Hello All.
I typically do not frequent the Scion Forums, but I have spent a goodly amount of time in the T100 forums, since I have been doing quite a lot of work my truck.
My wife owns a 2008 Scion XB, which is plagued with the excessive oil consumption issue that so many of these are. Also, like many people, the car was taken to a dealership during the window of time to replace the engine, and the dealership said it was not using enough oil at that time to count (I think it was).
The scion was starting to use almost one quart a week, so I began looking around at what solutions there were available (priced out a rebuilt engine, talked to various people, etc), and wondering if the car was worth the effort.
At any rate, during my time in the t100 forums, I stumbled on a post about using water to de-carbonize the engine: Decarbonizing the combustion chambers in my engine...
I thought it would be worth a shot on the XB, since the oil consumption (as far as I understand it) is caused by carbon build-up on the rings and pistons.
I used a gallon water-container upside down with a tube going to a vacuum line and sort of IV dripped water into the engine while the engine was running at 2500 ~ 3000rpm. The tube had a small screw in it to sort of regulate the flow of water. The engine was pre-warmed before I did this.
I went though about a third of a gallon of water the first time. It honestly did not seem to help at all. In fact, the car seemed to be using more oil than before. A week later I did another treatment, and changed the oil and filter afterwards. Again, it did not really seem to help much. However....about a week later, without me doing anything...the car dramatically reduced the amount of oil it was using...probably by half.
I thought that was hopeful...maybe the water-treatments loosened some carbon build-up enough to crumble it perhaps?
Last week I did one more treatment. Before I started I put half a can of seafoam into the crank-case. I ran a half a gallon of water through the engine and kept the rpms up to 3000 the whole time.
Afterwards, I changed the oil and filter. I tried a new oil (Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Full Synthetic 5W-30) at the recommendation of someone.
So far, oil consumption is almost non-existing. I keep checking the car expecting to see the oil-level drop, but it has not changed at all (maybe 1mm, but I did not have my glasses on at the time). My wife has not done any different driving this week than she usually does.
I am very hopeful. If the oil stays regular, I will continue doing the water treatment, perhaps before every oil change.
I wanted to post here about my experience because everything that I read across the web was very discouraging, and I was thinking that the only solution was a new engine.
I will follow up in another week or so to post if things are still working.
I typically do not frequent the Scion Forums, but I have spent a goodly amount of time in the T100 forums, since I have been doing quite a lot of work my truck.
My wife owns a 2008 Scion XB, which is plagued with the excessive oil consumption issue that so many of these are. Also, like many people, the car was taken to a dealership during the window of time to replace the engine, and the dealership said it was not using enough oil at that time to count (I think it was).
The scion was starting to use almost one quart a week, so I began looking around at what solutions there were available (priced out a rebuilt engine, talked to various people, etc), and wondering if the car was worth the effort.
At any rate, during my time in the t100 forums, I stumbled on a post about using water to de-carbonize the engine: Decarbonizing the combustion chambers in my engine...
I thought it would be worth a shot on the XB, since the oil consumption (as far as I understand it) is caused by carbon build-up on the rings and pistons.
I used a gallon water-container upside down with a tube going to a vacuum line and sort of IV dripped water into the engine while the engine was running at 2500 ~ 3000rpm. The tube had a small screw in it to sort of regulate the flow of water. The engine was pre-warmed before I did this.
I went though about a third of a gallon of water the first time. It honestly did not seem to help at all. In fact, the car seemed to be using more oil than before. A week later I did another treatment, and changed the oil and filter afterwards. Again, it did not really seem to help much. However....about a week later, without me doing anything...the car dramatically reduced the amount of oil it was using...probably by half.
I thought that was hopeful...maybe the water-treatments loosened some carbon build-up enough to crumble it perhaps?
Last week I did one more treatment. Before I started I put half a can of seafoam into the crank-case. I ran a half a gallon of water through the engine and kept the rpms up to 3000 the whole time.
Afterwards, I changed the oil and filter. I tried a new oil (Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Full Synthetic 5W-30) at the recommendation of someone.
So far, oil consumption is almost non-existing. I keep checking the car expecting to see the oil-level drop, but it has not changed at all (maybe 1mm, but I did not have my glasses on at the time). My wife has not done any different driving this week than she usually does.
I am very hopeful. If the oil stays regular, I will continue doing the water treatment, perhaps before every oil change.
I wanted to post here about my experience because everything that I read across the web was very discouraging, and I was thinking that the only solution was a new engine.
I will follow up in another week or so to post if things are still working.
