Just bought my wife a 2002 Highlander with 90,000 miles. Runs great, everything seems fine, but noticed last weekend after taking a 700 mile round trip that we had gone through darn near a quart of oil. No visible smoke, no leaks....what gives? I was surfing the web this morning and did notice a couple of different questions regarding excess oil consumption in various Toyotas, and the answer I saw several times was that it was a PCV/valve cover issue. Can anyone elaborate for me. Thanks in advance for any help.
Well, I know what you mean. My '06 RAV4 4 cylinder engine is going through oil. Like you, there are no visible signs of where it is going. I have to put 1 Liter in every 4,000 Kms (1 qt per 2400 mi).
I went to my dealer and they had me do an oil consumption test where I had to record oil consumption for a few months. After submitting it, Toyota Canada said that up to 1 Liter per 1,000 Kms is considered acceptable. That is simply crazy. That means that you would potentially be putting 8 Liters in between oil changes!
Anyway, I was told there's nothing that can be done and I have to just add oil. My concern is going to be when I have to start getting emissions testing done. We have a thing called "Drive Clean" here and after the vehicle is over 3 years old, it must be emissions tested every 2 years.
If it's burning oil, surely it will affect the reading.
I'm not happy about this at all.
On the other hand, my '07 Tundra 5.7L V8 doesn't use a drop of oil between changes.
Toyota won't step up. That's typical for expensive warranty engine replacements.
I would yell till Toyota heard me in Japan.
Mercedes B. had an oil consumption issue with their very early 1st gen ML SUV series.
Many owners had to go legal on this and they won. MB had to eat many engines. They just had a bad run of engine builds.
Yu got a bad engine.
This can happen with any Mfr. The amount of oil yu are using between OCI's is just ludicrous to accept as NORMAL. Shame on Toyota for treating yu like this.
Test your oil by doing an Oil Analysis. It just may tell yu where the problem is. I use Blackstone Labs. But there are other Labs too. The Analysis just may tell yu what wear metals are high in PPM. This will arm yu in pressing your Warranty with Toyota.
Did yu call Toyota Corporate yet...to establish an ISSUE number. That's where this process begins.
Don't give up so quickly. An oil issue as bad as yours only gets worse and yu will either have to fix or sell the car. 90 K miles is up there...maybe it wasn't well cared for with the first owner. Yu might be on your own in the end.
Good luck
Last edited by LifeTech; 12-25-2008 at 10:45 AM.
Reason: spel.
Was this ever resolved? My newly purchased 02 Highlander with 182000+ kms is having similar problems burning oil, no blue smoke is present though. It went through 4+ liters of 5w30 oil in 2700 kms before I noticed it (no warning lights came on).
I'm about to take it to a Toyota dealer to have them check the following:
1. Oil gelling/sludge (under valve cover or in oil pan). This should be covered by Toyota's 8 year/unlimited milage engine warranty I think.
2. Worn valve guides/piston rings (wet/dry compression test, vacuum test, leak down test).
3. Clogged PCV valve/hoses, I'm really hoping that this is the problem as it is the cheapest fix!
4. Check both O2 sensors.
Anything else I'm missing? Any help is appreciated.
You fellows bought used vehicles for a bargain price with alot of miles and no service records so you have little idea how the prior owner treated them. The Prior owner could have:
1) stretched some oil changes resulting in engine oil gel formation and plugging vital oil passages in the engine which in turn accelerated the kind of wear that causes oil consumption.
2) ran the engine low on oil inbetween oil changes causing excessive piston oil control ring wear
3) drove the engine hard during the first 3 miles of driving in the morning when the engine was cold causing rapid piston ring wear.
4) ran the engine low on coolant and other forms of abuse that causes wear.
Owners who buy their Toyotas brand new and treat them right are rewarded with oil consumption rates approximately like this:
At 10,000 miles: 1/4 to 1/2 quart every 5000 miles
At 100,000 miles: 3/4 to 1 quart every 5000 miles
At 300,000 miles: 1 quart every 3000 miles
At 500,000 miles: 1 quart every 1500-2000 miles
At 1,000,000 miles: 1 quart every 500-1000 miles
The way to buy a used vehicle that is unlikely to burn much oil is to pay a HIGH price for a grandma driven vehicle that has all its service records to prove it was treated right.
papadoc76, you have the same HL as me. 2002 with 9X,XXX miles. I have excessive oil consumption. See my other posts in a separate thread on this HL board. And contrary to what kathyricks said, I bought mine new for $30K and had it dealer serviced more frequently than recommended. By the way Toyota now recommends oil changes on this vehicle at 5,000 mile intervals. Also if you are not familiar with the class action "oil sludge" lawsuit and resulting extended warranty you should research it on the web. If your engine is sludged, congrats - you get a new engine. Mine is not sludged. Good luck.
