Beating a dead horse

Hi yall, I just purchased an 07 taco with the 2TR engine. Thought I’d found a good one, but now I’m nervous. It seems it’s consuming quite a bit of oil. I did the first oil change on it and it has a very slight timing cover leak. After 3k miles I thought I better check the level. To my surprise it was bearly registering at the bottom of the dipstick. Not even in the safe zone dots, like the bottom of the dipstick. I’m surprised I wasn’t hearing any valve train chatter with it that low. It took more than a quart, maybe closer to 2 to get it topped back up.

So now I’m not sure what to do. I love this truck. It’s super clean, and it has 205k miles on it which i thought would be fine given its maintenance history and cleanliness, not to mention this is supposed to be the “million mile” engine right? RIGHT? Wrong I guess.

I started searching for oil consumption issues with these engines, come to find there’s a lot. Most people claim the oil control rings fail. Someone said they had a “soft recall” for a bad batch of them? So getting new ones would likely solve it for a long time. I’ll run a compression and leak down test later. Can anyone confirm this “soft recall” bad batch deal? Or have you had luck replacing the oil control rings and getting more than 200k more miles after?

I’m sure it’s consuming oil and not just from the slight timing cover leak. I used to do oil consumption test for Audi 2.0T cars all the time back when I worked as a dealership tech for them around 2013-ish. So save your “it’s probably the main seal” etc comments.

I just don’t know where to go from here. How much longer should I expect this engine to last? Just another 100k miles? Audis spec back then was any more than 1qt per 1000 mi was unacceptable, and it seems like I’m around a quart every 1500 miles right now.

And what would the next step even be? Seems like most people just get a new engine because they’re not that expensive, like $3k for a new one + labor. But the 2.7l is so underpowered. I know everytime someone ask about swapping the 4.0L in everyone says to just get a factory 4.0 truck instead, but these trucks are getting increasingly hard to find without rusted frames, and to be frank I don’t have $15-20k to buy one of those. I managed to get this one for $8k, which was nice and I thought I had done well. To be fair I don’t think the PO knew it was consuming oil.

I would love to put the tundra v8 in this truck but it’s not realistic I don’t think. I’m getting older now and done playing with engine swaps, in fact I’d likely just let the Toyota dealer put a new 2.7l in it unless a 4.0 swap can be plug and play provided I have the harness and ECU of course, but I think I read it still needs a stand alone bc of body module communication problems? Can anyone confirm?

Anyways, I’m super bummed. I thought I’d have this truck for a lot longer before having major internal issues out of it. I’m tempted to sell it, but the wheels, roof rack, and all is nice. I spent months trying to find a clean access cab sr5 manual under $10k. What should I do?

 

That's a good looking truck. Assuming the frame is good and the rest of the truck is solid, my recommendation would be to do the Berryman's soak and then follow it up with a couple of oil changes with Valvoline Protect and Restore.
My daughter's Corolla was using a little oil as well and I did this and it appears to have stopped, at 227,000 miles. Look up some YT videos. I think it's worth a try.
Don't give up yet, it may be salvageable but others will be along shortly to give their opinions as well.

 

I wouldnt bother with compression, leak down, etc...
If the oil control rings are sticking which is likely from your recall comments, you wont see it on the test, most likely..

 

Thanks winkel. Yeah frame is still the original but in great shape. Very very minor surface rust spots in the corners, otherwise perfect. Of all places I found it in Cincinnati, turns out the guy had just moved there from inland Florida, so I snagged it before the rust belt got to it and brought it back down south to TN. But our winters here can be harsh still and they do salt the roads. Unfortunately Toyota HQ doesn’t consider us a “cold weather state” so there’s no chance of getting frame replacement help, especially after it’s short stent in Ohio. They wouldn’t even give me a quote on coating the frame when I called my local dealership, they said they’d never done one for the trucks down here. But I found many rusted out frame tacos local to me in my search for a solid one, so I’m leery and want to coat it atleast.

I’ll look into the cleaning soak and give it a try, but I fear she’s gonna be too far gone. Pitty it’s only been like a month since I bought it. I drive a lot. Guy gave me two boxes of Toyota brand oil filters (like 20 filters) so I’m pretty confident he was taking good care of it. Idk what oil he was using but I always use Mobil 1 in my stuff. The dealership confirmed it had all recalls done and regular maintenance by the first owner until 2021. I’m the 3rd owner.

