engine trouble

[leerosky]

Hey guys Im Leeroy.I currently have a 99 corolla with 105,000+ miles.Few weeks ago i had to fix the brakes and replaced everything front and rear cost me $620 and since february of this year the engine oil is not lasting, the last oil change i did was a month ago and the engine is already almost empty well low on oil i dont see any leaks and i dont see any smoke at all in the exhaust what should i do or what probably is the problem?

[fishexpo101]

First need to track oil consumption over time. Find out exactly how much oil the engine is going through. Don't let the oil get low - the car's sump only holds 4 quarts. If you can't see oil on the dipstick, then you are automatically atleast 2 quarts low. Low oil levels in turn really excaberates oil consumption rates. Need to be checking oil levels on a daily basis.

This generation of Corolla has some cars that are known "oil-burners" - some go through a quart of oil in as little as a few hundred miles. Some don't drink a drop of oil over a normal oil change interval. For that many miles on the car - some oil consumption is considered normal - just have to find out exactly how much oil you are using to make that determination.

Some things you can do to less the oil consumption - try a 10w-30 motor oil. Especially if the ambient temperatures are high enough (i.e., no subzero winter cold starts). The OEM recommended viscosity is 5w-30 for most conditions - being in FL - you could use 10w-30 all year round and not see much difference in engine performance / fuel economy.

Some have reported very good results by switching to a high mileage motor oil or semi-synthetic blend / synthetic motor oil. The high mileage and synthitc blends or full synthetic motor oils tend to resist high temperature burnoff that conventional oils see. They generally have higher solvency and tend to clean a motor clowly. Valvoline MaxLife oil, in particular - seem to be highly recommended.

If you car is consuming excessive amount of oil (more than 1 quart per 1000 miles, in my book - Toyota says 1 quart every 500 miles) - need to find out where it is going. Most likely, it is being burned off - in many cases, without visible signs of blue smoke from the tail pipe. If you can, have someone observe the car when you accelerate from a stop and from a roll, deceleration events as well. There might be a hint of smoke there - that would pinpoint oil cunsumption.

Most likely areas are stuck piston rings on the earlier 1ZZ-FE engines (just Google it up) and/or leaking valve seals. Engine compression tests and leak down tests can help tell you what you have. Then you can decide how to proceed.

[glow-plug]

I agree with those statements made by fishexpro101, but would try 10w/40.
I run 5/30 winter and 10/40 summer.

[Chris Corolla S]

Fishy has the full break-down as usual

One point of his that I think deserves more emphasis is that the lower you let the oil get, the faster the engine will consume oil. You shouldn't be going a month without checking your oil unless you only drove like 300 miles in that time. Check your oil every time you get gas and keep a quart in your car incase it needs topping off. Make a log of when you put in oil and how much. 1/4 quart every 2 or 3 fill-ups is probably fine. 1 quart every tank something is probably wrong.
-Chris

[01loadedLE]

Yep you do not want to wait a month to check the oil in these cars. Check it at least once a week. I usually have to top off around 10 ounces every 1k miles, which is about 2 ounces a week for me.

[Bdub215]

^ agree with once a week. another thing to listen for is the valves. besides the usual cold start tapping, i've noticed on my car when the oil starts to get low they get noisy really fast and its annoying hearing a metallic sound bounce off of every wall.