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SolaraGuy.com • View topic - Burning oil
Stock talk about the Generation 1 and 1.5 Toyota Solara which were produced from 1999 to 2003.

Burning oil

Burning oil

Postby sk8r776 » Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:09 pm

I'm new to this but I plan to start reading a lot here since I just became the owner of an 02' solara se 5speed. But before I can drive it, it has 2 problems. One a power steering hose leak and two it burns oil.

It does not burn enough oil that smoke comes out the tail pipe. But it does get low on oil before an oil change, every 3k miles. It has 162k on the car but very well maintained. I have heard the intakes or valves tend to gum up and can use this. Wanted to know if anyone else has had anything like this.

And I'm seeing a lot of people sea foam this car. Is this recommended to do on high mileage cars?

Thank you for any responses in advance. :D
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Re: Burning oil

Postby Down2TheC » Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:41 pm

Seafoam will clean things out but not help with burning oil I would think. Burning oil would most likely be rings, right? I can't think of any root cause of oil in the cyls that cleaning can correct.
But it couldn't hurt to do the seafoam just to reduce chances of sludge buildup and improve the responsiveness of the engine. If/when the oil thing becomes a big issue (black smoke, adding quarts every month, etc) you can consider the more expensive options.

BTW... you're sure you don't have any oil leaks causing the loss?
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Re: Burning oil

Postby sk8r776 » Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:11 pm

The front valve cover is leaking but not enough to make up for the amount of oil loss. Im not sure as to how much it is actually "burning." we believe it might be back pressure that is causing it to burn. We are going to Seafoam it tomorrow, hopefully, and change out the valve cover and intake gaskets, sparks plugs, couple other chores before registration and getting it on the road.
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Re: Burning oil

Postby TheGreenDutch » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:53 am

hey I have a 2000 v6 for the past 7 years. The leak you have is most likely from the valve cover gaskets and the gaskets around the timing belt area. My car does the same thing. Its not really bad if you make sure to check the oil and you know about it. Sometimes it stinks if it hits the exhaust tubing, but I don't think you have a internal motor problem. The 2 symptoms you state happened to almost everyone who has a 'Lara over 100k. Definitely research Seafoam on here and on youtube. They make a great product that cleans out the engine and is highly respected on auto forums. If you want to try it yourself buy the Deep Creep spray kind and clean out your throttle body. You feel a difference just doing that in the smoothness. I also like to use Techron fuel cleaner or Chevron with Techron just to clean my gas tank out from all the crap that builds up in Gas Stations that goes into your car. Anyway good luck and use the search system here its really good to find quick things about your car. Peace
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Re: Burning oil

Postby sliDingSolAra... » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:58 am

Down2TheC wrote:Seafoam will clean things out but not help with burning oil I would think. Burning oil would most likely be rings, right? I can't think of any root cause of oil in the cyls that cleaning can correct.
But it couldn't hurt to do the seafoam just to reduce chances of sludge buildup and improve the responsiveness of the engine. If/when the oil thing becomes a big issue (black smoke, adding quarts every month, etc) you can consider the more expensive options.

BTW... you're sure you don't have any oil leaks causing the loss?


oil burning is usually caused by bad piston rings, this causes oil from the crankcase to be forced past the rings into the combustion chamber resulting in burned oil. this is called "blowby".
^^^^^could be why your burning oil, may not be though.

are you sure your actually burning oil and not just having it forced out the block or head somewhere???

i had oil loose problem and found it to be my valve cover gasket on my cylinder bank closest to the fire wall
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Re: Burning oil

Postby Billdo » Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:11 am

Im having a similar problem. I have around 130k on the clock on my 02 4cyl and I have dealer oil changes every 5k. I never get to 5k though with having to add about 2 quarts. Everything is where it should be up until about 3k and then I lose oil. I havent noticed any spots of oil at work or on the driveway, I dont smell it. Sometimes in the AM after it has sat all night it puffs a bit of smoke, but it is getting colder here in the morning so who knows. I do however notice a bit of buildup around the corners of the valve cover but not enough to justify the amount of oil loss.
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Re: Burning oil

Postby dinoxor » Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:46 am

If you have a v6 there is a front AND rear valve cover!
look around since valve cover leaks are a common problem for our cars

in my case, my front valve cover was leaking but not so terribly to where I need to add extra oil before my 5k oil interval.
but I changed it anyways for that peace of mind and to prevent leaving oil spots everywhere I park.
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Re: Burning oil