Frequent oil changes were key to prevent gelling.
Some dealers went the extra mile and offered Synthetic oil as Preventitive maintenance to prevent Gellin'.
Most dealers however, just give yu bulk recycled oil. Some owners don't mind. Some aren't even in the know about it..But I do. And I don't recommend this oil.
--- >Most dealers however, just give yu bulk recycled oil<----
When I bought my used HL the dealer was trying to pitch me about paying in advance for some sort of dealer regular mtce or such nonsense. Back office guy warned I shouldn't ever get my HL's oil changed at anything but their dealership since many places use recycled oil. Guess what - the dealer did too (LOL)....
--- >Most dealers however, just give yu bulk recycled oil<----
When I bought my used HL the dealer was trying to pitch me about paying in advance for some sort of dealer regular mtce or such nonsense. Back office guy warned I shouldn't ever get my HL's oil changed at anything but their dealership since many places use recycled oil. Guess what - the dealer did too (LOL)....
Bulkrecycled oil has been around for decades. It is a money maker. It is almost a prerequiste for establishing a Dealership Franchise service dept.( most profit is designed around parts and service not new car sales)The oil costs the dealer maybe 26 cents /qrt. That's how one can get that $21.95 OCI. Most people don't care. To them, oil is oil. But I know better.
And, if yu happen to stumble onto this site and use it...then yu are probably the small percentage of enthusiasts like me that care about quality and grade of oil going into your engine.
Try asking for bottled oil at the dealer and see how much they get for an OCI. Now that oil becomes 4-5$ a qrt. for non Syn. A Local Toy. dealer here is getting $8+ /qrt for M1 syn.
Having worked for a Toy dealer, I have even seen service writers write up bottled oil for the ticket when Bulk recycled was only used!
"Caveat Emptor"
I cannot argue against the fact that Bulk recycled Oil is defintely a Green approach.
LT
Last edited by LifeTech; 01-09-2009 at 10:03 AM.
Reason: spel
Well, I took my 02 Highlander to the Toyota dealer and they found no signs of oil gelling/sludge under the valve covers or in the oil pan. They did however replace the valve covers, PCV valve, and seals under warranty. I guess there was a design change of the valve covers and PCV valve to prevent the oil gelling/sludge and high oil consumption issues. I live in Canada and the work was all covered under warranty by Toyota for 8 years/unlimited milage, so we'll see if it fixes it. The dealer says they had two other Highlanders previously that they replaced the valve covers and PCV valve on and it fixed the high oil comsumption.
Well, I took my 02 Highlander to the Toyota dealer and they found no signs of oil gelling/sludge under the valve covers or in the oil pan. They did however replace the valve covers, PCV valve, and seals under warranty. I guess there was a design change of the valve covers and PCV valve to prevent the oil gelling/sludge and high oil consumption issues. I live in Canada and the work was all covered under warranty by Toyota for 8 years/unlimited milage, so we'll see if it fixes it. The dealer says they had two other Highlanders previously that they replaced the valve covers and PCV valve on and it fixed the high oil consumption.
Would you have paperwork showing the authorization for the work? I have a 2002 Highlander. I don't have oil consumption issues, but I'd like to know in case an issue arises.
The valve cover changeover was a quick fix for the bad Crankcase Vent. sys.. And not all dealers applied this fix in every instance.
I don't belive it was a cure-all to the possibility of future gelling.
But alot of these potential gelling engines are getting up in age and are (on second and third ownerships) on the road today and Toyota mitigates their liability as time passes with less and less gelling claims coming into the dealers.
Would you have paperwork showing the authorization for the work? I have a 2002 Highlander. I don't have oil consumption issues, but I'd like to know in case an issue arises.
I have attached the only paperwork I have, which is the 'warranty' part of the invoice.
Well, I took my 02 Highlander to the Toyota dealer and they found no signs of oil gelling/sludge under the valve covers or in the oil pan. They did however replace the valve covers, PCV valve, and seals under warranty. I guess there was a design change of the valve covers and PCV valve to prevent the oil gelling/sludge and high oil consumption issues. I live in Canada and the work was all covered under warranty by Toyota for 8 years/unlimited milage, so we'll see if it fixes it. The dealer says they had two other Highlanders previously that they replaced the valve covers and PCV valve on and it fixed the high oil comsumption.
Well, I just checked the oil 810 kms after the repair - and the oil level is reading exactly the same as when I checked it right after the repair! This is good, previously it would consume 1+ L every ~700 km. I'll post again when I make it to the next oil change (after ~5000 km) with results.
Excess oil consumption
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