I own a 2002 Corolla with the 4 cly, 1.8 liter 1zzfe engine. Oil is disappearing at the rate of one quart every 600 miles and I can't figure out why . It's not leaking or smoking. The catalytic converter is new which may account for it not smoking.
No oil additive like Lucas, Marvel Mystery Oil or Sea Foam have worked.
Now I'm considering changing the rings and overhauling the head and I have one question.
Do the dual camshafts have to be removed to access some head bolts under them to remove the head?
Yes, the camshafts must be removed. I would also install updated pistons as they have the revised oil drain holes to prevent the rings from sticking. I recommend putting in a used engine from an 05-08 as it will save you alot of time and headaches. I have help a friend out before with the oil consumption before, we put a 06 Corolla engine in a 00 Corolla. I recommend getting a used low mileage engine from a 05-08 Corolla as it already has the new updated pistons. You just have to swap over your manifolds, sensors, throttle body, wiring, etc. Good luck! Hope this helps.
__________________ 2005 Corolla LE - Impulse Red - Auto Trans - 1ZZFE - 86,000mi 2003 Echo - Auto Trans - 96,000mi. - slow as dog-dirt - I'd rather put my money in the bank than in the tank!!!!!
If you are trying to save a buck , and your engine is running well except for the oil burning( AND YOU HAVE NOT ALL READY RUN IT OUT OF OIL), then you can pull the pistons clean them and the rings and then only run synthetic oil. It also depends on how many miles on the engine( if it is high milage ( over 250,000) ) your oil burning could be partly or largely due worn rings /cylinders / valve seals .
Sam,
I'm not trying to save a buck but the idea of a quart of oil every 600 miles is bugging me. I bought the car new and have always done my own oil changes every 4,000 miles. It has 131,600 miles on it now. It started using a quart every 4,000 miles at about 90,000 miles and its been increasing ever since.
I'm a retired pastor and the last time I overhauled an engine....rings, rodbearing, overhauled the head....was 40 years ago! So I'm really not looking forward to doing an overhaul on his engine myself.
I took it into a mechanic and had him do a compression test and a leak down test with the following results from cylinder 1 to 4.
Compression: 220, 215, 220, and 215 psi.
The leakdown test was 7%, 3%, 3%, 3% for each cylinder.
His diagnosis was stuck oil rings since there is supposedly a Technical Service Bulletin out on this engine....2002, 1.8 liter, 1ZZ-FE...put out by Toyota about this oil burning problem. The only suggestion he had, short of a tear down to clean or replace the rings, was to put some kind of additive in the oil that is supposed to dissolve the varnish by running it at about 1,000 rpm for 30 minutes to free up the rings but no guarantee that it will do the job. So I agreed to that in hope it might cure the problem but frankly I don't think it will.
Other than this oil useage problem the car runs great, it's paid for, and what I really don't want is another car note.
Any comments about what the test results mean or your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Jon
Sam,
The only suggestion he had, short of a tear down to clean or replace the rings, was to put some kind of additive in the oil that is supposed to dissolve the varnish by running it at about 1,000 rpm for 30 minutes to free up the rings but no guarantee that it will do the job.
John your mechanic is probably talking about using seafoam. It didn't work for me when I tried it. Tell him to check and clean the ocv filter afterward if necessary as it can get clogged up with freed deposits after using seafoam.
I tried Sea Foam. Poured 8oz in each cylinder, let it drain through overnight and then poured it into my oil. The engine smoked like crazy for 6 miles like it did when I tried the transmission oil. Didn't work. The mech told me the name of the stuff he was going to use and I can't remember it but it wasn't Sea Foam.
Where is the OCV filter on the 1ZZ-FE engine? I've never heard of suchf a filter but I will get it cleaned our replaced. Thanks for your help. Jon
To reach the filter, there is a bolt (14 mm?) just behind the alternator on the front of the engine. The filter is behind the bolt and is a small piece that looks like a mini corn cob. When I last cleaned mine I loosened the alternator and rolled it out of the way. Then I gently used tweezers to pull the filter out.
I have torn down a few of these oil burner 1zz's and nothing will free the rings short of removing the pistons and cleaning them manually. At 130000 miles you probably don't even need a rebore and can reuse your old pistons as long as you run only synthetic oil ( after your breakin with dino oil) for the rest of the life of the engine. Or you can get the new piston type from Toyota with larger and more oil holes( I would still run only synthetic oil). I would not even touch the head with your compression and leak down numbers. Like I said before, unless you have run it out of oil, you will still have many miles to go before you need to do any other major work to the engine.
Some people have said they got the ocv filter out just fine without moving the alternator too. You could try it and see how it goes for you. If it gives you too many problems doing it like that then you could always move the alternator out of the way afterward.
Thanks for your reply. Since the mechanic is going to try to boil out or dissolve away the varnish I have to drive the car for a while to see if it worked. If it was a waste of money, then I'm going to change the rings and also look into the possibility of the newer pistons. Toyota is too proud of their parts so if they're too expensive I'll pass and use the old pistons. I especially appreciate your comments about not re -building the head. That will save me a couple of hundred of dollars! And I will switch to synthetic oil after the breakin. How many miles for breakin if only the rings and rod bearings are changed? Thanks again for all you help and info.
After any major engine work ,I always change the oil and filter within a hundred miles( kind of arbitrary, but that gives any crud left in the engine from work, time to find its way into the oil /filter) then I would also run dino oil until the next oil change ( about 3000 miles) to make sure the rings were fully seated.
I never would have thought to change the oil and filter after 100 miles following an overhaul but what you say makes a lot of sense to get rid of any junk like fine pieces of metal that could ruin all of your work. I will follow your wise advise when I change the rings in the next month or so and I'll try to let you know if it cures my oil consumption problem. Thanks again for all your words of wisdom and for the encouragement I got from them.
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and I can't figure out why 
. It's not leaking or smoking. The catalytic converter is new which may account for it not smoking. 
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