Toyota Oil

System

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

What's it got to do with the MOT, unless the oil is pouring out somewhere that makes it unsafe?

If it is going through that much oil it is being burned and spewed out of the exhaust into the atmosphere. That would result in increased hydrocarbon readings at the exhaust which is measured on the MOT test (HC reading on the printout).

sevenhills wrote:

And it may still pass the MOT, the test should be much tighter.

It has been for newer vehicles, a lot more, however a car only has to meet the emissions standards it had to meet when it was new. Could be worse, it could be the USA where they either don't bother or have a lower standard once a vehicle hits 6 years old/50,000 miles.

oldagetraveller

This is from my Yaris' owner's manual.


"Oil consumption: Max. 1.0 L/1000 km (1.1 qt./600 miles, 0.9 Imp. qt./600 miles)
If your vehicle consumes more than 1.0 L (1.1 qt., 0.9 Imp. qt.) every 1000 km (600 miles), contact any authorized Toyota dealer or repairer, or another duly qualified and equipped professional."

EdGasketTheSecond

You can try a slightly thicker oil to reduce consumption e.g. if the current oil is 5w/30, try a 10w/40. The thicker oil will seal better around the rings and not so much of it will burn.

Ganga

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

The problem you face is that if the garage have measured the consumption and it is indeed within permitted tolerance, there's not much you can do other than continue to top up the oil or replace the car. I'm assuming that the garage have checked the sump plug isn't leaking, or the sump cracked? Do you notice any oil under the car? Have you tried sliding an old sheet or big piece of card under the engine when you get home and checking it the next morning? If oil isn't leaking from somewhere it must be being consumed by the engine.

As I said, with my situation I was happy to just keep topping up because it was an old workhorse of a car, still ran sweetly and economically and only went to the scrapyard this year after a terminal cylinder problem that wasn't economical to repair. I started to see oil loss at 85,000 miles and it ran until 130,000 miles. If you do decide to persevere, don't buy oil in one-litre bottles, it costs much more that way. I used to buy 4 or 5 litre bottles from Euro Car Parts, Halfords or Amazon, whichever had the right grade on offer at the time. I could sometimes get it for as little as £3 per litre but typically £4-5 per litre.

The amount of oil this engine is going thru if it was leaking on the road/drive i am sure it would be noticable by stevie wonder:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

System

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

You can try a slightly thicker oil to reduce consumption e.g. if the current oil is 5w/30, try a 10w/40. The thicker oil will seal better around the rings and not so much of it will burn.

However that will then wear out other parts of the engine faster, especially during cold weather. If it is going in through the valve stem seals as is likely to be the case then no amount of putting in thicker oil will prevent that.

gabitzul

10w-40 will not make much difference in terms of wear due to the temperate climate in the UK. If the car was used in Siberia it would be different.

I would also go for a cheap 10w-40 oil.

EdGasketTheSecond

I have a car I'm using 15w/40 in as it uses a bit of oil. It has done 175K miles though.

20w/50 was the common standard 20 years ago and my engines never wore out on that.