But it’s curious, about every damn piece of plastic trim on this truck is loose. It’s like the whole truck got taken apart for some reason. Whoever put the radio in managed to scratch the dash something awful, attempting to use a screwdriver to pry the paneling off I assume. They also knicked the driver side black trim below the center vent real good. The foot rest by the clutch pedal is loose. The radio trim is loose. The driver interior mirror cover trim is loose. The headliner trim was loose. The carpet trim by the door was loose. The rear view mirror moves too easy like it’s hall socket is worn out. The side mirrors are scratched up somehow and loose. The under tray / splash guard / fender liners are missing parts and loose. The glove box shock mount is broken. The rear drums were spray painted red. The hood scoop insert was spray painted red and flaking off. And oddly the main engine harness bracket on the back of the cylinder head was unbolted. The bolt was in there holding the ground on but the bracket was just dangling in the air. Maybe someone did a valve cover gasket at some point and missed that when going back together idk. Among other small things. So it’s like some teenager got ahold of it for awhile or something.

also upon buying it we stopped at the closest auto parts store because the oil level was low, I should’ve known then and there something was up. I figured it was the typical case of long overdue oil change or an improper oil change job by the previous guy. But the check engine light popped on not 50 miles after I bought it for an evap flow code too, which makes me wonder if guy did know what was up and trying to hide things. I clear it but it comes back every couple hundred miles / 2-3 days.

it’s also hard to get into any gear from a dead stop sometimes. I was about to change the oil with some redline fluid and see if that helps. I’m sure it needs done anyways. But I need to check that shifter bushing out too. Doesn’t feel sloppy but I hear that bottom plastic bushing can cause it. And even if it’s fixed most forum guys I spoke with say they still have to roll a little to get into gear from a stop. Apparently that’s another gripe about the 5spd trucks and partially why I’d like to just swap to the 4.0 with an auto or a 6spd if I can even find one of those trans.

here’s what it looked like when I got it. All I’ve done so far is change the engine oil, put factory headlights and a factory trd pro grill on it and take off the brush guard and runners for the roof rack.

sorry for being long winded

 

Oh ok. I kinda figured as much since the compression rings are fine, but to be honest I just want an idea of how healthy things are too. This engine will like grunt in 2nd below 2k rpms. But my buddy who owned one of these back when they were new said that’s normal for the 2.7 and I should try to keep it above 2k rpms. And if I’m full throttle below 3k rpms trying to go up a hill or use cruise control in OD (5th) and hit a hill it sounds like it’s struggling, not grunting here but like struggling, I think that’s more due to just being an underpowered engine though. I’m not much a fan of this 5spd tbh. I really have to wind it out I feel like. Maybe I’m just too used to owning vehicles with 6 spd close ratio boxes and higher redlines.

 

Sorry to hear about your trouble. A couple of notes on your questions:

- A 4.0 swap is prohibitive in these trucks. Better to sell it and buy another truck.

- Having a dealer throw a new engine in is going to be absurdly expensive, if you know how it's not too bad. If money is no object and you can't be bothered to do it, sell it and buy a clean 4.0 truck.

- Toyota doesn't sell long blocks, you'll need to get a short block and head and assemble them/transplant the engine mount accessories on a stand, again not a big deal if you know how to do these things and a HG is way easier outside the truck than in it.

- Regarding coating, I would absolutely not let a dealership coat my frame (again). I live in Salt Hell and have done quite a lot of on-the-road testing and have a lot of personal experience fighting rust on my truck and other Tacomas. Toyota's bandaid is designed solely to get you through the coverage period and no more, and provides a false sense of security to people who don't know better (like me!). What you want is a good application of WoolWax (or FluidFilm, they are very similar and made by the same company). I have done extensive side-by-side testing of undercoating and rustproofing products tied to the undercarriage of my truck in VT winters, and WW is the winner by far. I am currently running test plates for a product called Hard-On (I know....) and a thicker formulation of WW, but results are not ready yet.



Looks like a nice truck man, I wish you the best in getting it up to spec.

 

Not going to address the other issues, but for the quart of oil every 1500 miles I would drive it as long as I could and check the oil. The post suggesting adding Valvoline Restore might be worth a try. I surely wouldn’t replace the engine for moderate oil usage.

