First of all Im not the guy that tries to get mechanical advice over the internet, but this is just weird to me. Car is a 2008 Scion XB with 137k miles purchased new by us in January 2008.
About 6 months ago my wife started seeing flashes of the oil warning light on her dashboard when she was turning. A little research showed it’s common for low engine oil. I pull the dip stick ad it’s dry. I had to put 2.5 quarts of oil in the motor to get it back up to the full line. Took it to my mechanic and he looks at the motor. No sign of leaking. Research online shows that Toyota got a bad batch of piston rings and they are in 2007-2009 2.4 liter motors. They can go bad and cause oil consumption and Toyota put out an extended warranty up to 150k miles for the issue. My mechanic gives me an oil change and tells me to go to Toyota.
So I go to one dealer and they tell me they wont do the test until I have all the seals on my motor replaced because they are old. And just so happens they will hook me up with a good deal on the job for 1700 dollars. How nice of them…
So we continue to drive the car around and I monitor the oil. Two oil changes come and go with no drop in oil level, at least nothing really noticeable. I figure maybe it was a fluke or something I dont know. No oil spots in the garage. Come the third oil change and about 2500 miles into the cycle her motor is 1.5 quarts low.
So I take it to another dealer and they set me up for the consumption test right away. They give a fresh oil change and seal the motor. We drive the car and bring it back at 1200 miles and they measure the amount of loss. But it’s still completely full… WTF.
Then to throw another wrench in the mix another mechanic friend of ours changed out the spark plugs and belt and found one of the spark plugs had oil on it. So he thinks it’s a head gasket. But why would a broken head gasket only leak some of the time?
It’s just the way a Toyota motor burns the oil. I have a 2009 Camry that burns about a quart every 1200 miles. No smoke or anything but the oil light will start flashing at about 2000 miles.
I have changed the oil every 3k and taken pretty good care of it. I never paid attention of the oil loss before until the light started coming on.
Needless to say I had like 155k on her when I found or researched the problem. Toyota knows its a problem and replaced the engines. It I was over mileage.
So now it’s refill a quart or two every 1000 miles. Ridiculous I know but it’s eating the oil.
Bring it to another dealer and have them run the test again. Bring it in when you are about due for an oil change. They should top the oil off and apply the tamperproof stickers. I rebuild about 1 of these a week. Scions are admittedly the more difficult to work on, might be playing a factor into whether the tech wants the job or not. Oil on the spark plug is from a leaking valve cover. There are round rubber seals that seal off the plug tubes, very common.
FWIW, I’ve never replaced a head gasket on these year engines for any concern. The 03-06ish 2.4s had very limited issues with the threads in the block that the head bolts go into would pull up and cause a coolant leak.
Sticky oil control rings can cause the problem you describe. Since there is a warranty, I would let Toyota fix it. If not, then run some LubroMoly engine flush and monitor results.
It’s perfectly normal for German and English engines (especially the latter, before BMW started making their engines Land Rover engines were notorious for eating and leaking oil even when new. I don’t think they ever learned how to make a proper oil seal on anything) to have a certain amount of oil consumption. Japanese engines, especially Toyota, tend to be very good in that aspect. I’ve seen different Corolla 4 cylinder and Highlander v6’s go 15k miles and still have nearly clean oil without a drop burned.
Toyota engines at one time were notorious for accumulating sludge. Could this be causing C’s problem? In my case, I have a 2001 4 cyl Tacoma that doesn’t burn oil even at 169,000 miles. Fear of sludge prompted frequent oil changes even when using synthetic.
There are a couple good T forums that might give you the info that you need.
My sister-in-law had this issue. Her dealer was a pain in the ass to deal with, eventually she got in contact with Toyota corporate. Dealers don’t want to deal with these motor replacements because the book rate for the job under warranty is probably low compared to out of warranty where they’re going to charge true labor time, and sell you an engine at markup.
Contact Toyota corporation and complain about your dealer. They’ll sing a different tune real freakin’ fast after that.
It’s odd hearing some dealers don’t want to do these. We do a ton of them for the size dealer we are. They’re actually a big money ticket for the advisor and technician even technically being warranty time for us.
I’ve made quite a bit of money on them, try to grab them every time they come in.
Late 90s early 2000s 3.0 v6 engines had sludge issues. That 4cyl engine you have is damn near bulletproof. Sludge isn’t the issue in this case. As Soulezoo said it’s the oil rings on the piston. The holes are to small and get gunked up and allow too much oil by. New pistons and rings are completely redesigned.
With that knowledge I have no idea why a dealership wouldn’t do everything they could to prove the engine in question was in need of rebuild/replacement.
The oil ring is giving up in the motor, this is below your compression rings. Driving at different speed levels can cause consumption to change a bit. For your next test if they decide to do one…drive it like you stole it for 15 mins minimum daily.
I bet since both of you think there is something wrong…well you have been driving it a bit easier. Hammer it and it will start drinking your oil again.
There will not be any “leaks”, the oil is going out your tailpipe via combustion.
I’m pretty sure there isn’t a limit to the how many times the test is run. I’ve got a 2006 RAV4 4-cyl that I’ll be taking in for the test for the third time. Just keep at it and don’t let the bureaucracy wear you down.
Well, that is disappointing: Toyota stopped the program in October 2016.
Oh, and my oil light went on as well one week after I posted, I shit you not! Three of four quarts gone in 2000 miles. Now I have rod knocking. This is how I ended up contacting Toyota Corporate. Going to try to call back and ask to up my deal (pretty please). After two years of screwing around with my dealership (who used to have the best service dept), I was told by Toyota that they will not handle this as a warranty issue, but offered me $1500 reimbursement for repairs at any dealership. Going to see if this, or another dealer wants to fix the car, or “buy” the reimbursement from me as part of a trade in.
Program didn’t stop. I rebuilt one yesterday. It was extended to cover cars up to 10yrs/150,000 miles, I’m guessing being an 06 you ran out on time. If you can prove you’ve been a decent Toyota customer(bought cars, service records) I’ve seen them go above and beyond to please customers. Good luck.
Well, so much for all that. Have been checking oil religiously, and driving lightly/sparingly. The RAV gave up the ghost last night. Started it, started driving, and within 3 blocks, power dropped, and noise increased. Pulled it to the side and called a tow.
Rods and bearings are gone. Massive clanking noise when the mechanic tried to start it this morning.
Called Toyota back, and they said their earlier “goodwill offer” is it. Any advice on strategy going forward to minimize my losses would be appreciated.