Rebuilt engine burning oil

Hello Everyone... A few months ago I had a friend of mine buy a reg cab 4x4 3rz powered Tacoma for me because I could not take time off work to buy it and I needed a truck. Anyways a day or 2 after he bought it, the truck blew up (had chocolate milk oil). So after months of BS dealing with tow companies and decisions I had it towed to where I am located and tore it apart for a full rebuild. After disassembly I discovered it blew a head gasket and had a head that was repaired(a bead of weld in an intake port). So I got a new toyota head casting and built it with an lc engineering pro valve train and I got a complete rebuild kit from Lc with hyperutectic pistons and gaskets etc., kind of trying to make a bad deal better... After having everything machines and prepared, I assembled the motor and put it in. I pulled the efi fuse and turned it over for a while -even after using assbly live on everything- to get oil pressure, then put the fuse back in and it fired right up as soon as gas got pumped up. So I let it run for like 10 or 15 minutes to warm up and then shut it off because it was late at night and I couldn't drive it yet. After driving it, I noticed it might have consumed a bit of oil but I assumed this was normal and that it was just breaking in. But it hasn't stopped consuming oil and has actually gotten pretty bad, the motor has about 450 miles on it now and it has drank at least 2 qts. of oil. I know this is not normal and I am now wondering what might have went wrong?? The head was fully assembled by a shop and I checked the gap on the rings and they were good, but for some stupid reason I didn't check the oil rings figuring the top 2 compression rings were spot on, and I slid one of the rail for one in and looked at it and it was fine, but here's where it got good... When I went to assemble the motor the damn expansion ring didn't fit in the bore so I bent the ends in very carefully until they fit and I had to cut 2 that I couldn't bend enough to fit and deburred them. I didn't deburr the compression rings because they didn't feel sharp on the edges. I'm lost now and wondering where all that oil is going its not in the water or leaking, and it doesn't smoke too bad but it does put out a puff here and there. Please help if you've got any thought or suggestions, and sorry about the long rambling post...

 

I'm kinda lost in your thread here, if I understand right you got a rebuilt /new head, & is the short block new/rebuilt from somewhere else or did you do it ?? I've never heard of or would recommend altering ANY kind of internal parts like comp. rings or oil rings, BTW good ,sealing rings have sharp edges for tight seal during compression & as far as the oil ring goes shoulda been left alone, oil consumption isn't really normal for any new motor for a "break in" the only thing breaking in is seating the rings once fired up for the first time & this usually happens almost immediately with most engines..

 

& I'm assuming you used a ring compressor when you slid pistons into cylinders

 

Did I miss something. Maybe somebody joking

 

Sounds to me like you may have broken a ring when you installed the new pistons. See if you can find one of those remote camera things and push down thru the spark plug hole to see if the cylinder walls have been gouged, did that once on a motorcycle, it wasn't pretty.

 

Everything is brand new or machined from top to bottom, and yea I had the truck for a few months sitting broke down until I tried the rebuild. Im kind of leaning towards the broken ring category myself, even though I used a clamp type ring compressor that is supposed to be gentle to the rings... Just my luck!!! So if a ring broke, do you guys think I'll need a new block or just another bore and hone and set of pistons?? I'm well aware nobody will know until you see the cylinders... But I'm hoping to get off as cheap as possible after already spending way too much on a bunk truck and this now bunk build... The best thing is I live in California and it passed smog with flying colors burning a quart or 2 of oil!!!

 

And yea I definitely didn't put that in my thread lil red, and it won't let me edit it out!! That's freakin weird!!

 

thats crazy shiznit...anyways it sounds like you deburred alil to much ring to me. im not a motor builder though..ive put together maybe 5 or 6 v8s but never messed with these 4 cylinders besides head gaskets. it doesnt take much oil to make it smoke...run a compression check and see if you can find a weak cylinder and see if it will hold pressure or bleed off. compression gauges are farely cheap. i wouldnt pull the motor apart untill i did that if it was me personally...might be a leakin valve seal or something else

 

Did you make sure the PVC system is working properly? That will cause high crankcase pressure an cause oil consumption.
If the PCV is fine, do a leakdown test. It will tell you where the problem is.

 

Did you put a cross hatch on the cylinder? If you didn't, the rings wont seat. Also, running synthetic oil will not allow the rings to seat.

 

Some good comments above. If it were me I wouldn't freak out yet, I've seen engines with 1,000 miles on them blowing blue smoke, they eventually wore in okay and stopped burning oil.

Run non synthetic and don't be afraid to take it on the highway and run it hard at varying engine and road speeds to help the rings seat. Just keep the oil topped off and hope for the best for right now.

 

Thank you everyone for your replies. I was thinking I may have messed up the oil ring tensioner by adjusting it to much when the pistons wouldnt fit... But i figured the oil rings were for oiling and that the compression rings sealed the cylinder... I am now wondering if maybe I got the wrong set of oil rings?? I'm gonna do a compression check at 500 miles and I plan on driving it to 1000 miles on the build and if the problem persists I will go from there...

 

Did you offset the end-gaps on your compression rings, and the oil rail expansion rings, so they weren't lined up?

Looking at the piston from the top, I usually put #1 compression ring gap at 12 o' clock, #2 compression ring at 6 o'clock, top oil expansion ring at 3 o'clock, and bottom oil expansion ring at 9 o'clock.

As for your assembly glitch, that's about as f'd up as a football bat. I've never had to cut or file-fit oil rings to a bore (compression rings, sure) so it's possible you were sold the wrong parts.

 

Sounds like .030 ring set now that I'm lookin at all of it

 

Some oil rings are directional. I don't know about yours.

 

Hey guys...
The pcv system is clean and fine, and I did clock the rings per the Toyota fsm, and the only reason I fit the oil rings in was I figured the top 2 compression rings would seal the cylinder and I might burn a touch of oil, but the top rings would scape any excesses down into the pan. I am kind of wondering if a valve seal could have been installed wrong??? There's only a couple ways oil can get into the combustion chamber right; a blown head gasket, blown rings, or a blown valve seal??
No good news though, yesterday i parked it in front of a big box and the tailpipe coated it in fresh royal purple break-in oil, purple and slick like it was poured out... Whatever happened it sucks and it's embarrassing... A buddy has my compression tester so today or tomorrow I'll track it down and reveal my fate! Thanks for your thoughts fellas!!

 

A compression test will only tell you if you have a compression problem. A leakdown test will tell you where the leak is, and in which cylinder(s). You can make one for under$ 50, or buy one from harbor freight. Borrow the parts from the comp tester to connect to the cylinder.
A leakdown check takes more time to do, but you get much better results.