Burning a quart of oil every 1k

I have a 2011 4 x 4 four-cylinder. Burning oil like crazy, Oddly enough, I don’t really see it coming out the back. To be honest, I don’t know anything about cars. My mechanic said it’s probably the valve seals and quoted me $4000 Mainly due to labor cost Saying he essentially needs to take apart the entire engine.

Any of that sound right?

Wondering if there’s another way to go about this…

 

The oil gets burned (consumed) in the cylinders and goes out the tailpipe with the exhaust. You're not always going to see a cloud of stinky smoke either

It's getting into the cylinders either through the valve stem seals or piston rings, or both. Sadly the only way to really remedy the problem is to rebuild or replace the motor. It's a fairly common issue on Japanese 4cyls for some reason, especially when they get old

I'd either look for a replacement engine or simply carry some oil around and top it off as needed. The 2nd option is certainly cheaper

 

How many miles? Have you ever replaced your PCV?

 

200k miles. Been an issue for the last 60k though. I’ve been keeping it topped up and I haven’t had any issues, but I’m also wondering at what point in time all this oil burning through the engine, causes some major malfunction due to build up.

I have not changed the PC valve yet to my knowledge.

 

The 2005+ 2TR engines seem to suffer this more than older 2.7 engines.
The low tension piston rings didn't help the matter. Neither did increasing the time between oil changes. Changing the oil SOONER on these engines would help mitigate this issue.
Not placing the blame on you OP. I place it on the manufactures. Yes, that was plural. Just about all the big manufactures are going with low tension rings.
Low tension Rings = Easier to get stuck in the ring lands. When this happens, the rings fail to seal/scrape the oil from the cylinder walls, and you get oil consumption.

Anyways, some guys have had luck using specialty oils, such as Valvoline Restore & Protect.
But it's not a one shot deal. It can take multiple oil changes to see any improvement.

 

Have you tried using a thicker oil?

 

Try valvoline restore and protect oil. Not sure if I’m saying it right for the next few oil changes and yes put a new pvc valve . Also try and get a true compression test on the motor . This is NOT common with that motor at all . This particular motor is actually pretty much bullet proof . I would look into this further before you take drastic steps

 

That seems to be an awful lot of oil going into the combustion chamber. I would think your catalyzer would be plugged by now if this has been going on for 60k. Are you sure it isn't leaking somewhere and being blown down the underside of the truck or something?

 

Find a good used engine. For $4K you should be able to find a used engine and get it installed, and have a few bucks left over.

 

Cheap stuff 1st. Try thicker oil. If you're using that much you don't necessarily have to change the oil, just start topping off with a heavier weight oil and see what happens. If that doesn't help then move on to more expensive repairs.

You don't say how many miles, but on a 2011 I'd look for one from a scrapyard before I'd repair one that old.

FWIW, the guy from North Carolina with the 2008 that went 1.6 million miles before the owner died had the 4 cylinder. He put 900,000 on the original engine before it needed a head gasket. Rather than fix it he bought a 100,000 mile engine from a scrap yard and had it installed and drove that engine for another 700,000 miles. 800,000 total miles on the 2nd engine. As far as I know it's still running. The owner died and the dealership bought the truck from his widow and has it on display in their showroom

 

Welcome to the forum

Information so far:
200K on the truck
Oil consumption noted for 60K


Questions:
How long have you had the truck?
How often do you change the oil?
How many miles do you drive per week?
What kind of driving - highway, city, rural, towing?
Has the truck had any major engine repairs in the past?
What is the general landscape where you drive - mountains, plains, desert, etc?

 

Slow down here, people. Like, actually stop.
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For starters,

Please carefully consider (avoid) the suggestions to try a thicker oil. Changing from 0W20 to 5W20 is not going to resolve any oil consumption issue. On the other hand, changing to 20W50 as a ridiculous example is going to potentially CLOG every oil passage that is still easily flowing oil and make your oil pump work harder than it is currently doing. Decreasing overall lubricity everywhere. That is the exact opposite of what you want. Just say NO.

