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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.
 
#52 ·
oil used

I wonder how many of these are the 2.4 nad the 2.5. my 06 with the 2.4 use about a quart every 5000 mile when I change it. with 82000 seems normal to me.I would think about changing the weight to 5/30. I use the synthetic blend and have since it was new. I have used all syn once and it used more oil. belive it or not i think just using a differnt oil filter caused it to use more oil. Fram was horrible and and the $$ mobile one not much better..how they can say 1quart for every 600 miles. hell that would be what 8 quarts for 5000 miles. wow that was a cya move on ther part for sure.
 
#53 ·
Has any of the testing included a compression test? It might be possible that a head gasket has developed a small leak between an oil passage and a cylinder. That might account for the pinging as well as the oil consumption. The oil "leak" would never be seen and the amount of oil drawn into the cylinder on each intake cycle would be too small to produce noticeable smoke but the loss of oil would be steady and directly related to the amount of time the engine is run.

Another area to consider might be valve guide seals, though leakage of oil there usually produces blue smoke on start-up. The older Chrysler minivans with the Mitsubishi 3.0 V6 were notorious for this, but you could drive them with this condition for a long time.


Just some thoughts....the level of oil consumption you folks are experiencing just seems too high.
 
#54 ·
Re: oil used

ravrunner said:
..how they can say 1quart for every 600 miles. hell that would be what 8 quarts for 5000 miles.
Hey, look on the bright side - that's 2400 mpg! :roll:
 
#55 ·
Colonel said:
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.
I've a solution for you. Quit using Mobil 1. Mobil 1 has a bad reputation of oil consumption in some engines. Years ago my friend lost an engine thanks to mobil 1. He started trip full, drove 2000 miles at high speed, and then engine quit with lack of oil. He made a mistake of not checking oil every fueling.

HM oils is not just conditioners, its also esters. Only oil type that helped consumption in Saturns with gummed ring problems.
 
#56 ·
friendly_jacek said:
I've a solution for you. Quit using Mobil 1. Mobil 1 has a bad reputation of oil consumption in some engines. Years ago my friend lost an engine thanks to mobil 1. He started trip full, drove 2000 miles at high speed, and then engine quit with lack of oil. He made a mistake of not checking oil every fueling.

HM oils is not just conditioners, its also esters. Only oil type that helped consumption in Saturns with gummed ring problems.
I've never heard this about Mobil 1 oils, in my my experience of over half a million hard miles in several different vehicles, have never experienced this either. Can you provide more info on who says this? Thanks.
 
#57 ·
A friend of mine warned me about oil consumption issues with the I4 engine, he spent a lot of time researching on the Camry or some other Toyota forum and the general consensus he said he found was that Toyota, in an attempt to get better gas mileage numbers, installed piston rings with less tension. Now this doesn't make sense at all to me but that's what he found. Just thought I would mention this to see if anyone has heard this theory.
 
#58 ·
FWIW, my 2007 2.4 I4 lost about 1 quart in the first 3,000 miles; after that, no loss/consumption. My new 2010 2.5 I4 hasn't used a drop in 3,500 miles. Of course, the manuals and the service managers all say using a quart or so between changes is OK. That is unacceptable. We're talking world-class normally aspirated engines here, not early 1950's Low Priced Three flatheads.
 
#60 ·
Wife's 07 I4 drinks, too.

Was lurking around and saw this thread. Wife's 07 I4 has same issue - drinking oil. About 2 months ago, she told me 'Check Engine' light was on and car was due for oil change. Checked dipstick and thought I was smearing...but 4x? Started on oil change and was sorely disappointed that about 1-1.5qt drained out. Promptly refilled.

As with others, no other symptoms: no blue smoke, no puddle in garage, mostly highway miles, no towing, dealer serviced, etc. Otherwise car runs fine.

Did not have oil drinking issue with my 01 Tacoma PreRunner (which I loved but traded away for due to 2nd kid - sigh).
 
#71 ·
Was lurking around and saw this thread. Wife's 07 I4 has same issue - drinking oil. About 2 months ago, she told me 'Check Engine' light was on and car was due for oil change. Checked dipstick and thought I was smearing...but 4x? Started on oil change and was sorely disappointed that about 1-1.5qt drained out. Promptly refilled.