Postby 1BADGTS » Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:11 am

FYI for everybody concerned with oil consuption on 3.0 V6's. We have done some extensive research on this at our dealership and alot of the problem stems from the PCV system and the valve covers. Now, this is not going to fix everyones oil burning (as stated above there can be other reasons for oil consumption), but we have had great success with this fix and alot of consupmtion went away. Toyota has redesigned the front (bank 2) and rear (bank 1) valve covers. The original valve covers, especially bank 1 (rear) where the PCV valve is located, is baffled with small ports and chambers in them to help bleed of some of the vacuum from the PCV system. What we found was happening was over time and miles these ports start to plug up, which increase the vacuum pull on the PCV system, so instead of just pulling the gases and moisture out of the motor, it actually has enough vacuum to pull oil through as well !! This is where you can see 1-2qts disappear between oil changes. We have tried chemically cleaning the valve covers without much success (actually removing them and soaking in a CUDA parts cleaner for hours, NOT just Seafoam or other additive !!). If you replace both valve covers with the new updated covers and PCV valve it should cure alot of the problem. We have had some luck with just replacing the bank 1 (rear) valve cover, but Toyota suggests replacing both. Valver covers don't come cheap though. I believe they are @ $325 each and 3-4 hours labor to replace both (bank 1 being the most time consuming). Be aware as well that continued use without taking care of it can cause you to burn holes through the intake valves on cylinder #1 & cylinder #2, because they are the closest intake runners to the PVC port, so most of the oil goes through those. Hope this helps for people having this issue.
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Re: Burning oil

Postby dinoxor » Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:29 am

1BADGTS wrote:FYI for everybody concerned with oil consuption on 3.0 V6's. We have done some extensive research on this at our dealership and alot of the problem stems from the PCV system and the valve covers. Now, this is not going to fix everyones oil burning (as stated above there can be other reasons for oil consumption), but we have had great success with this fix and alot of consupmtion went away. Toyota has redesigned the front (bank 2) and rear (bank 1) valve covers. The original valve covers, especially bank 1 (rear) where the PCV valve is located, is baffled with small ports and chambers in them to help bleed of some of the vacuum from the PCV system. What we found was happening was over time and miles these ports start to plug up, which increase the vacuum pull on the PCV system, so instead of just pulling the gases and moisture out of the motor, it actually has enough vacuum to pull oil through as well !! This is where you can see 1-2qts disappear between oil changes. We have tried chemically cleaning the valve covers without much success (actually removing them and soaking in a CUDA parts cleaner for hours, NOT just Seafoam or other additive !!). If you replace both valve covers with the new updated covers and PCV valve it should cure alot of the problem. We have had some luck with just replacing the bank 1 (rear) valve cover, but Toyota suggests replacing both. Valver covers don't come cheap though. I believe they are @ $325 each and 3-4 hours labor to replace both (bank 1 being the most time consuming). Be aware as well that continued use without taking care of it can cause you to burn holes through the intake valves on cylinder #1 & cylinder #2, because they are the closest intake runners to the PVC port, so most of the oil goes through those. Hope this helps for people having this issue.


wow that was some great insight!

Yeah I also forgot to mention that I replaced my pcv a while back
Upon inspection I noticed that it still rattles and once cleaned with brake fluid, did not sound as agile as compared to a the new pcv I got at the dealer.

Quick note: when replacing your pcv you should might as well replace the pcv grommet since I noticed a small pool of oil surrounding it

HOWEVER if it's your first time replacing the grommet, then due to heat and time that sucker is gonna CRUMBLE EVERYWHERE
so a word of warning be careful when replacing it since some pieces might fall into your crank case

For me, I slowly and carefully ripped small portions of the top part while one end of the needle nose pliers is dugged into the hole to prevent the whole tube from falling in.
then I forcefully use the nose pliers and somewhat bent it in half and then pull a section of the grommet cylindrical wall off and then use the pliers to pull the rest of the piece out.

This took me about 30 minutes but be patient and take your time!
It will suck to try and fish out small bits and pieces in your crank case yet alone remove the rear valve cover D:
hope this helps and makes sense!
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Re: Burning oil

Postby 1BADGTS » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:41 pm

^Thanks. I believe when you purchase the new valve covers, the bank 1 cover will actually change to the newer style screw in PCV valve. So make sure you get the correct PCV valve and hose that connects from it to the intake manifold as well.
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Re: Burning oil

Postby Billdo » Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:07 am

any luck with changing the valve covers sk8r?
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Re: Burning oil

Postby sk8r776 » Sun Dec 23, 2012 7:27 pm

I completely forgot about this thread. I lost my job and had to find a new one in the middle of all the non sense with this. But it turned out like 1BADGTS said. We decided not to go with the new valve covers. But did pull them off and cleaned them off as much as possible. It still goes through about 1 quart every oil change.
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'93 Civic LX --> '02 Accord SE 5-Speed --> '01 Solara SE 5-Speed --> '06 350z Base Rev-UP

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Hid Conversion 8K + 3K, Injen SRI, GLP CAI extension, Lots more to come.
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Re: Burning oil

Postby 1BADGTS » Sat Dec 29, 2012 8:45 am

We have tried cleaning the out and soaking them in a CUDA parts cleaner and they do get better, but you just can't get to all of those small chambers in the top of the valve covers cleaned out enough. The new valve covers are a all-new design of these chambers and the redesign keeps them from plugging up again. Very glad to hear it helped though !!
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