ncatona

Hey everyone I just wanted to share with you all that for some reason my oil consumption is half what it used to be this coming oci, I have currently 122k miles on it and bought it with 99k. I had 3 oil changes since I got the car and after 5k miles it usually went down from the full mark on the dipstick to the low mark. I have been using pup 5w30 and pennzoil platinum 5w30 with a wix filter, now I am at 5k again and its the same oil but for some reason my oil on the dipstick is in the middle of the full and low oil marks which suprised me. I have been driving the car in snow mode and maybe since I haven't been pushing the car as much may be the reasoning behind this?

ncatona

What do you think is the reason behind this?

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Snow mode actually places a higher load on the engine as it takes off in 2nd gear and what not. This action increases cylinder loading (builds higher cylinder pressures) which *typically* rocks the piston and I suppose could move stuck oil control rings.

Since 99k, what is your driving style? Ever open it up? Ever run it hard? Or does it put around and get groceries doing a bunch of short trips?

If you want to get the consumption to zero, over 2 tanks of 3/4 fills, add a full bottle of Yamaha Ring Free. Now go flog it making it work and pull rpm from low gears.
Repeat on 2nd tank of fuel and Ring Free. Change the oil when done...

Do this in Normal or ECT mode!

ncatona

I have driven it hard before and give it some pulls here and there, and I mostly drive highway, and I always drove it in the snow mode so I should stop doing this then? Have you used the yamaha ring free before and does it really stop the oil consumption?

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

I can't say it will absolutely work but that is its purpose and will likely help if the oil loss is the bottom end vs valve guides/valve stem seals.

For the life of the transmission; yes I would opt out....

ncatona

Alright will do, and thanks for letting me know. It may be because I have been driving it less aggressively also and maybe changing every 5k helps.

Moisture

I've seen you mention this ring free product before. What is the difference between Yamaha's VS. a regular fuel system cleaner such as Redline SL-1?

I understand that going full throttle is going to open up the injectors and allow the cleaner to remove deposits better, but how is it going to help the valve stem seals and piston rings? If anything i imagine flogging on the car more than 1-3 times is just going to be excessive and cause even more harm than good.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

You're killing me.... Do some reading as this has zero to do with cleaning injectors and it won't fix valve stem seals. Please find some proof on how working an engine at temperature is damaging. It is not! While there, get a grasp on the different types of piston rings and their function as it will answer these questions.
And Per our PM, I have no desire to correct all of the bad information posted.

I will simply advise others to disregard it.

Moisture

Ring free is a fuel additive. This means it will primarily treat the fuel system and has nothing to do with ring seal; I agree with you there. But why on earth would you tell people to run their engine hard to seal up bad valve stem seals if we know that's not the purpose of a fuel additive? You're confusing me.

Theres a certain amount of hard driving, no matter if the engine is fully warmed up which will damage an engines internals/ seals as indicated by an engine which was abused early on during the break in stages of its life and consequently consumes oil over time. Engines tend to run quite rich; mainly due to fuel quality. This only makes matters worse if you regularly rev the engine harder than the most efficient part of its powerband. This is why staying below the powerband will cause carbon deposits meaning some hard acceleration IS necessary for optimal engine health especially when done with a good fuel additive. It mainly depends on engine design and the way the coolant passages are routed through the intake ports, but a good engine doesnt need much more than a full throttle pull near redline every 600 miles or so to be in optimal condition. Obviously you amongst others see high rpm more often than that, which will only cause noticeable damage when done frequently in a short period of operation. Piston engines dont inherently enjoy sustain high rpm usage, especially not in the case of a larger displacement engine using commonly thin oils with a meager additive package.

I'm not exactly sure what you are referring to when you mention bad information. The only thing which comes to mind is when I inaccurately stated that intake manifolds are difficult to remove on a V6, which is my mistake because I'm more used to transverse V6 applications where one manifold is typically mounted underneath.

Typically I would consider somebody knowledgeable only if they value constructive criticism in the event somebody is willing to learn. At least try to keep a level head and avoid being the only one to unnecessarily bash me while providing zero information as to why you appear disgruntled.

firelikeiy

I don't know if it is true with this particular engine but I heard one of the issues with Toyota engines are undersized oil return holes in the pistons. Carbon eventually plugs them up. When this happens, oil is pushed into the combustion chamber. There is no additive that can unplug those holes. The pistons have to be pulled and the holes drilled out.

What is interesting about what OP posted is that I have actually noticed the EXACT same thing happening. My oil consumption has dropped. I have no clue why it is happening. This is on a IS250. It just doesn't make sense. The valve seals and piston ring hole blockage are the two main causes of oil consumption on a high mileage engine. Both get worse with time and neither magically fixes itself. One thing I noticed recently was a lack of oil in my intake from the passenger side valve cover breather. I pulled my intake off yesterday to clean the MAF and the throttle body. In the past there has always been a trail of oil in the intake from that breather port to the throttle body but it was perfectly clean this time. I'm just grabbing straws here but I also cleaned my MAF because I was getting a P0172 and P0175 trouble code. Those codes are for a system running too rich. Again, I'm just reaching here, but maybe having a engine running too rich artificially decreased blow by that was pushing oil into the intake plenum.