 

Thanks deanosaurus! That’s actually great news, I had heard about the fluid film and wool wax and was curious which one was better. I figured Toyota used one or the other, guess not. I just worry about actually getting it into all the hard to reach places without dropping the frame and taking everything apart. I’m very much a perfectionist lol

why is a 4.0 swap prohibitive? Is it purely a cost thing?

it wouldn’t be my first engine swap. I’ve owned 40 vehicles over the years and admittedly I’ve never taken them to someone else except to have tires put on, I’ve always done everything else myself. I work as a motorcycle tech these days, done a lot of engine swaps on bikes, just replaced a goldwing engine last week, last year we replaced the v8 in a 95 Land Rover discovery with the manual trans my boss owned, and I once built a 240sx and put a new engine in it and made a body harness for that car. So I’m somewhat familiar with the process haha. Trouble is, I’m without a garage or a paved surface these days. We moved out to the country and I just have gravel with a car port. Not ideal for rolling around an engine hoist. Maybe I could talk my buddy into letting me do it at the motorcycle shop, but it’s a start up and we’ve been working out of his garage for the last 3 years and it’s crammed, cuz he also has a VW bus, an Audi and trailers outside in the driveway lol. We have been in the process of building an actual shop for the last two years but that’s a long story. Long story short, we should have a legit shop soon though. So looks like I’ll need to pay someone to replace this engine it unless this shop gets built in a year or two. I’m just not sure how long she’ll go before oil consumption goes through the roof, I guess I need to buy a crystal ball for that though.







And davidstacoma, the taco is my daily driver now, I sold off some bikes and the pos ranger cuz I wanted something more reliable lmao. So I’d like to be preemptive with it instead of waiting until it’s practically undrivable. But yeah for now I’ll just be monitoring it. I’m tempted to run thicker oil but I don’t want to do it in early either.

 

Welcome to the forum

Nice looking truck.

Reading through your posts here are a few thoughts:

With 205K and almost 20 years old you need to be checking the oil way more often than after 3000 miles of driving. Also the dealer is not a good place to take an older vehicle.

Dividing the miles by the years the previous owners drove around 11,000 miles a year, you stated that you "drive a lot". I'm suspecting that the oil control rings have some deposits built up by the previous owners limited driving.

Use any brand name oil meeting specifications, change it every 5000 miles, check/top it up frequently and I believe your consumption will go down over time as the detergents in the oil have a chance to clean up the engine.

I don't like any "flush" or "solvent" products, they are like taking a laxative:
you don't know what it is going to cut loose,
when it is happening,
or where it will end up.

Letting the new oil work on the deposits is more like adding some fruit to your diet, it cleans gently over time.


Really you should change every fluid and filter in the truck including coolant and brake unless you have documentation when they were changed lately.

For the difficult to get in gear at a stop issue, change to transmission oil, personally I would use Motorcraft XT-M5-QS.
Motorcraft data sheet:

https://fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/products/transmission-fluid/productdetails?id=1

Rock Auto had the best price.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/motorcraft,XTM5QS,transmission+fluid,13630

"...if I’m full throttle below 3k rpms trying to go up a hill or use cruise control in OD (5th) and hit a hill it sounds like it’s struggling..."

You are right about that, it is struggling, with only 159HP in a fairly heavy truck you need to be mindful of the hills and keep the RPM up in the powerband, shift down as needed.


Finally, as far as engine swaps go, I say "like what you have or buy what you want", sure it can be done but it really isn't worth the effort IMO.

These are great trucks, treated with care, regular service and agressive rust protection they last a long time.

 

Myself, I'd drive it with a smile. I suppose you could keep one eye open for another one with low miles and a rotted frame to harvest the 2.7 from and just straight swap if you want to.

Sweet looking ride!!

 

Isn't 12,000 miles a year what the average driver drives?

I hear you on that, we often advise against our motorcycle customers using seafoam or the like on gas tanks with surface rust inside, it can knock it loose and clog the carburetor jets. But I'm gonna give it a whirl on this one.

yeah I'm about to, i just got it three weeks ago and haven't had a chance to wrench on it. Ill be going with redline MT-90 next weekend.

Ok cool so that much is normal. I sorta figured. My 2.5L 2000 model ranger would also lose speed trying to go up these hills in 5th, but it never sounded like it was grunting or struggling. What I'm mainly concerned about is this grunting noise, seems to only happen when i switch into 2nd gear. If i don't wind 1st out past 4k rpms then once I'm in 2nd I'm below 2k rpms and it makes this sorta grunting and rattling noise. It also makes a rattle when it shut it off. Idk if that's just normal noises or a sign of something else. I'm probably being knit picky, it runs out fine and sounds totally health and normal otherwise, but when i switch to 2nd or 3rd and its below 2k or i shut the engine down it makes like a grunting knocking sorta sound. I'll see if i cant get a good sound clip for ya and see what yall make of it.

