Oil Thirsty, About 2 litres of oil every 400 miles? Options

[Ibzy]

I heard that gen 6s are notorious for burning through oil when I got my last one. Is there anything that can be done to improve my oil consumption?

I do about 70 miles a day motorway driving, and the last thing I want is low oil pressure because I forgot to check it this morning.

Cheers

[Bitter]

Re-ring the engine, they start eating oil due to worn or coked piston rings.

[VavAlephVav]

Yep, mine doesnt leak a drop yet the oil just disappears even though there's no smoke. Others have suggested that amount of oil consumption is actually within spec, just because the dealers didn't want to cover that under a warranty.

[Box]

The only one notorious was the 7A and generally it was due to neglecting oil change intervals and using crappy oil. Outside of tearing into it for a rering you can do piston soaks with Marvel Mystery Oil or any of the other petroleum based products meant to remove varnish, do that a few times before changing the oil and if you're in a warmer climate you can go to 10W-40 or even 20W-50 to slow the burn.

[Smaay]

they are no more oil burners than any other neglected engine. If it was taken care of, then it wont burn

[Bitter]

I dunno, my 7a was starting to eat oil at 150K. It was a single owner before me and they religiously changed oil every 3K though probably not with the best oil and filter but still. Others on the Corolla section of Toyotanation also report oil consumption issues even with proper care. Some people have torn down and found worn valve guides as the culprit and others have found coked/clogged oil control rings similar to what the early 1ZZ's had.

[Smaay]

yeah the early 1ZZ was an oil drinker.

and yes new rings and a fresh hone on the cylinder walls will fix it.

[Ibzy]

Thanks for the responses guys. As with Aleph, I dont get any leakage or smoke, just the oil disappears. My last celica died of the death knock, which I think came mainly as a result of prolonged low oil pressure (before I owned it - rattled when i got it but didnt know what the problem was at the time). I don't want the same to happen to this one.

I'm in the UK, and am using Catrol GTX 10w40 (as recommended by Halfords). I'll do a full O&F change next weekend to see if it helps, though one was done just before I bought it about 8 months ago.

I'll share my results.

Cheers

[Celica_MKVI]

I am getting 1 liter of burn ~1000miles on my 7A engine. I believe that is the norm for all 7A over +150k miles. 1 liter per 400miles seems more excessive.
Do you get blue smoke on cold start ups when the car has been sitting for a coupe days? You can have oil leak through valve stem seals. You may also want to try and do a compression test(which is very easy to do on the 7A), this will also give some idea on the health of your rings. If your compression is low, you may be getting oil seeping thru the rings and being burnt off. I remember reading about someone rebuilding their entire 7AFE, and they still got oil burning...so they replaced the head gasket with a non-MLS to seat the head and block better, and they eliminated the oil burn. Good luck!

[Ibzy]

Thanks for the pointers, I'll start with compression test and work from there.

Currently sat at 116k and has been the same since I got it (about 107k). No smoke even on cold start, getting about 35mpg which specs say is spot on. Performance seems fine and everything else like that..just a nuisance having to top up all the time

[Box]

Before you change the oil do a piston soak with Seafoam or even an oil flush and then run it as recommended after it sits for at least 24 hours to make sure everything has creeped past the rings. Pour it equally between all four cylinders.

[Ibzy]

Before you change the oil do a piston soak with Seafoam or even an oil flush and then run it as recommended after it sits for at least 24 hours to make sure everything has creeped past the rings. Pour it equally between all four cylinders.

You mean do that, and then do an oil change I imagine? Or do that, see if it fixes it...then do the oil change regardless..that way I'd know if that fixed it?

[Box]

Piston soak, let it sit till it all drains, drive it for about 50-100 miles, change oil. I did a soak with Marvel Mystery Oil and it freed 3 of 4 completely and the burn was pretty much eliminated. Probably could've gone with a flush on that one piston but I wasn't about to dump oil again for a minor burn and ended up selling it before oil change time rolled around again.

[LtSolid]

the 7A's definitely need a lil extra loving..