As with others, no other symptoms: no blue smoke, no puddle in garage, mostly highway miles, no towing, dealer serviced, etc. Otherwise car runs fine.

Did not have oil drinking issue with my 01 Tacoma PreRunner (which I loved but traded away for due to 2nd kid - sigh).
Same here on her 06 with 53K...... Down over 2 QTs when Maintenance light came on. Deciding whether to replace with another RAV or go elsewhere. EVERY brand has a low mileage per used QT spec. I bought the RAV use and was looking at new but with this issue I am not sure I want to pay the premium for new one. May just keep the 06 and put a Qt in every month. Cheaper than buying new.

My v6 Tacoma is very tight, No oil use I can tell yet with 25K,
 
#61 ·
rav4two said:
friendly_jacek said:
I've a solution for you. Quit using Mobil 1. Mobil 1 has a bad reputation of oil consumption in some engines. Years ago my friend lost an engine thanks to mobil 1. He started trip full, drove 2000 miles at high speed, and then engine quit with lack of oil. He made a mistake of not checking oil every fueling.

HM oils is not just conditioners, its also esters. Only oil type that helped consumption in Saturns with gummed ring problems.
I've never heard this about Mobil 1 oils, in my my experience of over half a million hard miles in several different vehicles, have never experienced this either. Can you provide more info on who says this? Thanks.
I'm not saying Mobil 1 will start oil consumption, but will make it much worse when consumption is a problem. It's about the worst oil choice for engine consuming oil.
The high mileage oils and diesel oils are the best choice to slow oil consumption. Google for examples if you don't believe me.
 
#62 ·
Crowned said:
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.
Ok, so I am now at 3k since the last oil change. The pinging has not returned, and engine oil level was down about 3/4 of a quart. So the oil switch significantly improved consumption. IMO not too shabby and will stick with using 5w-30 HM.
 
#63 ·
Update on Oil Consumption

Just wanted to give everyone an update on oil consumption since my last oil change.

At the first 500 mile oil level check, no oil lost. At 1,200 miles (I was scheduled to go in for a 1,500 mile oil level check) I noticed the oil was low, brought it to the dealer who checked it and stated it was 1.2 quarts low.

They noticed that the PCV valve was stuck and replaced it. The PCV may not be related to the oil consumption but they noticed it was stuck. Scheduled to go in 500 miles from now to check oil level.

I have about 70,000 miles on the car.
 
#64 ·
Just checked the oil in our '06. Since we bought it we've done a little over 3000km, and the oil has dropped to exactly halfway between the two dots on the dipstick. The car has done 63,000km in total. The car is going back to the dealer next week for some other warranty items, so I'll bring it up with them.

VERY disappointing, considering we had the same problem with our '97 Rav. The Toyota dealer only fixed the problem on our '97 (replaced engine) when their consumption test showed it was drinking more than 1lt per 1000km, otherwise they wouldn't have done anything. When I contacted Toyota Australia, they said anything less than 1lt per 5000km was acceptable.

Anyway, I think this will be the last Toyota I buy. Toyota doesn't seem to have lost any of their arrogance, but their supposed Japanese quality and reliability has gone.
 
#65 ·
Oil Consumption

I am curious to see if anyone has had any fixes from Toyota that has slowed or stopped the consumption besides changing oil blends.

I read the posts about Mobil 1. I use the standard Mobil 5W-20



I am thinking we will eventually want a poll on I4 2.4 Liter Oil Consumption.
 
#66 ·
friendly_jacek said:
I've a solution for you. Quit using Mobil 1. Mobil 1 has a bad reputation of oil consumption in some engines. Years ago my friend lost an engine thanks to mobil 1. He started trip full, drove 2000 miles at high speed, and then engine quit with lack of oil. He made a mistake of not checking oil every fueling.

HM oils is not just conditioners, its also esters. Only oil type that helped consumption in Saturns with gummed ring problems.
I have been using Penz Plat last three oil changes with K&N Filter. No difference in consumption.

I currently have Castrol Edge in there and its due for a check today to see consumption.
 
