Engine disappearing oil...

disappearing oil...

well, I have a strange case of disappearing oil... The dealership filled her up to 5 qts about 2400 miles ago. My oil light recently came on and after checking levels, she was running near empty!! I checked for any under body leaks, none found, no puddles/stains under my car where I park every night, and I'm not burning oil externally due to no smoke. I filled up 4 qts and she ran well but about 700 miles in, she's rattling again. I checked the oil level and she's near empty again!! I had the dealership check for a leak and they didn't find one and there's no oil spilling on any engine components. A few days ago I put another 3 qts in but the dipstick still shows low. Any ideas of what's happening???

Thanks,
ROKnight

actually if he was burning oil it would be blue heh

Yeah, but depending on how fast its burning, he won't necessarily see it, he'd have to get somebody to follow him for a bit and see if they notice any blue smoke or smell anything burning...

what color is your coolant?

My car is a 2001 Corolla LE, with 67000 miles on it. It's new enough not to be pissing oil. All my seals look good, gaskets too, sparks are clean, filter is new, etc. No puddles under my car when parked, no signs of leaking. I dunno what's going on... coolant is fine, just flushed and filled at 64500 miles. No smoke either, my friend has followed me to check

What about your valve cover/spark plug seals? Could be leaking and burning on the hot engine before hitting the ground (ask me how I know this is possible, lol)...

valve cover, spark seals all good... entire engine is clean

maby somebody turned your car into a diesel and its running off of the oil in the crank???
ummm you have to be burning it there isn't always white smoke, just most of the time

Part of the problem might be that it is being overfilled - 1ZZFE on the 8th gen Corolla only take 3.7-3.9 quarts of oil - depending on the filter used - if they pumped in 5 quarts, they overfilled it.

A 1/4 quart to 1/2 quart over is no big deal, but if you start approaching a quart or more, then you have something to worry about. Old school guys like to give it some extra oi, but with our optimized engines and better oil scavenging - will hurt more in the long run. Some 4 cylinders like some VW engines - don't like even a 1/2 quart oil over. Toyota engines are a bit more flexible - but don't go overboard. What this could do is increase crankcase pressure too much - causing oil blowby the rings or valve seals, hence excessive oil consumption.

I'd start with checking the usual suspects, you've already looked at seals and gaskets - try taking a peek at your PCV valve - make sure that is clear and working. Could be losing oil past the valve seals (pretty common) and/or from sticking piston rings. Have you had a compression test done lately? Any more that a 14-15PSI variance from cylinder to cylinder will mean trouble soon. Check the oil level everytmie you fill up with gas and monitor it. I've seen 1ZZFE engines consume 1 quart every 500 miles and not smoke at all. from what you listed - hard to tell but sounds like you burned up 3-4 quarts in 700 miles (1 quart for every 175 to 233 miles) - that car should be be smoking like a SOB.

Yeah, gotta check my PCV, haven't done that yet. I think I'm gonna have the dealership inspect it again and run a compression test. With the amount of oil disappearing, it would have to be smoking like crazy. argh!!

Anyway, thanks for the replies guys. I'll keep you posted with the dealership results!

Black Ice FX