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RAV is drinking oil!

87K views 155 replies 58 participants last post by  Hans Moleman 
#1 ·
My RAV4 seems to be using up oil and there are no signs of where its going.

I noticed it was on the bottom dot on the dipstick a couple of weeks ago. I added more oil (almost 1 Litre) till it was just under the full mark.

Now its back down to below the half way mark (in 2 weeks). This has been going on for a while.

So I look in the owners manual and it states that its normal for 1 Litre of oil consumption per 1000 Kilometers. Thats ridiculous! That would mean that it would be normal to add 8 Litres of oil between oil changes (at 8000K intervals).

Anyone else having this problem? There's no sign of leakage anywhere. I've never had a vehicle that has done this before.
 
#27 ·
seadragon said:
There's obviously something wrong with the engine, but Toyota considers up to 1 Liter per 1,000 Kms acceptable (1 qt. per 600 miles). It's right in the manual on page 236. They even have a topic on oil consumption in the manual.
I agree there is something wrong and am in the same boat. After reading the blurb about consumption in the owner's manual, I now understand why it's in there.

My '07 I4 started eating oil at around 80K and is currently at 100K. Rate had been about 3/4 quart every 1,200 miles and is now down to 1/2 quart. Drop is due to using STP oil treatment, but not sure if it is the cleaning or increase in viscosity.

The dealership boroscoped the cylinders and they were clean. Also no leak down from valves after sitting overnight. So was told there is nothing they can do because it is an "acceptable" consumption.

Guess it's time to try and talk the dealership into giving me some free oil!!
 
#32 ·
seadragon said:
Just a quick update...

I just did an oil consumption test over the last few months and the results were 1L used per 3,200 Km (1 qt. per 1,988 Miles).

Anyone else's RAV thirsty for oil?
My 2006 Rav4 4 Cyl. drinks engine oil from max dipstick to min dipstick every 2,000km driving. This is the first drinking vehicle out of my 5 vehicles I've driven.

This is very annoying problem with other problems I have;
- Steering shaft noise problem
- Sudden acceleration delay problem.
- Transmission shock when engine is cold, backward to forward.

I am still happy because I don't have CTS death pedal. :roll:
However, I believe I'll hesitate to buy any future Toyota vehicle.
 
#33 ·
sean20202020 said:
My 2006 Rav4 4 Cyl. drinks engine oil from max dipstick to min dipstick every 2,000km driving. This is the first drinking vehicle out of my 5 vehicles I've driven.

This is very annoying problem with other problems I have;
- Steering shaft noise problem
- Sudden acceleration delay problem.
- Transmission shock when engine is cold, backward to forward.

I am still happy because I don't have CTS death pedal. :roll:
However, I believe I'll hesitate to buy any future Toyota vehicle.
Wow, your RAV is thirstier than mine. I'm still doing a consumption test with the dealer. Who knows what if anything they will do. Problem is, my RAV now has almost 90,000 km on it now. But I have the 7/160 ECP warranty.

I also have all of the other annoying problems you listed. The steering shaft one was fixed however via the TSB that is out on it. The cold transmission bang is downright scary if you're not ready for it. And the acceleration simply sucks, even for a 4 cyl. engine.

I also have numerous and very annoying squeaks and rattles from all over the place, sunroof, dash, rear seat, back door etc. You should hear this thing in the morning driving to work. It sounds like a bucket of bolts rolling along. Squeaks and rattles are not covered under ECP warranty either.

For a Japan built vehicle, I am very disappointed with this RAV. My wife still likes it, but I have no love for it and will not be shedding any tears when I trade it in for a most likely different brand of vehicle. Hopefully, that will be within this year.
 
#34 ·
Guess I'm in the minority here. I love my 08 4cyl. Are the 08s that much different than the 06s? No squeaks and rattles, no steering shaft problems, sometimes does clunk going from reverse to drive, but not very alarming and only when the engine is cold, absolutely zero oil consumption, good mileage per gallon. Luckily the 08s are not included in the accelerator recall and I've never had any problem with mine. Tremendous acceleration and fun to drive. Guess I'm just a lucky guy!
 
