6G Celicas Forums

i have a 1995 Celica 1.8ST. It's been losing lots of oil lately but can't seem to find any oil leaks. No black or blue smoke from the exhaust either. So not sure where the oil was going. Yesterday, I found out that when i rev the engine, the exhaust pipe spits out a mixture of oil and water. It's left stains on my drive so i know that it's oily. Not sure where to start from now. Please help

what about your head gaskets?

temperature gauge doesn't rise above half so don't think it could be the head gaskets. and there's always coolant in the rad.so am not losing coolant.

valve seals?

what is your definition of using alot of oil? 1 quart of oil for every 500 mile/month?

most likely it is not oil in your exhaust. It probably is carbon deposit mixed with water.

+1


I feel like it would be next to impossible for oil to make it all the way out your muffler. Exuast can get up to 1200 degrees! (according to a recent study which I made up for specifically for this post)



but seriously, its pretty damn hot, I think the oil would def burn off before it reached the muffler.

If the exhaust is spitting out black stuff, that's carbon deposits+water which= poor compression I believe. It would stain the driveway because it comes out black. Oil would totally burn off before it made its way back there, plus, that's a really long way for oil to travel, I just don't see that being possible.

Have your cylinders checked for compression.

Just as a few folks said, it's most likely carbon + water.
Even when a turbos' exhaust seal leaks it doesn't make it to the tailpipe as liquid, and yours has to be coming from inside the combustion chamber or further.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean poor compression.
Your engine might be running rich, have poor combustion, or might not be mixing correctly.

It could also be from oil contamination.
7AFEs seem to like burning oil at the rings with higher mileage, not necessarily from worn rings however.
You might want to try and track down where you're losing oil [if you in fact are].

Hi Alltracman78,
I changed my spark plugs to NGK platimums, changed air filter, oil filter last week. No sign of oil on the sparkplugs. Engine runs fine.smooth.
I topped up with oil during this service and drove about 200 miles but it was basic short drives..(approx 10-15 miles drive).
Checked oil after the 200 or so miles and hadn't lost much oil. In fact, it was still showing 'F' on dipstick.
That morning, I then drove on the motorway for 120 miles. next monrning, checked dipstick and dipstick showed HALF!
so I'm basically losing oil when i'm driving at high speeds for a longer time.

Any suggestions?

Sounds like rings to me...maybe it's the constant high rpm from highway driving that's causing oil to get past the rings (if they are worn). When you're just city driving unless your gunning it from light to light the rpms are usually low. Rings...Head Gasket...

You need to take care of it soon though cause eventually you'll end up with rod bearing issues...

This post has been edited by 6G96GT: Mar 26, 2008 - 2:44 PM

Drive at a lower RPM.

When your engine is running oil is thrown from the sides of the rod bearings onto the cylinder walls. This is how they are lubricated. The oil control rings clean this oil off the walls and drip it into the oil pan through holes in the side of the piston, so it doesn't get past the compression rings and burned in the combustion chamber.

Higher RPMs means more oil is thrown onto the walls. Once a certain amount is reached, the oil control rings can't remove all the oil from the walls [only so much can be dripped through the relief holes in the side of the piston]. Whatever it can't remove gets burned [the compression rings aren't designed to remove oil].

If you burn ONE DROP of oil in each cylinder every time it combusts, you will burn all your oil long before 3,000 miles.


This is a common problem on 7AFEs. I would guess either the rod bearings have too much clearance, or the rings aren't sufficient. Or both.


In addition, if the engine isn't heated enough to burn off water [humidity and condensation], your oil level can be effected by the amount of water in it. Half a quart would turn the oil milky though, so you didn't have that much.

If you want to find out how much oil is actually burned [probably all of it], run it hard, top it off, and run it hard again, then check the level.

According to Toyota the car will use oil by burning off the water in it during long drives. I was driving a 60mile trip alot last year and they told me the oil usage that was showing was due to that. During regular everyday driving the oil has time to cool down between trips and the liquid content condeses and mixes back with the oil. They showed me a service bulliten for the 5s on that.

Edit - nvm Alltracman just explained it way better than I could

This post has been edited by DEATH: Mar 26, 2008 - 2:52 PM

I had a similar issue in my 7AFE, which turned out to be the valve seals in my case.

Time for a leak down test?

Hi Guys,
thanks for your replies.appreciate it.
Scothaniel...how much did the valve seals problem cost you?
what do you guys estimate the cost?is it worth repairing, or selling it?
am based in the UK. you guys know of any toyota specialists around?

If you had an issue with the valve seals, you would see blue smoke at cold start up.
The dirty water you see coming out of your exhaust is just condensation. Its totally normal.

no comment.lol im dumb

This post has been edited by CelicaST_CALI: Mar 27, 2008 - 12:33 PM

Because the catalytic converter makes water.



A leakdown test isn't going to tell you anything about your oil control rings, or valve seals/guides.
It also won't tell you if the cause is what I mentioned several posts above.

Look at the tops of your pistons [some shops can do this without removing the head], if the edges are clean you're leaking oil into the cylinder by the rings.

Depending on mileage it won't hurt to get your valve seals done, but the oil thrown up is a common problem on 7As.

Huh, I thought in doing a leakdown test, if the valves are not sealing properly air would seep past and you would here air in the exhaust or intake piping. So what am I missing?

alltracman78, please drop some knowledge on me! I'm not being sarcastic either, you know the inner workings of the motors far more then I do. I'm happy to learn from those who know

No worries, questions are good.
They help you [and me] learn, and catch me when I make mistakes.

It will tell you if the valve seat and/or the valve face are leaking.
They don't tell if the valve guides or seals are leaking.

There is the slight possibility of the guide being worn so badly the face won't seal properly against the seat because the valve won't sit straight, but that would be an extreme case.

yeah,my 7a has a bad piston ring from what i'm told. the back of my car is black. i'm sure it's not the seals cause i don't have any colored smoke when i start the car. i do get smoke when the rpm's are higher.