#67 ·
Oil Consumption Update

Update on Oil Consumption.

Last check at dealer for Oil Consumption was at 750 miles. The oil was down 1/2 quart. The dealer suggested I call the Toyota Customer Experience Line and start a case. It is on record with Toyota and they will follow up within 1-3 business days.

I really like the RAV4. I purchased it above all because of the Toyota name.

Anyone have any luck? Any new reports of fixes?
 
#70 ·
Anyone have any luck? Any new reports of fixes?
Hey pologuy, no luck here. Just recently had a long discussion about this issue with the new service manager at the dealer where I purchased. This is what I got- :shrug:. I'm 500 miles into trying something different and if results show improvement,will post them after the next oil change.

So far our new 2011 I4 (2.5L) does not appear to have used a drop of oil. With about 2500 miles on it so far, it's still just slightly (1/8") above the full line. Hope that behavior holds.
Typically the consumption problem has been happening further down the road. Mine started around 80k.
 
#68 ·
Took our I4 in for a consumption test. In 2000 km, the dealer claims it only drank 200 ml. The dipstick was halway between empty and full, which is more like half a litre.

Anyway, they claim that it's within Toyota's bullsh!t guidelines, so they ren't going to do anything about it. :roll:

I asked what sort of oil they used - Castrol Magnatec 10w40.

I'm assuming they are using this thicker blend to help consumption?
 
#72 ·
My 06 RAV4 4cyl is doing this same thing. No leaks anywhere, no white smoke. I do notice decreased fuel economy... the engine oil must be getting burned inside...


Just added a 2 litres of 5W30 in there before my next oil change... the dipstick wasn't even registering anything. What the hell is wrong with these rav4 engines!? How is it normal to burn 1L of oil every 1000 KM...
 
#74 ·
My owner's manual says that oil consumption is OK until it gets to more than 1 quart for each 300 miles. In my book any engine actually would be badly worn long before it gets to that figure. That sounds like a Toyota cop-out especially if it's intended to avoid warranty coverage on the engine. The last car I had which used that much oil was a Mazda RX-2 (Wankel rotary engine), and I quickly got rid of that. None of our Honda CR-Vs used any oil, no matter how many miles they had on them

On the other hand, when I had my RAV4 in for service I spoke with a guy who also had his in - said he had 246,000 miles on it and it didn't use any oil.
 
#75 ·
Intercoms, if you were burning that much oil, there would have to be some evidence of it, like blue smoke on startup or when decelerating from higher engine RPMs. These would be the most likely conditions that indicate the problem to cause that level of oil loss.
 
#76 · (Edited)
From what I researched the 2.4 liter engines had some changes made to them to help oil consumption, possibly in 2008/2009. The same 2.4 liter was used n Scion XB's. We bought 4 of them (2008's, and all of them appear to use some oil. I may try and do our own oil consumption test on all four of the xb's.

I currently have not seen any oil used on my 2.5 in my Rav. I how ever will be checking it more often.
 
#77 ·
I didn't read through all the pages on the thread, but wanted to throw in that a faulty PCV valve can lead to oil consumption. Blue smoke does not always show up when the oil is being consumed that way. Then the obvious bad rings, cracked heads, etc. Those could lead to mild loss with less than obvious symptoms. My suggestion is always to not go very long without changing your oil. The longer you go the more chance of break down and other associated problems regardless of the promises made by oil manufacturers.
 
#78 ·
Looks like new Hondas are having oil consumption problems. A local tv station is investigating and helping a guy complain to Honda.

New Honda van uses a quart of oil every 1,800 miles, Strongsville man fights for replacement

Does this sound familiar?

American Honda sent Lynch a final letter and told him; "the vehicle is operating as designed, and is within specifications." American Honda refused to replace the van.

Lynch contacted 5 On Your Side, and the NewsChannel5 Troubleshooter unit contacted American Honda offices in California. Honda issued the following statement:
"Honda strives to provide a satisfying vehicle ownership experience to its customers and takes all customer concerns seriously."

"In this case, multiple evaluations by Honda have shown that there are no defects in the vehicle and that it does not currently require any repairs."
"We are sorry for any inconvenience that the vehicle’s owner has experienced."


Tom
 
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