Engine Piston Rings Shot

Piston Rings Shot

Took my 99 Corolla in for is religious oil change and mentioned that is was using quite a bit of oil. The diagnosis came back and the piston rings need replacing. The estimate was for $1,700. Later that day, the dealership called back and told me that Toyota was ready to pay for half of the cost. I only have 58k miles on the car and I am the second owner. I bought it at 36k. Has anyone else had a problem such as this? I drive it like a sports car, but I wasn't aware this would have such an adverse effect on the engine. Thanks a lot.

Brooks

Can't you get an entirely new engine for under $1700?

I drive mine like I stole it...redline almost every day, and it has about half a bottle of n2o through it..and 156,700-ish miles. Runs like a charm.

why do my cars seem to break down after i put 20k on them read my post im on 3 cylinders today....

I have a 97 with 150k and mine started to burn oil, i put some oil additive in it, and bam no more problems. So try that in the future! Oh and you can get a motor for your car for about 500. easy!

you might want to do some diagnostics yourself, just in case they're trying to give you the "dealer's special"

you should do a compression test and see if it's low. then put some oil in the combustion chamber (a few drops) and see if the readings change. if they do you might have bad piston rings.

The early 8th generation (1998-1999) Corollas and early 9th generation Corollas (2003) seem to be plagued with problems - mostly emissions related. Some have been attributed to worn piston rings (actually it is wear due to tapered cylinder bores or worn ring groove lands) that use oil very quickly. Like everyone said - a simple compression test will show what the deal it. I would check the PCV valve first - since that gets plugged very quickly and clean out the throttle body next. If the PCV is plugged - you get heavy oil consumption and other problems. Others have reported good results with Marvel Mystery Oil shot into the cylinders and sit overnight to breakup any deposits. I'm not too keen on any product that had "Marvel" or "Mystery" in the name - but it is a decent solvent.

Good Luck.

I should be changing my PCV valve tomorrow..kinda forgot about it, and it's been at least 40k..oops.

generally they will change whether the rings are good or not..... when you do a dry test, generally there isn't much oil behind the ring as it is (since you need to take the time to remove the plugs to the injectors)..... and cranking it over with the starter won't get oil up there very fast when you're not trying to start

generally if a ring is going to go bad, it will be one before the rest.... so if there is a large variance between the readings of the other cylinders, then you may have a problem.....

it shouldnt really be too hard to replace rings right? just need to take the engine out of the car and the rest should be easy from there. At least it didnt seem too hard in combustion engines class.

2003 plagued with problems? i have 55,000 miles on my 03 and have 0 problems with it. i have done the regular maintanence but i drive it very hard especilly thru first gear

yeah i had my rings and valve seals replaced about 10K ago in my '01. it was eating oil like a bitch. like a quart every 1500 miles. toyota paid for EVERYTHING. extended warranty rocks. 5 yr 75K

Then you are one of the lucky ones that got a good one. Check the other forums - lots of 8th generation Corollas with bad rings or emissions - 9th generation had some teething problems as well. Glad to hear some are holding up the bulletproof reliability aspect of the Corolla name.

if you still have a warrenty on your car......then your a pussy<br />
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jk <img src="http://vvti.net/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" /><br />
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i figure if my pistons rings start leaking then fuck it ill just buy a big bore kit and have someone install that shit for me

interesting ill have to check that out, do they have a website?

because dude, aside from bolt-ons i really dont know much about motors, but needless to say i really would like to get myself elbow deep into my motor

My 03 Corolla has 50,000 miles on it. I did a compression check a few days ago and I have 220psi on all 4 cylinders. Healthy build-up, too. So, rings and valves are all in excellent shape. That's with some HARD abusive driving.

A word to the wise:

IF you do end up tearing the engine down, make CERTAIN everything goes back in exactly the same place. As far as main and conrod bearings, I would NOT replace them unless there was a problem with them (get some Plastigauge). And if you do replace them, make sure you follow the number markings on the block, crankshaft and conrods to determine the size bearing you need (one of three sizes) and go to Toyota for them. The generic one-size-fits-all deal will destroy your engine and make things worse than you could imagine.

Just FYI.

Trav

sheeit... id love to take my engine apart and do a rebuild... not really that its bad or anything but just to make it like brand new........ ive got a 98 and all b/c of my mom with her 91 camry its gotten me to wanting to keep my car until the wheels fall off of it lol....... although I am still planning on getting an 05 by the mid of this year. I just love these toyotas

i have healthy build up with compression too but I am only getting 210 psi in the four cylinders of my 98.. thats still good isnt it?

that does make sense though b/c like my teacher said in the internal combustion engines class where we took the engines apart to spec them..... the parts get machined and they could seize up... i learned that the hard way b/c I put the engine back together and put the wrong parts back like pistons in the wrong cylinders, etc. and the engine didnt turn freely.

you can get a haynes manual at autozone or similiar places although from what ive seen they only have one for 93-2002... not sure if they have one for 03 and higher
although you could possibly use the book for the 93-2002 for 03 and higher 1zz engine b/c they are the same engines

Yep! That's perfect. I think specified is around 150psi minimum and 220psi maximum and no more than 25% variation between the highest and lowest compression. Some variation is normal b/c of carbon build-up.

Trav

You might need a few 'extra' tools to bore the block..

actually im concidering the trd supercharger so lower compression pistons wouldnt be to bad either

yeah thats true.... let me rephrase that.... its medium difficulty