Does your truck burn oil?

I've been doing a bit of research about burning oil and found a few threads like this one: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/212901-burning-oil.html

My truck has 19,000 miles and the dealer has changed the oil every 5,000 miles under "Toyota Care." I believe they use Valvoline dino oil. The dealer here is pretty good so my intention is to let them change the oil until 25,000 miles when Toyota Care is over and I'll take over from there with synthetic.

I have noticed that towards the end of each oil cycle (around 4,000 miles into the 5,000 mile cycle) I need to add roughly 3/4 of a quart of oil to have engine oil level come back to normal. I check the level carefully after each oil change to make sure it's at the top mark of the dipstick. At the time I'm adding oil towards the end of the cycle I can clearly see the level is lower on the dipstick.

What gives?

I've mostly owned 4-cylinder cars in the past - none of them burned any oil. The few V6s I've had didn't burn oil either. All mostly newer cars.

About tapping noises.
I've had a few Toyotas and I've found 'Yota engines to be rather unpleasant sounding and rather noisy. You know... noise, crickets and tapping here and there. Mostly always faint, but I can tell they are there. Mostly normal. The engines are great, we know that. But noisy sounding IMO.

My Taco is the same. However, there is one noise that's particularly annoying. It's a VERY faint tapping noise that happens while accelerating (at the same speed the engine is revving at). It's very faint and if the A/C is cranking you can't hear it. Of course, music will down it out. Lowering the windows will drown it out too.

I'm not sure what it is... I bet it's normal too. I don't remember if it did it from new. The thing is, back in the day, my mom had a V6 Mitsubishi Montero that used to make a similar noise and used to burn a little bit of oil. As the oil level decreased, the tapping noise increased. My dad used to say it was lifter noise. When the oil level was brought back up, the tapping went away.

However, I added oil to my truck last night and it's perfectly level now. The tapping is always there. It's very constant and at the same level.

When I hit 20,000 miles, I'll drain a bit of oil and send a sample to Blackstone Labs to analyze it. Maybe they can tell me what's up.

If any of you have any ideas, please post and let me know.

By the way, apart from the normal smoke at startup, I don't notice any smoking from the truck. Oh, and most of my driving is city. I'd say, 80% city, 20% highway.

Let's make this a poll...

 

184000 miles on my 4.0 and doesnt use a drop. i use mobile 1 full synthetic 5-20 (but may use the high mileage 5-30 next time, for safty and its usually $3-4 cheap per 5 gal jug) i go 6000 miles change the filter top it off and go another 6000 and do a full change. i also run 1/3 bottle of seafoam in the crank case the tank of gas before i do the full change.

 

Your rings may not have worn in yet. You are wasting oil by topping up between oil changes. The only time you need to add oil is if it is at or below the bottom line on the dipstick. Anywhere I between is perfectly acceptable and does not cause any engine problems. If you have a big concern about the 3/4 quart low have the oil changed at the 4K mark.

What is the normal smoke at start up, bluish grey? Black? I don't recall having any normal smoke (which was black) since the days of carbs. If you have a bluish grey smoke at start up it's usually a sign that the valve seals aren't doing there job and allowing a small amount of oil to seep by which will accumulate in a large enough quantity while the engine is off to produce a noticeable puff of smoke at start up.

 

None of my three Tacomas (2001: 136,000 miles, 2005: 105,000 miles, 2010: 87,000 miles so far) have EVER needed a drop of oil added or ever leaked a drop of oil on the ground. I have it changed every 3-5 k miles at dealership... Amazing trucks!

 

Change my synthetic oil every 6k and have never had to add oil. at 81k now.

 

This probably doesn't count as far as the OP is concerned, but my truck runs on gasoline which is derived from crude oil so the answer is YES my truck does burn oil.

It burns corn too. (ethanol)

 

The normal startup smoke I'm talking about is likely vapor (faint white).

Rings not fully worn in. Hmmm. I don't think I buy that. By 19K miles the engine should be broken in. 10K... maybe. But approaching 20K and 4 oil changes... I'd say the engine is nicely broken in.

 

engines are broken in at 0 miles. They are load tested and rings are seated at the factory. Even if they wernt, rings get seated within the first 20-50 miles of driving before crosshatching wears off and no more ring seating can take place.

Btw mine doesnt use a thing ..... neither does my dada 3.4L v6 in his 04 prerunner..... nor my moms 07 4.0L in her 4 runner..... its a toyota.

Couldnt say the same thing about my chevy that used ~ 1quart of oil EVERY 1000mi ... due to burning it and leaking it out of the rear main seal.

 

nada drop I can see............. 80K miles

 

I've had six of these trucks, two of the six were 2.7's four were 4.0 1GR's. Not a one has use a measurable difference. Only one was purchased used, with 57K miles and was a 4.0 PreRunner. Even that truck used no oil as far as I could tell, but looking at the Carfax, the PO was religious about oil changes, having them done every 3500 miles since new.