Moisture

What's your mileage at? I noticed the same thing with my 2015 Mazda 6 2.5L inline 4 engine. I was pretty hard on her while she was still almost new and caused some fairly insignificant oil consumption with 0w20 early on in her life. I was burning about 1 quart every 5500miles. I tried switching to 5w30 and consumption dropped to maybe 1 quart every 9300 miles or so. Then one day, after religiously switching to 5w30, 5w40 weight the engine never burned a drop of oil again. Dipstick reads right at full after 5000 mile changes. Whether the thicker oil had something to do with it I cant say for certain, but what I can say is that its possible for an engine to "seal itself."

Typically if you're noticing sudden increased consumption with a higher mileage car, usually hints towards a clogged PCV valve.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

I'm on mobile so forgive the errors...
A quick recap on oil consumption via blow by. When the combustion gasses blow past the compression rings this effectively allows spent fuel gasses down the piston skirt into the crankcase which essentially pressurize's the crankcase. This in turn takes the oil fumes, forces them into the valve covers to be sucked up by the PCV and pulled into the intake tract where by the oil is burned in the combustion process. Most goes out the tail pipe. But now we also see those combustion gasses are going past our piston rings and adding to the carbon build up plugging and sticking everything in place (worst case).

Make sense so far?

Below the compression rings are the oil scrapper rings which unlike the upper piston rings are very thin and although together in one groove, they maintain pressure on the cylinder wall via the expansion ring. This is where you mention the piston drain holes.....
Once the combustion gasses blow past the piston rings, they encounter the oil scrapper rings and fill them with hot gasses and oil thus sticking them AND in worse cases plugging the return path for the oil to leave the cylinder wall via oil scrapper ring in the piston where it would have returned to the crankcase.

Backing up: Toyota released the engine with low tension piston rings to promote fuel economy. The design should have worked as they relied on combustion pressure to expand the compression rings Pretty common practice. But engines that idle too much, do lots of short trips, never see rpm or do work, miss oil changes, get crappy gas, etc etc etc, carbon plugs the holes intended to expand the rings and compression drops. Combustion gasses that should have accelerated the piston down the bore now murder the engine forcing it to displace oil vapor into the intake to burn and run itself out of oil....

Adding to the above, the cylinder block has oil squirtters shooting oil into the piston crown to cool them so the engine doesn't detonate. Which some will argue adds to the problem the oil scrapper rings face, of removing large volumes of oil from the cylinder walls that lead to carbon build up on the top rings and subsequent oil consumption...

It's all a viscous circle.... Briefly speaking, doing hard work can rock the piston in its bore and aid to move stuck rings and keep them floating as they are intended too.

The product Ring Free is intended to remove that carbon and glaze from the cylinder walls, pistons, compression rings, and oil rings. This and frequent oil changes while demanding more of the engine clean and repair some engines. Especially where one sees a trend of it improving on its own. FWIW I log some 15,000 miles a year. My vehicles see 250, 225, 350,000 miles and I run all of them hard. None have blown up. None have died. None have left me stranded! Zero! That does not mean banging them off the rev limiter. I simply saying use the whole rpm range. Don't baby them.

Again, why I say to run two tanks and change the oil as the carbon removed is now in the oil and in circulation. And carbon is hard and induces wear.

If you have a specific question that I didn't cover let me know. That product won't help engines with valve stem issues. The other way oil is consumed...

Fun Facts...
In the last 30 years I've driven over 800,000 miles. A used Nissan with 175k, sold with 350,000 miles.. A used Camry with 114k, gave away with 325,000 miles when my son needed a beater. A 1MZ-FE....

firelikeiy

I'm just over 160k now. I'm the original owner. The car is mostly driven on 2 lane state routes with a lot of passing. The engine calls for 5w-30 and I've always used Mobil 1 synthetic. I have an oil catch can after the PCV. There's really not a whole lot of oil in the catch can between oil changes and there never has been. The PCV is good. In the past, most of the oil appears to have always come from the breather hose on the passenger side of the motor. I was just letting OP know he's not alone with seeing a drop in oil consumption. I saw OPs thread several days ago but made the same observation last time I changed my oil several weeks ago. I was going to wait and see if it is the same when summer rolls around. I was just posting to let OP know he's not an isolated case.

Moisture

so basically speaking, good quality piston rings are critical, but you also need a good oil supply, preferably a heavier weight to keep the seal between the rings and cylinder wall true

ncatona

Thanks for letting me know, so would this be a good thing happening then?