Help my 2007 RAV4 is burning oil :(

Anthonyc114 · Sep 30, 2020

Hi all,

I'm sure this has been brought up a ton of times. So right before the lock down in March, I purchased a 2007 Toyota rav4 with 68,000 miles on it. The Rav4 drove beautifully. I had it parked up for several months doing little upgrades (radio, backup camera, nerf bars, etc)

Fast forward a few months to September, I have not put 2200 miles on the truck and decided to take it in for an oil change being fully aware of the oil consumption issue.... and guess what? I was low 2 quarts of oil which means I am burning about 1 quart every 1100 miles or so. This isn't THAT bad but it's bothering me knowing that the problem is there. My wife will be the main person driving this vehicle and I'd hate to blow the motor due to lack of oil.

I've been looking online at repair kits and assuming this is what I need to fix the issue I found this on Ebay for around $300 (Engine Rebuild Overhaul Kit for 2007 2008 Toyota 2.4L 2AZFE Highlander RAV4 | eBay). A local mechanic said it would cost around $1500 for just the labor so I figured about $2000 but I would be worried about any issues afterwards. I figured the dealer would charge maybe around $3000 with parts and labor?

As I mentioned everything on the vehicle is perfect, with pretty low miles I would hate to have to eventually junk the car so I am considering either A) Having the engine rebuilt with the new pistons or B) Swapping for a different motor.

My question is, could you guys recommend any other solutions? Is the kit I mentioned above similar to the kit Toyota was installing during the warranty/recall? (I know it's not OEM).. and is there a different motor I can have installed that doesn't have this oil burn issue without having the modify anything?

I would appreciate any suggestions or pointers you can give. Thanks in advance!

DL175 · Sep 30, 2020

Rebuilding with the improved rings and piston ensures the problem is fixed. Putting a used engine would not guarantee you got one that is not burning oil unless you know it had been rebuilt by Toyota.

As for this engine rebuild kit on Ebay only those that have installed this kit would be able to tell if it works as well as the Toyota parts. This kit does contain additional parts which is good value. I suggest contacting the seller or Enginetech about this kit for more information. Also you can call some engine rebuilders to see what they use to rebuild their engines.

Rav-O-Matic · Oct 1, 2020

Seafoam. Put half a can into the engine oil 500 miles before an oil change. I am pretty sure you will see some improvement. I really don’t understand why people insisting it won’t work without even trying. It is cheap and it works for me (for getting rid the cam gear noise on my v6)

Izzy1 · Oct 1, 2020

Ditto on the Seafoam. Used it a few months back and it bumped my mileage between adding a quart of oil from every 6-700 miles to 1300 miles. Will be adding it again soon. Trouble is with covid restrictions it makes it tough to get miles on the car.

nld09 · Oct 6, 2020

That is a bummer. Mine is also 2007 i4 (2AZ-FE) with 194k right now and it's burning a quart every 800 miles. It has been burning oil since about 64k. Here is a few things you might want to replace on your rav4.

-The small T-Hose (locate above the starter). It's plastic and will fail/leak soon or later. I replaced with a metal one like $8
-Head cover gasket (not that hard at all to replace).. Like ~ $15 at Advance Auto Part. Once the original one failed/leaked, oil would get into spark plug and damage the coil.

-Also watch out for the water pump for leaking. Mine failed (leaked) pretty early like around 65k

Other than that, just add oil weekly/biweekly etc and keep going. I think it's cheaper to add oil than fix it.

RTexasF · Oct 6, 2020

It is cheap and it works for me (for getting rid the cam gear noise on my v6)

That's a far cry from a four cylinder with defective rings & pistons. Sea Foam may help clear some carbon from the 4 banger but carbon isn't the problem. Rings & pistons are the problem. I grant you that it might improve things slightly but it's not a fix.

Printer · Oct 6, 2020

Anthonyc114 said:
Hi all,

I'm sure this has been brought up a ton of times. So right before the lock down in March, I purchased a 2007 Toyota rav4 with 68,000 miles on it. The Rav4 drove beautifully. I had it parked up for several months doing little upgrades (radio, backup camera, nerf bars, etc)

Fast forward a few months to September, I have not put 2200 miles on the truck and decided to take it in for an oil change being fully aware of the oil consumption issue.... and guess what? I was low 2 quarts of oil which means I am burning about 1 quart every 1100 miles or so. This isn't THAT bad but it's bothering me knowing that the problem is there. My wife will be the main person driving this vehicle and I'd hate to blow the motor due to lack of oil.

I've been looking online at repair kits and assuming this is what I need to fix the issue I found this on Ebay for around $300 (Engine Rebuild Overhaul Kit for 2007 2008 Toyota 2.4L 2AZFE Highlander RAV4 | eBay). A local mechanic said it would cost around $1500 for just the labor so I figured about $2000 but I would be worried about any issues afterwards. I figured the dealer would charge maybe around $3000 with parts and labor?

As I mentioned everything on the vehicle is perfect, with pretty low miles I would hate to have to eventually junk the car so I am considering either A) Having the engine rebuilt with the new pistons or B) Swapping for a different motor.

