Hi all,
Just wanted to ask about oil usage on the engine, I know the dipstick is pretty much useless/hard to read anyway coupled with the fact that my driveway is on a slight slope making it even harder to get a correct reading. I also have a leak around the tensioner O ring which also doesn't help matters. I have had the roof down a couple of times so far as its been nice weather, one was to test drive to see where the rattles are coming from in the engine bay and another was on the way home from work the other day.
I haven't fully redlined the engine as of yet as I am still going through things on the car (such as brakes), bit when accelerating after a roundabout with the roof down I did get a whiff of what I think was burning oil temporarily at higher RPMs. I haven't smelt any burning oil when I have been driving it around normally, the issue is that I had the wind break up so I guess I am not getting as much turbulent air from behind the car. I didn't notice any smoke of any sort coming out of the exhaust though and I did check the mirrors a few times when I was accelerating to see if there was anything. One thing to note is that the engine is on 175,000 miles so I am guessing other things such as valve stem seals could also mean it will burn oil especially at higher RPMs.
Anyway, a couple of questions:
Is there a datum point for me to get the car level so I can properly check the oil level on the driveway - guessing door sills should be level?
What are the signs of burning oil whilst driving?
When i do check the oil instead of trying to find if its 'full' am I ok to check that if there is oil on the dipstick that the oil level is safe to drive? I know the 'min/max' is just the very top litre of so.
When mine was burning oil I checked every time I filled up with fuel.
It had no smoke issues and apart from oil disappearing you'd have not known.
175k engine would have thought already rebuilt/replaced once already. If not, drive it till it breaks then replace it.
Quote from: "beavisrules"When mine was burning oil I checked every time I filled up with fuel.
It had no smoke issues and apart from oil disappearing you'd have not known.
175k engine would have thought already rebuilt/replaced once already. If not, drive it till it breaks then replace it.
Thanks for that, will just keep checking, its not my daily drive so I won't be putting many miles on it, lots of the miles are motorway miles done by the previous owner, I could however be lucky and my engine has been rebuilt previously but I doubt it - just need this engine to last long enough for me to enjoy it and then upgrade to the 2zz.
Hi Mitch,
Although unsightly, I can't imagine that you are losing much oil through the oil tensioner seal - it's a simple 10min fix in any event.
With regard to oil usage, your car looks to be blue '03' reg that was for sale on here recently. The question of oil usage was covered in the for sale thread where the seller said the following;
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170615/4ce3f18d98268cdec8d5478ef9c8aba9.jpg)
Where he said he checks it monthly and the oil usage hasn't really changed drastically over the last four years.
With regard to your sloping driveway, once you're happy you've got it topped up to the max on level ground, you can then park it in its usual spot on your driveway and make a mental note of where the oil sits on the dipstick.
Thanks for that, yeah its my mates car, he put a lot of motorway miles on it, it was his only car but also worked from home so wasn't using it every day, there is a lot of baked on oil down the back of the engine from the O ring (new one on order), was more of tell tell signs of oil usage whilst driving.
Have read of 'understanding your chain tensioner' in the 'how to' section. A better O ring is also defined there.
Quote from: "Carolyn"Have read of 'understanding your chain tensioner' in the 'how to' section. A better O ring is also defined there.
I did have a read and saw the specs on the O ring, went with the OEM Toyota one just to ensure its back to factory spec, I doubt the engine will be in long enough for it to leak again!