Corolla/prizm help!!

[Avogadro6022]

I bought a 2001 Chevy Prizm (a repackaged Corolla) in early June. I noticed mid July curiously high oil consumption, and because this was its first oil change since I bought it, I decided to set it aside in my mind until further problems presented themselves. Today, mid-August I checked the dipstick, and I noticed that I wasn't even getting a reading. So I filled my car up with 2 quarts to get it above the minimum line, and proceeded to look up the problem online.

I found that excessive consumption of oil is problem with this year (and others) for the Corolla and Prizm. Further investigation of the actual cause of this lead me to this explanation from wiki answers;

"The cause for the oil burning is some wear on the cylinders combined with a very short piston skirt. The very short skirt allows the piston to tilt in the cylinder much sooner than would happen in normal engines. This causes the rings to fail to seat properly much earlier than would happen in an engine with normal skirt lengths."

So my questions are as follows.

1. What are your opinions on this cause, is it the whole story, or even the story at all?

2. If this is in fact the problem are there pistons from other years or models that use the 1ZZ-FE engine and have incorporated different pistons or other components that remedy the issue.

Also, if you have your own idea about what the overall cause is, what is the solution for that?

Thanks

[teppista881]

Easy solution: monitor oil and top up.

Expensive solution: rebuild engine.

Search the forum. There are many posts on this subject.

[PhatRoyale]

All those points you listed are pretty much the jist of the problem.

I would suggest that you switch to a heavier grade of oil (40 weight) to reduce burn off until you decide to rebuild the engine.