And, no, do not even think about adding any type of "stop leak" product additive to your oil pan. That's like adding molecular cellophane flakes. More clogging everywhere.
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The technically correct approach is to *resolve the oil consumption* - IF IT MAKES SENSE TO DO SO - and not make the oil pump work harder in a futile and feeble and technically incorrect non-sensical approach to reduce oil consumption.

And, no 10W40 in the middle as a compromise is just as incorrect. CONTINUE TO RUN THE MULTI-GRADE ENGINE OIL AS SPECIFIED IN YOUR OWNER's MANUAL.

Sorry for the rant, but thicker oil is just not a solution. It is not even a band aid.

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Now, let's get back to brass tacks. And some basics.

* Your truck is running A-OK. 200k on the odometer. Hallelujah! You are doing something right. Like, oh, I dunno, keeping your engine full with oil.

* And your *only* issue is that you need to add a quart of oil every 1000 miles. WITAF is wrong with that? Should we all be so blessed with such simple life issues. A quart of oil costs $5 or $6. Every 3 or 4 fill ups? AYFKM?

* I'm sorry, but I would suggest you have your head examined before you replace an entire engine at a cost of $thousands$ of dollars instead of continuing to simply add oil when your level falls low on your dipstick.

* Ignore your mechanic. Spending $4000 for him/her to take your engine apart as a learning experience on your dime is no bueno.

* If you start throwing DTCs in the future, then report back here for more advice. In the meantime, do what you are already doing.

And that is exacty what a "good" mechanic should have advised you.

 

Just because his mechanic told him it would be around 4k to fix the issue doesnt mean he's trying to strong-arm the customer into doing the job.

There's nothing wrong with giving someone a price for engine rebuild as an option if they choose to go that direction

I throw out huge prices to my customers all the time depending on the situation. Doesn't mean I'm pushing them to do it, I'm just giving them perspective about what the upper end costs are. Once they know the best and worst case scenarios they are more prepared to make a decision with their car

You guys act like any mechanic that gives out a big price is automatically an asshole that just wants to rob you. That's not how it works. We just deliver the news. Good, bad, whatever. Tell them what their options are and then let them decide

 

No!

 

100% agree.

Some times, it cost a lot to fix the problem.
Some times it’s cheaper to “band-aid” the problem.
And some times it’s cheaper to not fix the problem.

But a fix, is a fix. And cost is cost.
Options are options…..

Not really that hard to understand.

The hardest part is often the ability for the customer to pay.
But that’s life. And is why you should ALWAYS tell the customer their options.
And explain what the +/- of each one are, then let them choose.

 

Yeah, I'm gonna call BS on this.

No, negative, ghost rider, that is most certainly not good advice. That is either incompetent or dishonest. One is only marginally better than the other.

No where did the OP gather that just refilling the oil is a viable option. Otherwise, he / she would have or should have posted that here. IMHO

 

Removing a few spark plugs & inspecting using borescope the cleaned off pattern on the piston tops would give you a solid indication if its valve stem seals or pinto rigs, or combo of both..
Should also look for vertical cylinder wall scoring which would give you good indication of overall cylinder condition & a trained eye & experience could advise you better...

 

Pinto rigs

 

I did completely clog my cats lol I had so much back pressure and so little power I had to cut the cats off to even drive the thing.

 

I’ve had the truck for five years. I’m the third owner and as far as I know, the only major repair that’s been done was a transmission rebuild. I changed the oil every 5000 miles And typically I’m driving around 200 miles per week. It’s mainly city driving with some freeway. I bought the truck like this and the issues been ongoing for five years. It’s just gotten to a point where I want to sell the thing but I’d like to try and solve the issue first because nobody wants to buy it once I tell them it’s burning a quart of oil every month lol