Oil consumption in a 22re fuel injected engine

[DanAatTheCape]

I am not sure I buy the "it is a leak" opinion. That much oil would show up somewhere- there would be oil dripping when you stopped & probably all over the undercarriage.

I tend to agree with the valves, rings or PCV valve logic.

If the crankcase is pressurizing (due to several possible reasons - like a clogged PCV or excessive ring blowby) oil consumption will rise. I would take off my oil fill cap with the engine running - if pressure is blowing out ....

In the aircraft world of reciprocating engines - they do a compression test where a valve is inserted in a spark plug hole & used to pressurize the cylinder (positioned at top dead center) and a gauge is inserted in the other spark plug hole (these engines have 2 spark plugs per cylinder). Pressurize to 80 lbs& wait. Note that the same pressurization technique (minus the gauge) can reveal a lot of info by just listening for escaping air pressure - if it comes out the exhaust - exhaust valve leaking, out the carb - intake valve leaking - out the crankcase - rings.

A simple compression test would be where i would start - easy to do and gives you a good baseline.

The ideas of trying different oils is ok - but you might as well find out where the oil is going - again if you are blowing it out a seal or gasket - it will show up somewhere -do not forget to look on your tranny & aft of there too. No oil underneath means it is going out your tailpipe.

BTW, when you pull your sparkplugs to do the compression check check your plugs for oil fouling. Also look up what spark plugs are stock (maybe someone who has an r22 manual can tell us what was original). There is a science to reading sparkplugs - chocolate brown is good, - white - is too hot or too lean & black &/or oily is to rich/or burning oil. Note that one can install plugs that are of a higher heat range to burn off oil - which addresses the symptom not the root cause.

[stamar]

I definitely have seen in looking up this symptom on goooogle that a clogged pcv valve increases oil pressure and squirts oil past worn rings at a huge rate like this.

So definitely change that for diagnosis.

burning that much oil will foul plugs, create a cloud behind you etc.

I did have a volkswagon air cooled that burned about a quart every 1000 miles. What i would say is that it fouled plugs and burned smoke, especially at start up.

[mini-wini-dan]

I have changed the plugs and pcv valve. The plugs are not oil fouled in fact they are tan or brownish grey and look like they came out of a healthy engine. I did inspect more closely for oil leak and see oil coming down the front side out of the oil pump area. My mechanic says this is a common problem with this type of engine and is going to check out the seal in that area. I will let you all know how this turns out. I have a 1200 mile trip coming up in a couple of weeks and this will reveal whether I have fixed the problem.

Again I thank all of you for your input and information-this forum is a great help!!

[WME]

The GM warranty rule was a qt every 800 was OK. So well a qt every 1500 ain't great by Toyota standards, its OK.

WME

[mini-wini-dan]

Hi All,

Finally the problem is diagnosed. After seeing a lot of oil coating around the oil pump and timing chain cover I decided to take the vehicle to my mechanic. I thought it might just be the oil pump seal but unfortunately the mechanic inspected closer and discovered that the timing chain cover had been removed and the attempt to put it back together was poorly addressed and the cover was damaged and a bolt left missing or broken off. The mechanic discovered a temporary plug (epoxy or heat proof material) that was jammed into the bolt hole and damaged area of the cover. This may have kept the oil leak restrained as a temporary fix. Obviously helpful when selling a vehicle and passing on the problem to the new owner.

This is a lesson to be learned that will now cost me about $800. The vehicle ran good looked good and could not see any noticeable leaks or excessive smoking. The 2 short 100 mile trips revealed the oil loss luckily before I took it farther from home.

Thanks again for all of the observations and those who said it was a leak were right!!

[Davidadro]

Better the 800 now than having a riuned motor. Sorry for the bad news, but glad you were able to get her fixed. Happy Travels!

[haffcke]

I purchased an 87 mini-wini on June 1st of this year and have driven it twice on localized camping trips. This vehicle looks and runs good and has 74000 miles on it. I am getting great performance in the overall effects including great gas mileage 15.8 mpg on last week's 200 mile run. However it seems that I am losing oil and about 1 qt per 400 miles. I see no evidence of oil leaks and have not noticed smoking from exhaust. I am suspecting dried seals allowing oil loss maybe.