#37 ·
seadragon said:
Problem is, my RAV now has almost 90,000 km on it now. But I have the 7/160 ECP warranty.
Since our situations seem to be similar, was curious as to what your oil change routine has been so far. How many miles between?, what type of oil?, any additives?, etc.....

Until my problem arose, dealership was doing changes every 5,000 miles and using standard 5W-20 oil. I now change my own at 3,000 mile intervals and use 5W-20 synthetic blend. Also am adding 1/2 bottle of STP after adding new oil during a change. I made these changes based on the recommendations of a mechanic. Will see how it goes.....
 
#38 ·
Crowned said:
Since our situations seem to be similar, was curious as to what your oil change routine has been so far. How many miles between?, what type of oil?, any additives?, etc.....

Until my problem arose, dealership was doing changes every 5,000 miles and using standard 5W-20 oil. I now change my own at 3,000 mile intervals and use 5W-20 synthetic blend. Also am adding 1/2 bottle of STP after adding new oil during a change. I made these changes based on the recommendations of a mechanic. Will see how it goes.....
My RAV has gone to the dealer since new every 8,000 kms (5,000 miles) for it's regular scheduled service. I've done everything by the book. They've always used the bulk 5W20 oil. They have never recommended anything different. One thing I have noticed however, is that EVERY time the dealer does an oil change, they overfill it by a bit. Usually, the oil is about 1/4" over the full mark. I mentioned it to them a few times, even bringing it back to have some drained. But at this point, I don't care anymore. The oil goes down fast enough on its own. Who knows, this overfill practice may have caused this whole headache from the start. Damned annoying.

The strange thing is that there are no visible signs whatsoever as to where the oil is going. No leaks, no blue smoke out of the exhaust, nothing. I've pretty much resigned myself to keeping a couple of gallons of oil in my garage and dumping it in when it gets low. I've never had to do this on any previous vehicle I've owned.
 
#39 ·
seadragon said:
I've pretty much resigned myself to keeping a couple of gallons of oil in my garage and dumping it in when it gets low. I've never had to do this on any previous vehicle I've owned.
I used to go to Toyota dealer to change oil. but becasue I see engine drinking oil I decided to change myself using 5W20 full synthetic.
Funny thing is I have to top up 1 liter per every 2,000 ~3,000km driving. so when I drove 10,000km, I already topped up 3 times (3 liters) which is almost the whole amount of the engine oil. WTH. :shock:

I'm wondering if I can just change oil filter without drain oil.
because I added 3~4 liters oil per 10,000km, my synthetic oil never get dark. omg. :evil:
 
#40 ·
seadragon said:
The strange thing is that there are no visible signs whatsoever as to where the oil is going. No leaks, no blue smoke out of the exhaust, nothing. I've pretty much resigned myself to keeping a couple of gallons of oil in my garage and dumping it in when it gets low. I've never had to do this on any previous vehicle I've owned.
Exactly the same here....

I also had the 100,000 mile extended warranty which I just recently rolled past. Big reason I went with this was that it included every fourth oil change for free and "free" tires for life, which is a subject for a whole other thread.

Not sure yet if I want to push this further up the Toyota foodchain, but am gathering info all the same. Wonder if it would be best to wait until the gas pedal dust settles, or hit 'em while they're down.
 
#43 ·
Mine is drinking oil as well. 68,000 miles on the Rav4. Oil Light came on when I turned a corner, stopped the car and checked the dip stick. Bone dry.

Toyota tech's from my dealership came and inspected the car in the parking lot and found filter and drain plug to be secure. Refilled engine with 2.5 quarts (it was down 2.5 quarts since my last oil change 4,000 miles ago), later performed free oil change at the dealership. Due in 500 miles for oil consumption analysis.

Lesson learned. Check your oil often. However, I am concerned as to the burn off of the oil. Engine gum up?, Oxygen sensor?, Spark Plugs? Other issues down the road.

There seems to be only a dozen or so people with this I4 Oil consumption issue. It woud be interesting to see if anyone else has any other experiences.
 
