - smeared with a dab of FIPG material from the factory, if that is not dab is not there, could be a potential leak point.

Thanks so much for your response. I've further been able to ascertain that its coming from lower than the tensioner, but still fairly high up the block. I am trying to look at drawings of the 1zzFE VVTI online, and so far it looks like it would almost have to be the timing chain cover. But my god, the amound of oil coming out looks just like you have merely pulled the oil plug when doing an oil change. I would like to prop the car up and be able to look at it from below and at an angle, but it is cold here now and I don't know when I will be able to do this. I was hoping someone would simply say, "that leak has to be this..." oh well. I will let you know how it turns out though. Best option might be a JDM engine if I can find one I don't have to pay shipping on. It does no good to get a great deal on an engine if I have to pay to ship it from New Jersey to Seattle. It more than eats the savings, and there is noone to go in and speak to if it turns out to be a bad engine.

Thanks again,

J

I'd double check the plugs, if you haven't already done so. Burning that much oil definitely would foul those plugs. Probably couldn't hurt to replace the PCV valve and clean the throttlebody. Lots of oil consumption can also mean lots of oil blowby - could easily foul up the PCV and throttle body.

Also not uncommon to have the timing chain tensioner o-ring leak on these cars - especially with this amount of miles on it. Tensioner looks like a diamond shaped plate with two nuts on the back of it - on the pulley side of the engine, close to the firewall, rear corner of the cylinder head.

Valvecover can leak as well - especially around the sparkplug wells. I've seen cars were the plug well was full of oil - causing intermittent misfire - leading to poor idle and hesitation at speed.

The 1ZZ-FE is also extremely sensitive to electrical noise. Loose or damaged chassis grounds can cause all sorts of headaches. Can make the engine run poorly, as the ECM is getting spurious signals from the various sensors. I make sure that the chassis grounds are on tight and no corrosion under the mounting bolt. Hit them with a little grease from time to time to make sure that moisture stays out of them. Just trace back the wiring from the battery cable (ground side) to find those chassis ground points.

Also a possiblity that the catalytic converter and possibly the O2 sensors are completely borked by the high oil consumption. Though I'd try to rule out the simple stuff first before you start swapping parts out. If it does come to swapping those out - this particular family of engines prefers OEM parts (ie, Denso or NGK) - some owners have luck with aftermarket, but a surprising number of owners ran into all sorts of problems running aftermarket O2 sensors / sparkplugs. For the slight difference in cost, I'd always suggest OEM branded parts if you can get your hands on them.

I pulled the plugs today and they are pure white! I read about something people were dumping into the cylinders to clean the rings, what was it? As long as I have the plugs out I dumped a bunch of Marvel Mystery oil in there. I think I will let it sit overnight and put it back together. What do you guys like for plugs in these motors? Mine are Autolite XP 3924 After a couple tanks Im getting about 300 miles to a quart.

 

 

Pure white - sounds like it is ash, likely from oil deposits. Little bit of ash is OK - but if they look "fluffy", signs of excessive oil consumption - not surprising given what you've seen so far.

Marvel Mystery Oil piston soak - that works from some people. MMO would be my first step - good cleaning properties without going overboard. Some like to use something less viscous - like Seafoam - pours like water, definitely have to change the oil afterwards as it will thin it out too much.

Others use something with a bit more bite - like Kroil soaks or B-12 Chemtool. Though B-12 stuff WILL eat aluminum eventually, the Kroil stuff can be hard to find and in some states and area - you can't even get them. Engine flushes - hit or miss - most are kerosene or other petroleum distillates anyways.

Autolite XP 3924 - Iridium fire wire plug - pretty decent plug. Since you are burning so much oil - I'd even give plain copper plugs a try. Can get a couple of sets for the cost of one iridium set, once they get fouled just toss them and put in a fresh set. No worries, the copper plugs won't hurt those coil packs. Iridium plugs only advantages are longer service life and more consistent spark jump (though with heavy oil consumption, that sort of negates this advantage). Try a couple and see what works best for you.

If you driving is mainly highway / high speed - might try an old school trick of running one step higher temperature plugs (hotter plug) to help keep deposits from build up as quickly.

I am way too familiar with the corolla oil problems but no one seems to talk about weather or not these cars pass inspection or not. I'm in Jersey now and the state inspection is ridiculous with emissions. I have a few months till my inspection is due so i'm trying to figure and see what people are saying about passing emissions with oil consumption. Do they pass- not pass? anybody? any info?

Unless your oil consumption is extremely excessive (more than a quart every 500 miles) - you should still be able to pass emissions testing. Do they run the cars on a dynometer in NJ / tail pip sniffer?

Some places just do the OBD-II I/M check - basically plug in a scan tool and see if the monitors are set to "ready". Then they do a quick visual check to make sure you have all the pollution control equipment still attached to the car - good to go.

With the tail pipe sniffer + dynometer - oil consumptions throughs a little more ash down the exhaust - but that is about it. If the consumption is really bad - it might fail due to visible smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. But it has to be guzzling oil at that point - even owners that have consumption in the quart per 300-500 miles range - have no visible smoke coming from the exhaust.



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