So I know alot of people on this forum attribute the piston rings to the oil burning issue with the 1ZZFE early engines but I was having some similar issues with my 2002 Corolla. I had noticed when changing my oil that it seemed there was a leak in the lower seals (which I didnt even want to bother with) and my valve cover gasket. I replaced the gasket and didnt notice any significant difference in oil, it was about 1 qt every 1500 miles or so.
Recently I had noticed a noise coming from my front end that I thought might be the timing chain going bad, a sort of ticking, so I looked into the cheapest solution and found the timing chain tensioner could be going bad. While looking for a guide on the net
I came across this.
From reading up on this even in the newer model Corollas there is a oil burning problem because the O-ring loses its seal. So I went to check on mine to find it was caked with oil. both old and fresh, and it had been leaking all down the back side of my engine which I was thinking was the lower seals.
I ran into napa got my part for $40 and some sealant, came home and wtih less than 30 mins of work had the thing replaced. I have been checking my oil levels regularly for the past two weeks and am happy to say NO OIL LEAKS!!! Another thing Ive noticed is now there isnt an oil burning smell under heavy acceleration on freeways either!
Hopefully this will help some of you out with your oil issues. Check out that guide it has much better pics^^^
Here are some pics of The new one, you can see the amount of oil from before (cell cam doesnt have macro sorry):
Linear Mode
