Now I am stumped. My 98 Prizm (with the 1zzfe) is burning a quart of oil every 800 miles. I started noticing the issue after starting to do a lot of highway driving. The car currently has 109,000 miles. I pulled the plugs to do the compression test, and everything looked consistant. The tips had a little more grey residue than they should after 8,000 miles, but I figure its from burning all that oil.
I ran a compression test today and got the following results:
1 = 180 psi
2 = 170 psi
3 = 185 psi
4 = 180 psi
These readings seem pretty normal and wouldn't lead me to believe I have a valve issue.
Am I missing something here? Can I still get the compression test results I have above with the notorius bad piston ring issue???
I have a 1996 prizm and it uses about a quart every 1k as well, but I have never worried about it cause it passes emissions clean, is strong, and still gets great mileage. I have never heard of the "notorious bad oil ring" problem but it would make sense, but it scares me. I always figured that, though its a toyota, it had to consume some oil, after all, its got a gm nametag.
I re-ran the compression test before I put the plugs back in, and my cylinder #2 reading went up to 178 which more closely matches the other cylinders. Not sure if it's worth pulling the head and getting a valve job done.
I too have never heard of the "notorious bad oil ring" problem. I have heard over and over again that if you ask a Toyota Dealer they would tell you that's normal consumption. Hard to accept but based on what they say I wouldn't be pulling the head and getting a valve job done. You may not improve anything. Besides, think of all the oil you can buy for the price of getting the head done properly.
My 98 Corolla uses about 1 litre per 1000km highway driving. I do mostly City driving and it consumes much less - about 1/2 litre between oil changes. I don't travel very far in the Corolla (I have another car for that) but occasionally one of my boys will take it on a "road trip". I just put a litre of oil in the trunk for each 1000km they'll travel and tell them to check it / top it up every second gas fill.
I have also heard that using 10w40 semi-synthetic oil will reduce consumption but I haven't tried that.
You do know the oil control ring isn't in the head right??
Yep, all too aware of it's location. I'm not looking into getting a full rebuild. I was just thinking that at its current mileage, the valves could be a source of burning oil too. After doing some more thinking, I changed my mind on the valve job. I can buy a lot of oil for the cost (and time) of pulling the head and doing a valve job.
I'm hoping to dump the car in another 18 months. It's going to be hard to get rid of when its burning that much oil. At least it has paid for itself in the fuel savings I get from not driving my explorer 25,000 miles a year.
My high comp 4AGE had the same problem, but worse, a quart every 200 miles and a really bad blowby. Compression were all very good. After teardown, found ALL ring gaps are really close together(bad)and the oil ring was stuck with a lot of crud. I think this was cause by poor maintenance by the former owner. Using synthetics I think would help to unstuck the oil ring due to it's high detergent qualities but might take quite a bit of time for that to happen. A valve job is not going to help you in this situation.
My high comp 4AGE had the same problem, but worse, a quart every 200 miles and a really bad blowby. Compression were all very good. After teardown, found ALL ring gaps are really close together(bad)and the oil ring was stuck with a lot of crud. I think this was cause by poor maintenance by the former owner. Using synthetics I think would help to unstuck the oil ring due to it's high detergent qualities but might take quite a bit of time for that to happen. A valve job is not going to help you in this situation.
Yeah, I think I'm going to try adding a quart of ATF to the crankcase and running for a few minutes prior to the next oil change. Supposedly the high detergent concentration in ATF can get rid of crud in the engine. I'm not expecting any results, but I can't hurt much more at this point.
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93 Corolla 7A-FE RIP 317,529 miles
94 Corolla "Red Flyer" 252k 4A-FE Air works Sold, but still around
93 Aerostar 4.0L "Family Truckster"
96 Sable Duratec 204k "Catfish Hunter"
i gotta try some of these remedies and see WTF happens! prolly nothing but its worth a shot, i have tried a few off the shelf additives from crappy tire but nothings shown much promise,
I have found Castrol 10W-40 helps keep things under control!
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Ah when she was in her glory, Not so nice anymore 358k 17years old her time is getting short ....
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I'm not looking into getting a full rebuild. I was just thinking that at its current mileage, the valves could be a source of burning oil too. After doing some more thinking, I changed my mind on the valve job. I can buy a lot of oil for the cost (and time) of pulling the head and doing a valve job.
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