Oil consumption issues.

[(K)]

This is for a gen 1.5 4cyl.

I recently changed my oil at about 3800 miles. This time I only pulled 2.5 (more like 2 1/4) quarts out of the old oil (Royal Purple 5w30). I consider the driving to be "hard driving" seeing as how I'm constantly merging onto the highway several times a day.

Usually I have a shop do the oil change since it's close to my work but this time I changed it myself since I had alot of free time this past weekend. I don't smell oil being burned when I'm accelerating, no blue smoke out the tailpipe, no leaks spotted and no oil anywhere else in the engine bay, but I did notice a gasoline smell when I drained the oil pan.

My question to you folks is "is this normal"? I usually fill it with 4 quarts and I expected to pull around 4 quarts when draining, I expect less, but definitely not 2 quarts. Just wanted some opinion before I start breaking out the compression testing tools.

I'm prepared for an answer that I don't want to hear...

PS. Haven't checked the coolant color yet.

[(K)]

Aw fudge it.

1 quart/1900 miles is close enough to "normal". Apparently the Scions are having the same issues (actually worse). I'm in the green but I'll be keeping an eye on the oil level for now.

Carry on...thanks for looking lol.

[GreenSolara01]

Do you get smoke while @ idle, and or while @ higher RPMs?

[onefiend]

high mileage cars consume a quart or two every 3-5K miles. I had that experience with my 2001 Solara (5S-FE)

[Midias]

My wife's 5s consumes about a quart every 3k miles and it has about 130k on the clock. I found switching to Valvoline max life helped. My 1mz has 160k on it and does not burn any from what I can tell maybe .2 at the most. I have been using max life in that sense 75k.

[(K)]

I'm at 85,000 miles right now. I'm going to have to have a partner observe the car this weekend. Can't really tell from the driver's seat. Then I'll be getting to work on testing the sucker...

Full Warranty usually covers engine internals right? They don't consider that wear and tear like a clutch and flywheel do they?

[TRAFFICBLOWS]

I'm at 140k... by 4500mi my oil level hovers the low mark on the dipstick, so I add a qt around 3800. Using 5W-30. I only change oil after hitting 5000 miles.

My mechanic just recommended I switch to 10W-30 and use high-mileage oil. He stated it's normal for Toyotas to burn oil after 100k, more so than other car makes.

Once i'm through with my last case of normal 5W-30 (next change?), I may start out with high-mileage 5W-30 and go to 10W-30 if consumption doesn't improve.

[dan99solara]

i have almost 160k on my 1mz as well and havnt noticed any oil loss. i have always used mobil 1 5w-30 and change every 3k. hopefully that has something to do with it.

[TRAFFICBLOWS]

If I changed my oil every 3k I prob wouldn't have ever noticed the oil burnoff... the oil level would still be closer to full than to low. Perhaps it's a just good idea to change it more often now with high mileage.

Wear and tear sucks...

[BChad200]

the more you change it the cleaner your engine will be inside. the cleaner your engine is the cleaner your oil will stay...if that makes any sense. i would never go 5k between oil changes, especially with conventional oil. but i know that's what the owners manuals say nowadays.

[dan99solara]

the more you change it the cleaner your engine will be inside. the cleaner your engine is the cleaner your oil will stay...if that makes any sense. i would never go 5k between oil changes, especially with conventional oil. but i know that's what the owners manuals say nowadays.

well said.

[(K)]

I tend to change my oil depending on the type of driving I've been doing prior to the oil change.

Synthetics supposedly last until 5k, I change somewhere between 3k and 5k depending on a bunch of factors.

It could be that I've been driving harder than usual but to be honest the routes and driving habits haven't really changed enough to justify that much oil consumption. I'm keeping an eye on the dipstick everyday and we'll see the outcome during the next change.

The Scions say that this is "normal" in that it falls within a range (albeit somewhat on the high side) of operation. I'm not the original owner of the car but I'm sure the original owner didn't break the car in correctly...that could be one cause of oil consumption.

I used Castrol Syntec 5w30 for this oil change, so far it's holding up pretty well, I'm at about 1k miles right now and the oil is still clean and viscous. It's really hard to tell with the Royal Purple because it's PURPLE, you can't judge by the color you have to judge the viscosity...

[lexmex]

There's an additive from a company called Liqui Moly, it's branded as Lubro Moly in the U.S., called Motor Oil Saver, and I had very good luck with this product when I lived in Mexico and had some compression problems of my own with my RX300 (uses a similar 1MZFE engine to the Solara). Helps to regenerate the engine seals/gaskets. Only about $5 USD or so and I have seen it sold at Napa Auto Parts.

When I first used this product, the effect was immediate and you could feel it when you stepped on the accelerator pedal.

[ozone]

Did you account for the oil that stays in the oil filter when you change your oil?

I think it's great that you keep close track of your oil and I highly recommend you keep it up. However, I have lately begun to believe that the whole change-the-oil-every-2500-or-3000-miles business is kind of a load. Obviously, it doesn't hurt to do it more often, especially with the potential sludge problems on the 1mzfe engines, however, in Europe the oil change intervals are roughly twice that in the US. Plus I heard this guy on car talk say that he had a Honda Civic with 115,000 miles on it and he never changed the oil. He just kept pouring more in. So if it's so important, how did he get so far?

Don't get me wrong, I think it is important to change the oil regularly, I just think it's more important to make sure that it doesn't get too low between oil changes.

Personally, I shoot for somewhere between 3000 and 5000 miles, based more on my schedule than the car's, but I don't cry about it if I'm just too busy to get around to it in 10,000 miles. I just make sure that it's topped up until I can do it. I do use synthetic though. By the bye, my Solara has 195,000 miles on it, so this regimen seems to work pretty well for me.