Op, I know most here will say it doesn't matter, or that engines are "Broken in at the factory" but how did you break the truck in? Did you drive it around from day one like a little old lady, never getting into the throttle? Using cruise a lot during the first 500-1000 miles?

I've looked for it, and my new '14 now with almost 2000 miles on the odometer does not show any smoke at cold start up. Had a '13 Ford F-150 EcoBoost though, that always blew blackish, gray smoke at startup for the first 5-10 seconds of cold start, but that is normal for a direct injection engine.

 

no oil burn/no corn gas

 

Your father was right about the lifter in the mitsubishi. They use a hydraulic lifter which will be affected by oil. Our trucks use shim and bucket. No cushioning so they make noise.

 

You don't have to buy it but it's still a possibility. Then the normal start up is now vapor not smoke. The engine should be broken in by 1K that is why the OM tells you to vary the engine speed and avoid heavy engine loads during that period. Key word is should. The oil is either leaking out or going out the tail pipe, if it's going out the tail pipe then something isn't providing the proper seal to exclude it from the combustion chamber, the oil control rings are letting it past, the compression rings are letting combustion gases past and forcing oil vapor into the intake tract or the valve seals are letting it leak down from the head through the valve guides. Sometimes a cylinder or more can glaze up and prevent the rings from seating, the cyclinder could have been improperly honed. Bottom line is that a quart in 4K miles is hardly anything to upset your apple cart about. There are three possible things that will happen, it will get better or it will stay the same in which cases don't worry. If it gets worse, and I'm not sure what the manufactures consider excessive oil consumption now in light of the stricter clean air requirements and damage to the converters but I would guess that maybe at a quart in a thousand miles Toyota might consider doing something about it. Mean while take some free advice and have your oil changed at the 4K mark when you said it was 3/4 quart low. Lighten up and have some fun or check with the old Doc about OCD.

 

Mine hasn't used any yet. I try to check it right after I have the oil changed.
And then around the 2,500 miles. I typically change my oil at 5,000 miles using REGULAR oil. SO far I haven't used any oil in 61,000 miles.

 

My wife and I bought it new. I'm a car guy and I'm very careful with all my cars. We broke it in like this:

1. Short 10 mile trip around town at low-res and different gears (test drive.)
2. Drive home. 40 miles. Freeway, but we switched between 5th and 5th gear every few minutes to vary revs. Stayed under 65. Varied between 50-65 MPH.
3. Next 500 miles... A combination of town and freeway driving (80% city / 20% freeway). Easy on the throttle.

In fact, we've always been easy on the throttle in the truck. We have sporty cars for everything else, so the truck always cruises.

Note, I bought the truck to carry a bit of music gear, surf gear and for snowboard trips in the snow - Not for wheeling. So far, apart from carrying surfboards and a drumset here and there, the last 19K miles have been super mellow.

I'm confident the break-in was good. For my next vehicle I'm doing the break-in where I change all my fluids (tranny, diff and engine) immediately after the first 1,000 miles. - But that's the subject of a different thread, so let's not go there.

 

Thanks, good to know.

 

Point taken.

Note, the first time I noticed the slight reduction in oil I didn't do anything about it. I just went and got it changed at 5K. I assumed that like in my NC Miata, the dipstick is hard to read, so I thought I was reading it wrong. But 10K and 15K I had learned that the dipstick actually reads correctly and easily. That's when I suspected burning oil. If I recall correctly, when approaching 10K miles I didn't add any more oil either.

At 14K I just happened to be at a gas station, so I picked up a quart. When I got home I let the truck sit for an hour, then came back, measured and added oil to level it correctly.

Now at 19K was taking the time to lube my creaky clutch and do a couple of other maintenance bits. I was checking the oil, I had some in the garage.. Might as well get it to the correct level as I have a long trip to Vegas coming up. Better safe than sorry. So... not OCD, rather careful. Plus, if you ask here, most that find the oil low, will add oil. Specially if you know you have a bunch of miles to drive still before the next oil change.

 

I have owned an ass load of Toyota's and have never had one that burned any notable amount of oil. ( none that you can see on the dipstick ).

All internal combustion engines burn some oil.

 

2012 V6 - 72k miles. I don't burn any oil that I know of.

 

I get the puff of blue smoke at the tail pipe during a cold start up with 60,000 miles on the truck . Considering its 50 below zero most of the year where I live , its understandable to see some oil leaking past anything in my engine while its that cold .
I run 2 block heaters and they are both plugged in before i start the truck .
The truck runs for 15 minutes before I select forward or reverse
With this said , I have never had to add any between oil changes .I do run fully synthetic oil for the nasty cold weather