I took a little road trip today. Made sure my oil was topped off last night before I left. Wanted to check the oil after the engine was cooled off, so I just checked it, and I was 1qt. low... maybe more. I'm always at least 1-2 qts. low at every gas fill up.
I had it into the shop earlier this week with a guy who works on foreign cars (did previous work on my Honda Prelude, and doesn't charge near as much as dealerships)... anyway, he couldn't really determine anything. He thought it was mainly with the ventilation system.
The Toyota dealership says it's blowing blue smoke, and needs a rebuild. I'm aware of the stuck or broken rings, or possibly valve guide seals. They checked compression last time, and said it looked okay.
It's a 5-speed manual, 114,000 miles. It's always been an oil burner since around the 50,000 mile mark.
At this point, you might as well try some last ditch effort chemicals to try and un-stick whatever is wrong. Since it might be toast already, you could throw some marvel mystery oil in the crankcase to see if it clears up. Also doing an MMO soak of the pistons wouldn't hurt.
To do this, you remove the spark plugs, pour a little marvel in each hole, and iet it soak for 12-24 hours. Put towels in the spark plug holes, crank the engine to get all the residual fluid out, then replace your plugs. When it starts again, your car will produce a huge cloud of smoke that not only is cool, but includes some of the carbon deposits burning off from each cylinder. The soak will have loosened up some of the gunk in the ring-lands as well, which might solve your problem IF the rings are the problem. I've seen this method work on oil-burning saturns, so it may work for you as well.
As you may have guessed, you'll want to change your oil after this.
That's a question only you can answer....factors like how much you like the car, the overall condition of it, and the cost of finding a replacement are the biggest things to consider.
An 03-08 used engine would probably be the cheapest fix for the oil consumption. Rebuilding engines is expensive business.
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2010 Corolla S 5 speed. It's GONE!
2007 Corolla CE Auto
2010 Aveo5 - good CHEAP car so far
That's a question only you can answer....factors like how much you like the car, the overall condition of it, and the cost of finding a replacement are the biggest things to consider.
An 03-08 used engine would probably be the cheapest fix for the oil consumption. Rebuilding engines is expensive business.
Yeah, the biggest problem is that I'm cheap, and I don't want a car payment I think long term, so if I can get it fixed for a reasonable cost then I'd definitely get it fixed. I feel like I'm cheating myself if I get rid of it. I just feel like I could get another 75-100,000 miles out of it if it's fixed right. Although someone please correct my train of thought if it's not possible.
I like the car, although it's starting to show spots of rust here and there. The thing is... I could get more out of it if I got rid of it now, rather than 2 years down the road when it will be worth even less.
Toyota quoted me about $2500 on a used engine. That would be nice, but who's to say that the newer used engine was well maintained, and won't have problems shortly down the road. But the 9th gen. engines have had fewer troubles than 8th gen., correct?
I could just keep maintaining my engine the best I can, and keep putting oil in it. I don't even drive all that much... only fill up once every two weeks.
I visit the 10th Gen. forum... the 09's look pretty sweet.
A guy that works on foreign cars looked at it... he said it didn't really make any sense to rebuild the engine. He suggested to start looking for a newer car. Probably the most honest mechanic I've ever met. He had my car for 4 hours, drove it around, said he couldn't find anything. I whipped out the VISA, and he says, "there's no charge, I couldn't find anything wrong."
If you only fill up once every two weeks I would just live with and and put away cash for a newer car.
If its burning that much oil it should run pretty bad. I would run Castrol High Mileage 10w40 along with some of that mystery goop and that should slow it down at least a bit.
Have you changed the pcv valve and looked at the throttle body for excessive blow by dirt? Take the oil cap off with the car running, if it smokes a ton out of it youve got massive blow by.
I'm absolutely positive there are no leaks. I've been checking for leaks for the past 5 years when it really started to consume oil. I haven't seen any leaks, Toyota hasn't seen any leaks.
I just hear the same thing... "it's burning it internally"
PCV valve didn't look too bad, but Toyota replaced it anyway the last time I had it in.
There is a kind of chattering noise with acceleration and deceleration. It doesn't sound like a ticking valve. It's more throaty, more like something is vibrating because the vibrating sound gets faster and slower.
Other than that, the car runs great. If it wasn't for the oil consumption there are no other physical or mechanical signs that anything is wrong with this car.
$2500 sounds kinda high for a used engine even it includes labor. I would think 8-1500 for the engine and 4-700 for the install. I yet to hear of a 9th gen with engine problems. I personally (mine, family, and friends) know of five 8th gen Corollas/Prizms and three of them burn oil.
As far as the 10th gen..... I strongly recommend renting one for a couple days before buying one. Coulda saved myself a bunch of cash had I gone that route. I drove my 2010 for about 6 weeks before I gladly paid to get rid of it, but that's another story.
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2010 Corolla S 5 speed. It's GONE!
2007 Corolla CE Auto
2010 Aveo5 - good CHEAP car so far
WAIT! before you writeoff the engine, find out if it's piston rings or valve seals.
Valve seals only require a little headwork and CAN be done with the head still on the car if an air compressor is used to hold the valves in while replacing the seals.
I'd do a compression check on all four cylinders and if they all hold pressure well AND they are close to being the same I'd go with the valve seals.
As long as you've changed the oil on time and didn't abuse the engine it should still have good piston rings at the mileage you mentioned.
The valve seals are rubber and can harden/leak over time.
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I prefer to be judged by what I do and not by what I own.
Last edited by Beaterolla; 07-06-2010 at 03:05 AM.
Thanks Beaterolla! I'm definitely going to hold off on getting rid of it. I'm going to do an oil change this week and use a higher viscosity, or even move up to 10w-40 with some MMO. Hopefully the heavier viscosity will show a change.
I have NOT abused this engine at all.
It's probably not burning 1 qt. that often. I had some MMO in the crank case, so I'm sure some of the MMO was burned off in the engine.
By the way... I was previously getting 31-35mpg overall. After using MMO in the tank and the crankcase, I got over 39mpg. I haven't seen that since my car was new!
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It's GONE! 
I think long term, so if I can get it fixed for a reasonable cost then I'd definitely get it fixed. I feel like I'm cheating myself if I get rid of it. I just feel like I could get another 75-100,000 miles out of it if it's fixed right. Although someone please correct my train of thought if it's not possible. 
I drove my 2010 for about 6 weeks before I gladly paid to get rid of it, but that's another story.
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