Oil Consumption...Now what

[Blogson]

The situation does sound fishy. If you had a leak there should be external evidence, including oil on the floor of your garage or wherever you park your vehicle. Unless there is some externally visible evidence the most likely problem is internal, as others have said. And they want to charge you $500 unless they find a leak? Does that mean that if the problem is that the engine is burning oil excessively and there is no external leak they will charge you that amount?? Appears absurd, at least with the situation as it has been described as of now.

[JuneBug]

The only kind of "leak" I can think of is if oil is "leaking" past the rings and burning up. But a compression test and/or leakdown test should prove that without tearing the engine down.

[AndreLaplume]

if you search on oil consumption you will many others with this problem. Toyota actually says up to a qt is normal to burn...yea right. They have provided many with cases of oil. Some have had this tear down.

The tsb references pistons. Leak can be an ambiguous term. The tech said he thinks it sort of being burned thru the engine somehow. Is that bad for the engine...I dont know. If it can be fixed under warranty, will more harm than good be done...I don't know.

My warranty is for about 6 more months or 8K. He said if they tear down the engine and repair, the warranty on their work would run longer than that. I assume toyota wants evedence of the issue to pay the bill. I assume the dealer wants to be guaranteed to get paid to do the tear down and reassemble..in case toyota does not come thru. I guess the fear could be some nut drains the oil to to force an unneeded repair for some sort of vendetta....sounds crazy but maybe there are those kinds out there. All I know is the dealer said it lost 1.3 qt in 1265 miles ... it went somewhere...

Check the TSB.

I am looking for advise based on the assumption my car has the issue descibed there in. If its something else I'd think it would be covered...I'd do another consumption test if they asked...

[AndreLaplume]

Info on possible problem...replace piston and piston ring...? I'd assume they checked my VIN etc to see if it was produced before the new design...I am going to try to verify this...The repair procedure is scary to me...but I am no mechanic...what do you all think? Here is a link to the ysb...

Introduction: Some 2006 – 2011 model year vehicles equipped with the 2AZ-FE engine may exhibit engine oil consumption. The piston assembly has been changed to minimize oil consumption. Use the following repair procedure to address this condition.

APPLICABLE WARRANTY
• This repair is covered under the Toyota Powertrain Warranty. This warranty is in effect for 60 months or 60,000 miles, whichever occurs first, from the vehicle’s in-service date.

Download: http://www.rav4world.com/tsb/2011/T-SB-0094-11.pdf
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[friendly_jacek]

I'm not sure what your question is. You should consider yourself lucky Toyota admitted the problem and is willing to fix it without much fight or hassle. The choice you have is to do nothing and live that that huge consumption or get it fixed.

If you had under 60,000 miles, it would be done at no cost under warranty. You are over that, so technically that TSB doesn't apply anymore. You might want to read fine print of your extended warranty to see if that $500 fee is customary. I never had extended warranties and don't know.

[Dr. Dyno]

I've had a fair amount of experience with rebuilding engines and understand pistons, piston rings, valve guides and valve seals. But none of that matters. All you care is they fix it under your platinum plus warranty, whatever it takes.

The question I'd ask them is what kind of a leak could it have that isn't Toyota's fault and therefore is their responsibility, not yours.

[fnixrebrn]

I had the oil consumption test and fix done a couple of months ago. I have the same engine and year as you.

I have the extended warranty and had 64k miles.

After they confirmed that my car was burning oil they asked if they could tear down the engine to make sure that there was nothing wrong and that I wasn't negligent on the oil changes (had all my oil changes down at the dealership). I said yes... they confirmed everything was fine and Toyota authorized the fix.

The invoice showed that they charged the pistons and rings. Cost ~3k for the whole fix with the labor and parts. I didn't pay anything.
No way did they say they were going to look for a "leak."

Hopefully this helps.

[AndreLaplume]

Thank fnixrebrn, I feel a little better. Did they confirm it was burning oil simply based on teh consumption test?

I am thankfull I have the warranty and they will fix it. I am not so thankfull that they sort of know about the issue and if my car was only burning 1.1 qt per 1200K miles it would NOT be considered a problem. My concerns have been:

1) Can they prove it burning oil or leaking...whatever you wish to call it.
2) Will everything go back together ok so I need not worry about some calamity occuring and leaving my wofe stranded somewhere.

[vanib]

FYI, this is the TSB that the dealer should be looking at:
http://www.rav4world.com/forums/106-...11-2011-a.html

[AndreLaplume]

yes, I believe thats the same one I referenced above....thanks!