 

The Berryman's thing isn't an engine flush, you remove the spark plugs, put a few table spoons full in each cylinder and let it soak for a day or so. Dump a little more in after about 8 hours, etc. Then, crank the engine over to blow the excess out, hook up a battery charger (because you'll smoke the battery otherwise trying to get it to start afterwards), reinstall the sparkplugs, coil packs, and start it. It will take a while to get all of the crap through. Let it run for a bit and then change the oil because some of the Berryman's will end up in the engine and will wash down the oil a bit.
Drive it for a couple of days then change the oil again and refill with Valvoline R&P.
It's cheap enough to try and I've seen several videos where folks thought it actually made a difference. It seriously did on my daughter's car.
Again, cheap to try and not much risk.

 

If you drove 3000 miles in 3 weeks you are on track for 52,000 miles a year, a bit over average.

It is kind of like taking a guy who has worked in an accounting office for 18 years and putting him on a cross country running team.

 

Nice truck, and lots of good advice on here so far.

These little Toyota motors don’t like to be lugged. They’re small and have a short stroke. They like to rev! It’s a bit counterintuitive because you’re in a truck, but if it were me I would be giving it a good old Italian tune up. Make sure it has enough clean oil, and drive that sucker at 4K rpm for a while! Best way to clean out a motor.

 

just a bit lol the average American drives 37 miles a day according to chat gpt. My commute is 64 miles and that’s not counting going anywhere else. Also it was a little high this month cuz I did have to drive it a couple hundred miles back after I bought it in another state.

I found this interesting, yall might too, here’s what chat gpt said:

“
As of the most recent data, the average American drives approximately 13,596 miles per year, which equates to about 1,133 miles per month or roughly 37 miles per day . This figure has remained relatively stable over the past decade, typically ranging between 13,000 and 15,000 miles annually .



Factors Influencing Driving Habits



Age and Gender:

• Working-age adults (20–54) tend to drive the most, averaging between 15,098 and 15,291 miles annually.
• Teenagers (16–19) and seniors (65+) drive significantly less, averaging around 7,600 miles per year .
• Men generally drive more than women, with men averaging 16,550 miles per year compared to women’s 10,142 miles .

Geographic Variations:

• Wyoming has the highest average annual mileage per driver at 21,589 miles, likely due to its rural nature and limited public transportation options.
• New York has one of the lowest averages at 9,548 miles per year, reflecting the availability of public transit and urban density .

Household Vehicle Ownership:

• In households with only one vehicle, the average daily mileage is about 50 miles.
• In households with two vehicles, the first vehicle averages nearly 60 miles per day, while the second vehicle averages less than 60% of the first vehicle’s mileage .

“​

 

I have a 4-cylinder 2009 Tacoma that I bought new, 200K miles on it. I use Mobil One and change the engine oil every 10-12K miles and don't add any between changes. It might be 4 ounces low when I change it, but not enough to notice on the dipstick. I know this doesn't help you, but if you're burning that much oil then obviously something is very wrong- it's not from normal wear. It was either run low and scored the pistons/cylinders, or as said, the oil rings are stuck. If you're going to remove the plugs to add some magic fluid, I'd check the compression first.

 

On a side note, are there any good aftermarket dipsticks for the 2.7? I’m always having trouble getting a good reading. Think engraving some hash marks would help?

 

Scuffing with sandpaper or engraving hash marks should help

 

My man. I had the same problem with the same engine. I was loosing a quart every 1k miles. Did a piston soak like what the comments mentioned above 3 years ago. My truck still has been running good to this day and I haven't lost a drop of oil between changes. If you do that your truck will last for a long time I bet. It be a shame to let something like that go if you like it.

 

I would try EPR. .a product called Engine performance restoration. . .shops use and sell this stuff and you can get it on Amazon. I heard liquid Moly is good too. Basically something that can free up the gunk on the oil control ring.

The 2.7L is awesome, my 2005 Taco was great and that's why I upgraded to a 2014 DCSB PreRunner.


The 4.0L is OK but gets terrible gas mileage .. . Swapping to that would be a personal decision based on your need. But it's more engine, more moving parts and isnt necessarily better. I enjoy driving my 14 DCSB 2.7L preRunner more than my 07 4Runner 4WD V6.