Any advice or comments about this-I can deal with adding a qt every 400 miles but still concerned about this since I have a 2.7 engine in my Tacoma that does not lose any oil in between 3000 mile oil changes.

purchased 86 Dolphin new and from the get go no matter what i used including Mobil 1 interstate running 65 or 70 i always had to add a quart every 500 miles now at 94000 miles still the same mobile 1, a quart every 500 miles, BUT when i run the back roads (no interstates) 55 or less i didn't have to add anything between changes 3 to 4k, i also get better gas mileage back roads 15 vs 12.

[PilotbullMT]

I'm in the same boat as haffcke. I just bought an 86 with 74,500. First 300 miles = no oil consumption. And it was hard driving (hot, passes, headwinds). As soon as I do a bypass on O/D (I live at 4k feet) and used O/D on the downhills and flats on the last trip at around 65mph I noticed that I consumed 1/4 quart in the 200 mile trip. Seems pretty unusual. I'm using 10w30 full syn. And Temps were cool when it was consuming. 

[PilotbullMT]

By the way, hi everybody! I'm a noob to toyota dolphins, changing to them from the wildly overpriced world of VW Westfalias. This site has been very useful thus far, even though I have quite a bit of experience with toyota 22RE engines.

I'm hoping to take another 200 mile trip this weekend. I'm going to switch to Rotella 15w40 and leave OD off going up, and on coming back and monitor and compare. 

[zero]

3 hours ago, PilotbullMT said:

By the way, hi everybody! I'm a noob to toyota dolphins, changing to them from the wildly overpriced world of VW Westfalias. This site has been very useful thus far, even though I have quite a bit of experience with toyota 22RE engines.

I'm hoping to take another 200 mile trip this weekend. I'm going to switch to Rotella 15w40 and leave OD off going up, and on coming back and monitor and compare. 

I changed the oil in my 1988 22RE from Shell Rotella T Triple Protection 15W-40 to Mobil 1 High Mileage 10W-30.. I did not do it for oil-consumption reasons. I just wanted to see if there was any perceivable difference in fuel mileage.  Ends up my oil-consumption went from 1//2 quart every trip, to zero.  At least so far.  The Mobil 1 "High Mileage", unlike regular Mobil 1, has special additive packages for older designed engines (like ours') and also for worn engines.  I cannot attest that the oil is what actually made the difference - but it certainly seems so.  I will also note that I suspect Mobil 1 is not even a true "synthetic oil", as many sold in the USA as "full synthetic" are not.  Regardless - maybe the additive package has helped with oil-use.  Note that I love Shell Rotella T and use it in just about all my gas and diesel engines.  My 87 Chevy Sububan had 520,000 miles on it when the engine blew to pieces and all it ever had was Shell Rotella T.   When the engine blew - most of the internal parts still looked near new. It was the crankshaft that broke into three pieces (GM diesels are known for this) and the issue had nothing to do with lube.  So - I was pretty surprised at the drop of oil-use when I switched to Mobil 1 High Mileage.  Who knows?

[PilotbullMT]

I decided to dig a little deeper and checked all 4 plugs and they all are nice and even, but when I checked the compression I got my answer:

1 = 162 psi, 2 = 145 psi, 3 = 135 psi, 4 = 145 psi. I believe it's time for rings..

[WME]

I'm not sure of the level of your skills.

My 86 Escaper was burning a quart every 500 miles. I did what is called an inframe overhaul. AKA an Okie rebuild. I removed the head and pan with the engine still in the chassis.

Removed the rods and ran a bottle brush hone in each bore. New rod bearings, oil pump and gasket set. I used Hastings cast rings. They seat quickly, but the ring and the style of overhaul means a 80-100 k mile life span. If you drive 4,000 miles a year then its a good deal. If you drive 20,000mi a year then you have  just postponed the rebuild 5 years or so, which may or may no be a good deal.

After the job the engine a quart every 4000 miles, with a 3000 mile oil change interval I never added oil.

 

[PilotbullMT]

I definitely have the skills, experience, and tools to do an "engine in rebuild" for the rings and cylinders. I have a reinforced frame so I would like to be able to tow a 600lb trailer, so I am considering selling the 22re and going with a 4.3l vortec. I only anticipate 5k miles a year, so if I opt to keep the 22re I'll do that style of rebuild, and thank you for the information.