Friends car is a 2006 Scion TC. Stock. 59k miles.
The car was running rough so I took a look at it. I noticed that the coolant was low as was the oil. I thought the worst, like a blown head gasket or something, but advised that we bring the car into the dealer in since it was still under warranty. I topped off the oil and the coolant.

Dealership said that we had a bad waterpump, which they replaced under warranty. I mentioned the low oil and said that I have a suspicion that the car is burning oil. The dealership then said that they were going to preform an oil consumption test. This involved us getting them to change the oil and then us come back every 1000 miles. After the first 1000 miles the dipstick gauge dropped from the top mark about 25% down. So there was still 75% oil on the stick. (from the bottom line to the top) They said that was normal. Then it went down a bit more about half way after the next 1000 miles.

The guy at the dealership said Scion allows up to a full quart of oil to be gone within the first 1000 miles after an oil change. Doesn't that mean that the car is burning that oil? What I want to know is if the dealership is trying to avoid fixing this problem. Would the engine need to be replaced, or is this just an engine rebuild type thing? Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

 

All motors will consume oil. Just because the oil AND coolant were low didn't instantly mean head gasket. If it were a head gasket, you would have very milky oil on the dipstick which you did not. It honestly sounds like the vehicle is fine.

 

I understand that it wasn't a head gasket issue, but how do I know at what rate a engine is supposed to burn oil? Doesn't that seem like a bit much for such a new car?

 

A 2006 isn't a new car. It is nearly 5 years old, while yes the miles are on the lower side, that doesn't mean seals etc haven't gone away. I'm not understanding why believing what Scion says is so hard. Would you like to personally contact an engineer that designed this engine to have him tell you the same? All engines burn oil, regardless of how well designed.

 

the 2az platform does have an issue with premature oil consumption on the scions, camry's and rav4's. we honestly do about 1-2 a week. yes, oil consumption is 100% normal on all vehicles. u should burn aprox 1qt per oil change. the 2azfe tends to burn a bit more than it should. i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but chances are ur gonna need a short block. there is a bulletin about it thru toyota.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is, is this normal/acceptable? I don't want the car's engine to be siezed up in a year from now because of this issue which could have been treated under warranty. What I'm also getting at is, when I took in my pontiac into the service shop, they would fight me and say anything to avoid doing warranty work on my car. I'm just curious if this is a similar case. Sometimes I would walk in with a TSB and the dealer would still play dumb. If the engine isn't designed well and this is a problem, then there's no point in having the car if it's not going to be reliable. (pontiac grand am head gaskets was almost a once a year type issue)

 

When you say you do one to two per week, I'm assuming you work at a toyota dealer? What point on the dip stick is too low for the course of one oil change life 3000 - 3500 miles?

 

yea i work at a toyota dealership. we replace the short blocks in these around once or twice a week for the oil consumption issue. the reason that u get a difficult time for any kind of warranty work is bc warranty doesnt pay as well as a customer pay job. if u said that u were paying out of pocket, they would have no issue taking ur $ due to the fact they would be making more. just keep an eye on ur oil level. general rule of thumb is that ur engine should consume 1 qt of oil very oil change. anything more than that u have an oil consumption issue. also the recommended service interval for an oil change on our cars is 5k miles.

 

2AZ-FE is the engine.
The tC shares it's platform with the Avensis.

 

When i say 2az platform, i mean the engine itself being that its designed and used in a few diff vehicles. Im not refering to chassis in any shape, fashion or form. Chassis has nothing to do w this thread or category either.

 

guys I want to thank you all for your input. Each of you has helped out tremendously. My last question to lay the subject to rest is, can I expect the oil consumption test to last 5k miles. Or is that something they are only going to do with us for 3k miles? They did not tell us this. And it's completely safe to be at 4k miles driving around with a quart less of oil? Lets just pretend that it would make it up to the 5k mile mark with only a quart missing.

 

u should be fine up to 5k miles. just make sure that u check ur oil level frequently as a precaution. better safe than sorry.