Excessive Oil Consumption – 2008 Toyota Yaris

[Reginald]

My sister’s 2008 Toyota Yaris appears to be consuming a crapload of oil.

This was brought to my attention when she told me that, starting in the last two weeks the low oil pressure light sometimes comes on for about one second under heavy braking/sharp turns. So I examined the oil dipstick and found that it was almost completely dry, with just a tiny bit of oil on the very tip of it. The oil in this car was changed and topped off only two months ago on 07/05/16, at Wal-Mart (she showed me the receipt). On that receipt, the mechanic also noted that the car had low oil upon bringing it in (shown as missing 3.9 quarts). At that time, the car had 142,533 miles on it. The car is shared by several family members and driven a lot.

So today I topped off the oil, which took an entire 4 quarts to bring up to the “FULL” mark on the dipstick. The car currently has 146,034 miles on it. So over the course of two months – or 3,501 miles – an entire 4 quarts of oil just mysteriously vanished. Somehow the engine appears to be fine, it sounds healthy to me, anyway. No funny noises or anything. There are no oil leaks that I can find, nor has a “Check Engine” light illuminated. No smoke coming from the exhaust either.

I know this much oil consumption is not normal by any means. I’m carefully keeping track of the oil consumption now, and informed all drivers of the car to check the oil level with every gas fill-up. The car uses 5W-30 SAE oil and it is a VVT-i engine. Does anyone know what is causing so much oil to just disappear over a relatively short period of time/miles? Where is it all going?

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

Well it’s obviously going somewhere.
If, as you say, your not burning it ..
Other than it possibly migrating into the transmission or cooling system.
Perhaps your losing it while the vehicle is being driven.
A faulty seal or sending unit letting oil out under pressure.
Suggest you jack up and support the vehicle and give the undercarriage a good once over

[Frank Heiser]

Firstly of course verify that there’s no leak anywhere. Now with that said, this is a common problem with Toyotas over the last few years. It’s more than likely eating all of it due to bad piston rings. Always possible this isn’t your issue but I personally know 3 people dealing with a Toyota eating oil like candy so it’s the first thing that jumps into my mind.

Check this site to see what I mean. Your car isn’t listed but it’s an ever-growing problem with more cars than they’ll admit being affected. Just do a search for excessive oil consumption + Yaris and you’ll find you’re not at all alone in this.
Luckily you at least got some good mileage out of the car, far as I know there isn’t a whole lot to do other than replacing all the rings which will cost nearly as much as a rebuild.

[Shaun Flichel]

[quote=”Nodak81″ post=174902]Firstly of course verify that there’s no leak anywhere. Now with that said, this is a common problem with Toyotas over the last few years. It’s more than likely eating all of it due to bad rings and/or poor engine design. Always possible this isn’t your issue but I personally know 3 people dealing with a Toyota eating oil like candy so it’s the first thing that jumps into my mind.

Check this site to see what I mean. Your car isn’t listed but it’s an ever-growing problem with more cars than they’ll admit being affected. Just do a search for excessive oil consumption + Yaris and you’ll find you’re not at all alone in this.
Luckily you at least got some good mileage out of the car, far as I know there isn’t a whole lot to do other than a rebuild or ditch the car.[/quote]

Instead of jumping the gun and scaring him. Maybe check the above post first. If it’s burning it like that you would see it. Crawl underneath. See if there is traces or drench in oil

[Frank Heiser]

[quote=”shaun” post=174904]Instead of jumping the gun and scaring him. Maybe check the above post first. If it’s burning it like that you would see it. Crawl underneath. See if there is traces or drench in oil[/quote]

Firstly, the very first thing I said was to verify no leaks….
Secondly, you don’t see it burning. That’s why it sneaks up on people and they run the sump dry. No smoke, no smell, nothing but a dry dipstick as evidence.

[Shaun Flichel]

Then the engines shot. Work with him. Not against him. Oil pressure unit. Once the engine is off, you may see no visual leaks right away

[Mike]

As has been said, check for leaks. If you are spewing that much oil in such a short time, leaks shouldn’t be hard to spot.

If leaks don’t seem to be your issue, do a compression test.

[Dave Tidman]

Assuming no leaks, you may also want to check your PCV valve for proper operation.

[Caleb Stovall]

Compression Test. Wet and Dry.

[Reginald]

Thank you all for your replies. I might have been wrong about no leaks before – I’m still not positive about it yet, but I think the oil pan gasket may be leaking. After I added those 4 quarts of oil, later that night, there was a decent-sized dark puddle that suddenly appeared under the front of the car, right next to the oil pan. It was not there when the car was parked in that spot a few hours earlier. I looked around under the car for over an hour – everything was dry except for around the oil pan drain plug and gasket, which weren’t dripping or anything, but they looked “recently” wet. The oil level has remained the same, though, and it hasn’t happened since that night.

Some of you might be on to something about those piston rings being stuck and burning oil. I’ve asked a few mechanics who said the same thing about mid-to-late 2000’s Toyotas and that our Yaris may be another victim. I’m going to keep my eye on it for a while longer (now the right headlight has suddenly gone dim for some reason….)

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