98 camry 4cyl 135k mi: oil consumption problem

[humblejohn]

took car to dealer and got new piston rings, valve seals and an engine
cleaning. thought this would correct oil consumption (1qt loss
1500mi). It didn't, the car leaking oil at the same rate. checked pcv
and found nothing. car does not leak any oil in driveway overnight.
the mechanic said it could be a cracked head. how would you be able to
tell what was cracked (head or block) and if one of these is cracked
is the car junk? it is a good thing i didn't give up alcohol this
week. thanks in advance.

[yotatechie04]

If it's a cracked head, you'd be having some kind of puddle in the driveway. The car isn't junk if you have a cracked head, even if the block is cracked, it's still not junk, you can replace the head and block if needed. If there is a small amount of damage done, you can have the crack repaired, although it might be worse. You've got a 50/50 chance on that one. You should look under the hood, visually inspect around the head and block mating surface, take your fingers slowly around it and see if you feel any oil. If you do, something is bound to be cracked. Well, one way to determine for sure if it is, since it's leaking oil somewhere, you'll need to find where, and figure out whether the car is losing power or not.

[ProMan]

The dealer should check if the head is good when they took it off to replace the rings and valve seal. If they did not do it, they are wasting your money and time.

[qapmaz]

Hopefully your dealer did not charge you for this. There is a bulletin, #PRO02-05, that your dealer should be aware of. This is a common concern among these vehicles and Toyota has a program to take care of this at no charge to the customer. Hope it helps!

[rpmglide]

my 98 camry w/ 112K miles loses about 1 qt. every 1.5 - 2k miles. it ain't leaking, i see no drips or anything in the driveway and a quick visual inspection produced nothing. i will run my finger around the heads and such just in case. now i do have some blue smoke in the morning upon startup, but nothing as the engine heats up. i'm just hoping this is normat w&t.

[yotatechie04]

It's most likely valve guides and seals. This can be accomplished by the do-it-yourselfer, but it's highly recommended that you take it to a mechanic or dealer service department for the work. It would probably be much cheaper for you to take the head out yourself, and then take it to either the shop or dealer and have them change the seals and guides, but then again, you might not want to get into that kind of down-low-and-dirty work with your car.

[rpmglide]

Originally Posted by yotatechie04

It's most likely valve guides and seals. This can be accomplished by the do-it-yourselfer, but it's highly recommended that you take it to a mechanic or dealer service department for the work. It would probably be much cheaper for you to take the head out yourself, and then take it to either the shop or dealer and have them change the seals and guides, but then again, you might not want to get into that kind of down-low-and-dirty work with your car.

Thanks. I have enough down and dirty work with my other hobbies, so putting in some oil every now and then ain't breaking the bank. But I do have another question- since i overfilled the crankcase by about half a quart, is there any immediate danger? Does it just blow off somewhere? Curious minds (and fat hands) want to know!
Thanks.

[yotatechie04]

There is quite a bit of space to argue over what might happen if the oil is over-filled. I do believe, along with many others that if there is too much oil, it ends up causing too much pressure inside the crackcase, block, etc. Sooner or later leading to either a bad leak, or a blown gasket or seal somewhere. My best advice would be to slide a bucket or something under the drain pan, loosen the plug about 1 and 1/2 turns, and let a little bit of that oil out, and while it's draining, check the level. Best to be safe than sorry, and it's way better than having the possibility of causing damage on that engine.

[rpmglide]

thanks yotatechie04. you da man!

[yotatechie04]

You're quite welcome...although I'm not the only knowledgeable person on here...