Time for a rebuild?, burning oil... Options

[bseaman_5]

So I was having some severe oil leakage issues a few months back, decided it was time to get something done, took it to my mechanic and he said he replaced all the known seals that leak on celica's. I have NO reason to think he didn't we've been going to him for 15 years, great guy, great mechanic, does good quality work and if he messes up he would gladly take the car back fix it for no extra cost. So I have no doubt he did replace the seals, he also replaced the timing belt at that time. Now before I had this done my car was having oil drips and it was splattered all over the engine bay. Ever since the replacement of seals, I haven't had any oil drip or anything but I checked my oil a few weeks ago and had basically NO oil left, filled it full and now I'm already on low.. Any clues at to what this could be?? Or just an old engine that burns oil?

So I decided to edit this cuz I searched a bit harder and found some other posts on similar topics..
I only have about 145xxx miles on my engine. As far as I know it's been taken care of well. Should I do a rebuild, if so what all is in entailed? Or just replace a few things and see if that fixes the problem? Valve seals and oil control rings are the 2 things I saw w this sort of situation, and it does have a puff of smoke when started up..
B.

This post has been edited by bseaman_5: Jan 9, 2009 - 12:42 PM

[silver6gc]

Check your compression, if good then start with replacing the valve seals. If you're only getting smoke on the initial start-up after letting the car sit, then that's most likely all it is, and yes is it very common on 5S-FE's especially when you get over 100k on it. If your compression is off in any cylinders then you may want to freshen the engine up. That would entail valve seals, having the head cleaned up, repacing piston rings, honing the cylinders if the cross-hatch is gone and replacing the main and/or rod bearings if they are scored any. Good luck.

This post has been edited by silver6gc: Jan 9, 2009 - 9:25 PM

[Jdog1385]

before even doing compression and valve seals i would use a fuel and/or oil additive that cleans any gunk in the engine specifically targeting areas around the valve seals...something as simple as gunk buildup can cause oil to burn in your engine. add one cycle of oil additive and 3 cycles of fuel additive (3 full tanks of premium gas)

if that doesn't work then proceed to silver6gc's recommendations

[silver6gc]

I dont mean to shoot you down on that jdog, but what ive found to hold true is that if you have gunk build-up and you clean it out with a chemical oil additive to remove it you will burn oil even worse. The reason is that gunk (called oil gel or sludge) will actually take up some of the space when youre oil seals start leaking. I have also seen some vlve seals so bad that were being held together by the sludge and when it got cleaned out the valve seals cam completely apart. The worst case I have seen was a car that actually quit running because of the oil additive. All that being said, you can try it bseaman_5, but I guarantee you that the valve seals at least will be replaced on your car to stop the smoking. Trust me...I make a living doing this, this is my job i do it everyday.

[Smaay]

my 5S is leaking like a siv. debating on pulling engine and replacing all bearing, rings, and gaskets, or just front and rear seals

[bseaman_5]

I do believe you ha, I've read some of your other posts before and I've used seafoam on my car a few times, I've used fuel injector cleaner, I change my oil on a regular basis, I do what I can to keep my car running smoothly. I'll take your word for it and just get my car to my mechanic as soon as I can and have some money..