3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
My 1999 Camry has 154,000 miles and now has a habit of using up oil-- about a quart every 1,000 miles but only when I'm doing highway driving. The oil dip stick holds steady when I'm doing city driving. I have seen no oil leaks and once in a while I see a little bit of white smoke out of the exhaust on start up. I can drive around town for two or three weeks and never need to add oil. I just drove from Washington DC to Ashville, NC and it ate up almost a 3/4 of a quart one way. Dealer did a very cursory check and they said they didn't see anything unusual. They were suggesting some serious tests for serious dollars but haven't had that done yet. Anyone had similar problems at highway speed? I have even followed the car while someone else was driving it and there was no evidence of smoke coming out of the exhaust at 60 mph. This one has me baffled. I still like the car and I think it has some more miles in it, but the burning of oil quickly at high speed has me worried. I was thinking that may be I lost an oil seal near the timing belt or something like that, but it isn't using up oil during city driving and I don't see any leaking or seepage. NEED SOME HELP WITH THIS ONE. THANKS.
My 1999 Camry has 154,000 miles and now has a habit of using up oil-- about a quart every 1,000 miles but only when I'm doing highway driving. The oil dip stick holds steady when I'm doing city driving. I have seen no oil leaks and once in a while I see a little bit of white smoke out of the exhaust on start up. I can drive around town for two or three weeks and never need to add oil. I just drove from Washington DC to Ashville, NC and it ate up almost a 3/4 of a quart one way. Dealer did a very cursory check and they said they didn't see anything unusual. They were suggesting some serious tests for serious dollars but haven't had that done yet. Anyone had similar problems at highway speed? I have even followed the car while someone else was driving it and there was no evidence of smoke coming out of the exhaust at 60 mph. This one has me baffled. I still like the car and I think it has some more miles in it, but the burning of oil quickly at high speed has me worried. I was thinking that may be I lost an oil seal near the timing belt or something like that, but it isn't using up oil during city driving and I don't see any leaking or seepage. NEED SOME HELP WITH THIS ONE. THANKS.
Best test you can do is a Compression Test. This will tell you if your rings are getting weak or not. If you have a shop do it it will cost you about $100.00 with labor. The only other thing I could think of is maybe your Rear Main seal is leaking. Sometimes if that is leaking then you might not notice it right away. That is a lot of oil to be adding per-trip, it has to be going somewhere. If your rear main seal is going bad you may experience slipping in your transmission. Have you noticed any slippage? If your timing seals were leaking you would see oil on the lower back side of your motor.
One thing that you could do is get some old towels or use white paper towels, and hold them down with something and place them under the vehicle when it is sitting to confirm that you are not leaking anything.
You said that you had someone follow you while you were driving and didnt see any burning oil, so you must have good compression.
The Following User Says Thank You to Mister_Perkins For This Useful Post:
If you can do your own compression test you can get a compression gauge from Harbor Freight. This however checks only the compression rings. If the oil rings are gummed up it won't tell you.
Since you are seeing smoke (should be white smoke with a slight bluish tint), the valve stem seals are probably hardened by now.
Excessive rod bearing clearance can cause excessive oil consumption by throwing more oil than the oil control rings can handle. You can check oil pressure at idle and at 3000 rpms.
How often have you been changing oil? What type of oil do you use. Maybe you should try a high mileage oil. Otherwise Motorcraft 5W/10W-30 synthetic blend are great values at Walmart.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OldeBlueHen
My 1999 Camry has 154,000 miles and now has a habit of using up oil-- about a quart every 1,000 miles but only when I'm doing highway driving. The oil dip stick holds steady when I'm doing city driving. I have seen no oil leaks and once in a while I see a little bit of white smoke out of the exhaust on start up. I can drive around town for two or three weeks and never need to add oil. I just drove from Washington DC to Ashville, NC and it ate up almost a 3/4 of a quart one way. Dealer did a very cursory check and they said they didn't see anything unusual. They were suggesting some serious tests for serious dollars but haven't had that done yet. Anyone had similar problems at highway speed? I have even followed the car while someone else was driving it and there was no evidence of smoke coming out of the exhaust at 60 mph. This one has me baffled. I still like the car and I think it has some more miles in it, but the burning of oil quickly at high speed has me worried. I was thinking that may be I lost an oil seal near the timing belt or something like that, but it isn't using up oil during city driving and I don't see any leaking or seepage. NEED SOME HELP WITH THIS ONE. THANKS.
JohnGD-- Thanks for the reply. I have changed the oil in it like clockwork every 3,000 miles since buying it new. I did make a change to Mobil 1 5W-30 about 20,000 miles ago to make sure I wouldn't get geling. I have not checked oil pressure. It does make a slight noise which sounds like valve tapping on occasion so I suppose it could be a problem with valve stems or seals. However, I would have thought that I would see a lot of bluish smoke if that was the case and I'm just not seeing that sort of thing. I was suspecting a leak somewhere but there is no evidence of that and no wet spots around the engine. The dealer did mention that power steering rack was leaking and should be replaced, but I've decided that I could live with that and just keep an eye on the power steering fluid. The only thing I could think of was perhaps that was oil and not ps fluid that the mechanic saw on the boot of the rack. Other than that, the ground is always dry under the car. I crawled under the car some time ago and saw nothing that looked even remotely like leaking so I'm really baffled by this.
JohnGD-- Thanks for the reply. I have changed the oil in it like clockwork every 3,000 miles since buying it new. I did make a change to Mobil 1 5W-30
Every 3,000 is too much. Toyota recommends 5,000. Hell, I wasn't supposed to hit 3,000 til December...and Im just past that, thanks to being out west
High Mileage oil will def. help. At 154K, regular oil just wont cut it. One time, a mechanic put regular oil instead of the high mileage and you could smell oil burning from a mile away and it would not stay in the car.
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