#44 ·
pologuy said:
Mine is drinking oil as well. 68,000 miles on the RAV4. Oil Light came on when I turned a corner, stopped the car and checked the dip stick. Bone dry.

Toyota tech's from my dealership came and inspected the car in the parking lot and found filter and drain plug to be secure. Refilled engine with 2.5 quarts (it was down 2.5 quarts since my last oil change 4,000 miles ago), later performed free oil change at the dealership. Due in 500 miles for oil consumption analysis.

Lesson learned. Check your oil often. However, I am concerned as to the burn off of the oil. Engine gum up?, Oxygen sensor?, Spark Plugs? Other issues down the road.
Wow pologuy, how you found out about the consumption problem is exactly how I found out as well. Mine was also around 2.5 quarts low. Are you experiencing any pinging?

Not sure about your concerns, but I changed my plugs at 100k, and they were pretty clean.

So far the switch to 5w-30 is working well. I'll report back just prior to the next oil change on whether there was any consumption.
 
#45 ·
Hey Crowned,

Thank you for the quick response. I have not had any pinging yet. How long has yours been an oil burner (miles?).

Many cars burn oil and it is not necessarily a death march, just curious to see what to expect for future reliability. I really like the RAV4 dispite its few quirks. Although I must say burning oil at 68,000 miles is a bit frustrating. I am also out of warranty.

Keep me up to date on any developments. I have a feeling there will be a lot more posts once more of the I4's hit 60K & 80K milestones.
 
#46 ·
Crowned said:
Just wanted to give an update. My engine also started pinging shortly after the consumption problem started. It was happening while at low rpm and slight throttle. Similar to the problem in this thread-

http://RAV4World.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16903

I switched from 5w-20 syn blend to 5w-30 high mileage oil around 1k miles ago.
Pinging is gone and so far no oil consumption.
Would almost seem that there is a seal issue as if high mileage solve the consumption. From what little I know, HM oil just has a bunch of conditioners to sweal seals. I would be bent if I had to use HM oil in a trucklette with only 52K on the clock.

I have an I4 and noticed its starting to consume oil. I change it out every 4700 miles and its run nothing by syn its entire life with premium (Mobil1) or OEM filters. My wife drives it so its driven sanely at human speeds, but most of her commute is mostly highway.

No symptoms either. No blue smoke, no fouled plugs. No apparent leaks yes missing oil....puzzling.
 
#49 ·
seadragon said:
The kicker is that Toyota says that oil consumption up to a rate of 1 qt per 600 miles is considered acceptable! It's right in the owners manual. Absolutely ridiculous!
Yup its the black and white to save their butts in the event of a poorly running engine. I guess they did learn their lesson with the sludge issues: Put it in the manual so that your dealer can point and say "its right here".

This is most likely my last Toyota. I have a 91 MR2 (Garage Queen) that's solid. I had an 01 Maxima (70K) and an 02 Focus. Yes Ford, and the mileage was 88K when we gave it to her parents. Short of rodent damage there hasnt been an issue with the Focus. And neither had issues like this 07 Toyota. Kinda disappointing

Oh what a feeling to drive....Toyota....NOT.
 
#50 ·
pologuy said:
Hey Crowned,

Thank you for the quick response. I have not had any pinging yet. How long has yours been an oil burner (miles?).

Many cars burn oil and it is not necessarily a death march, just curious to see what to expect for future reliability. I really like the RAV4 dispite its few quirks. Although I must say burning oil at 68,000 miles is a bit frustrating. I am also out of warranty.

Keep me up to date on any developments. I have a feeling there will be a lot more posts once more of the I4's hit 60K & 80K milestones.
Mine has been burning oil for 40k now. Over that time I have used various additives, changed out the PCV valve, and ran Seafoam for about 500 miles. None of what I tried improved the consumption more than slightly.

I agree that we will be seeing more posts down the road.

At this point I've conceded on taking this further with Toyota. I went the next step up above the dealership, and that resulted in unanswered emails......
 
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