91 3S-FE Eating Oil

[lionheart03]

Greeting all!

I've owned a 91 Camry with the 2.0L, 3S-FE motor since early this year. Bought the car cheap for a gas saving work vehicle. The car was obviously not well maintained by it's former owners. Needless to say, there were allot of things bad or going out when I got the car.Luckily, most of the problems were stuff that Joe-mechanic like myself could tackle at home. There is however one thing that I still haven't figured out.

Lets say for example, right after an oil change when the motor oil is topped off, by the time I have 4 or 5 hundred miles on the oil, the oil level is right below the empty mark on the dipstick. It never goes below that mark though, almost like the car likes being close to empty. The level drops kind of fast, and stops at the one place below empty, and it never goes below that.

As far as I can tell, the car doesn't seem to be burning oil. It had several leaks when I got it. The main seal was real bad, along with a cam seal. Those were fixed, along with the valve cover gasket. I still have one small leak, from the oil pump housing I think, but it isn't very bad, maybe a few drops on the ground here or there. When I change the oil, with it being at the low level, I can get maybe 2 1/2 - 3 quarts out. Could the oil pump be losing the oil, but why would it always stop at that certain level?



Any ideas on what else I should be looking at? Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Jeremy

[toyomoho]

The oil pump drive shaft or any other seal or gaskets on the oil pump are under oil pressure when the engine is running. Check for leaks by removing the passenger tire and watching the lower firewall side of the timing cover area for leaks as the engine idles.

This kind of pressured leaks can loose a lot of oil fast and can get worse over time.

You might start checking the oil every day in case a seal fails..

Check the cam and crankshaft seals and look around the engine for leaks when it is running.

and check the PCV valve, hose, etc. If defective this can cause oil to be sucked into the engine and burned.

[Doctor J]

Pull the dipstick out, wipe it clean and re-insert it.
Pull it out again and read the level. This will eleminate possibility of oil be splashed on the dipstick.

The burning of oil at acceleration is not easily noticeable from the driver's seat [talking from own experience about my Supra]
It will be good idea to verify that dipstick is from this car and not from corolla for example.
Finally the crankcase pressure check will be helpful.

[fredk]

rev the motor up, the pump will pour