My question is, could you guys recommend any other solutions? Is the kit I mentioned above similar to the kit Toyota was installing during the warranty/recall? (I know it's not OEM).. and is there a different motor I can have installed that doesn't have this oil burn issue without having the modify anything?

I would appreciate any suggestions or pointers you can give. Thanks in advance!

Anthony,
I'm sorry to hear about the oil burning. I bought a new 2007 Rav4 and it now has 145,000 miles. BUT-in 2014 my car was also losing quite a bit of oil. There was no leak. My Toyota mechanic recommended we take a planned 1200 mile road trip and re-check oil when we returned. Sure enough the oil seemed to be evaporating. I had an extended warranty that was running out in one month. The mechanic had a hunch and said he had to tear down the engine to get to "the pistons and balance shaft." Then rebuild the engine. It did the trick but I wondered about his "hunch." Based on all the complaints, there should have been a recall! If the mechanic had been wrong, we would have had to pay $500 to rebuild the engine without having resolved the problem so we got lucky thanks to our warranty coverage. In 2014 it cost $3,100 to fix it. Good luck.

Rav-O-Matic · Oct 8, 2020

RTexasF said:
That's a far cry from a four cylinder with defective rings & pistons. Sea Foam may help clear some carbon from the 4 banger but carbon isn't the problem. Rings & pistons are the problem. I grant you that it might improve things slightly but it's not a fix.

On this engine model, the oil burning is mostly due to the tiny undersized oil drain holes on the pistons getting clogged with sludge and gunks (carbon) at higher mileage. That and stuck oil control rings filled with carbon. New rings and pistons WILL fix the oil burning issue only because brand new rings and pistons are free of sludge and gunks that clogging the oil drain back holes.

Just give seafoam a try before insisting it doesn’t work...

Sludge and gunk (carbon) are definitely the problems.

Anthonyc114 · Oct 15, 2020

nld09 said:
That is a bummer. Mine is also 2007 i4 (2AZ-FE) with 194k right now and it's burning a quart every 800 miles. It has been burning oil since about 64k. Here is a few things you might want to replace on your rav4.

-The small T-Hose (locate above the starter). It's plastic and will fail/leak soon or later. I replaced with a metal one like $8
-Head cover gasket (not that hard at all to replace).. Like ~ $15 at Advance Auto Part. Once the original one failed/leaked, oil would get into spark plug and damage the coil.

-Also watch out for the water pump for leaking. Mine failed (leaked) pretty early like around 65k

Other than that, just add oil weekly/biweekly etc and keep going. I think it's cheaper to add oil than fix it.

Makes sense! Mine is around 68k right now.... Im hoping I can make it to 194k miles! If so then I would feel like I got my moneys worth

Did it get progressively worse or has it always burnt a quart every 800 miles? I will definitely do as you suggested! Thanks again

Anthonyc114 · Oct 15, 2020

Thank you to everyone for the replies! I will definitely give the Seafoam a shot as I don't think it would hurt anything.

As far as having it repaired (if I do eventually have to go that route), should I trust our local neighborhood mechanic to do the job or is special machinery needed?

Also, if I find a used engine, is there a way to find out if the rings and pistons were changed on them by vin number or something?

Thank you again.

Foryota · Oct 15, 2020

Anthonyc114 said:
Thank you to everyone for the replies! I will definitely give the Seafoam a shot as I don't think it would hurt anything.

As far as having it repaired (if I do eventually have to go that route), should I trust our local neighborhood mechanic to do the job or is special machinery needed?

Also, if I find a used engine, is there a way to find out if the rings and pistons were changed on them by vin number or something?

Thank you again.

Out of order of asking but here we go. A used engine will likely not have a VIN attached to it (at least not that you can usually see) so would likely be a total shot in the dark. It might be a burner, it might have been fixed, or it might be one that hasn’t had any ring trouble and never will, but you have no way of knowing.

Your local garage could pull the engine, but unless they are experienced with full short block rebuilds, it will likely get contracted out to a machine shop (this will free up the hoist for other work while it’s being rebuilt). You can certainly ask your preferred shop, but as the engine block may need some work at a machine shop anyway (honing and decking) that is often where the rebuild will happen. Hardly any neighbourhood garage will have honing and decking equipment on-hand these days - and this really should be looked at, since the pistons need to come out anyway.

Another option to consider is buying a used engine and getting that rebuilt while you continue to drive your RAV. * IF it wasn’t already done by Toyota (if you can confirm the VIN of the truck it came from, you can do a service history check on Toyota’s website). Then the mechanic can simply swap the engines, which should be 1.5-2 days’ work.

nld09 · Dec 2, 2020

Anthonyc114 said:
Makes sense! Mine is around 68k right now.... Im hoping I can make it to 194k miles! If so then I would feel like I got my moneys worth Did it get progressively worse or has it always burnt a quart every 800 miles? I will definitely do as you suggested! Thanks again

Sorry I have not been back here for a while. It got worse on burning oil over time. Try full synthetic oil over a period of time and see if that helps clean up the engine. I am guessing it might reduce oil consumption.

Help my 2007 RAV4 is burning oil :(

Anthonyc114

DL175

Rav-O-Matic

Izzy1

nld09

RTexasF

Printer

Rav-O-Matic

Anthonyc114

Anthonyc114

Foryota

nld09

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