Dear Scion Life members,
Today I went to check my motor oil in my tC and it was under the low line.
It has 20,500 miles on it and its next oil change is due in 3,000 miles. I could not

beleive that a brand new car was missing 2 quarts of oil expecially if the Dealership

checked the car for oil leaks and didnt find any on the previous oil change! I just

took it to Peruzzi Toyota today because this problem is ongoing and there has been about 11/2 quarts missing from my motor every time i gave it an oil change at 5,000 miles. They are keeping my car in their garage untill further notice. I do not know what to do with my car because no new car should burn any oil and im worried that if they say they fix it and it still keeps buring oil my motor could shut down and i would be out of a 19,000 car because warranty does not cover checking your oil status. Also there is always black ash on the back of the muffler. If anyone could be of help please inform me of such situations, or if anybody has any advice on what is going on with my car burning oil up. Does this happen to you?

 

My car does the same

I usually need to add about 2 quarts between oil changes (5k oil changes, using mobile 1 synthetic)

I do drive "harder" than most people so I just figured thats why I burn more oil

 

has 3,000 miles left till oil change and absolutly no oil in car as read on the dip stick. no leaks def worried about the tc's life in the next miles, maybe scion should just give me a new tc or new motor.

 

Not sure if cars are supose to burn 2 quarts if it takes 41/2 quarts to fill up the oil changes.

 

Check this thread https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...03956&start=20

Devstc is going through a quart every 600 miles. First you don't want to let it get that low - you should be checking it every tank of gas or two. Second if you got the car new then either you didn't break it in right or there is something wrong. Third the best way to tell what is going on is to check the the tail pipe like you did (it should be very clean) and next the spark plugs. This helps to isolate where the oil is being burned . . . in the cylinders or in the exhaust. Have someone follow you and watch the tail pipe and see if it smokes when you are on the gas or backing off the gas. You can also check it when the engine is cold after just starting it up - more blue smoke then indicates that the cat is cleaning it up when warm but doesn't when the cat is cold. Forth you need to check the intake to see of the crank case vent is dumping too much oil into the intake manifold. You might also loosen teh oil filler cap when the engine is running CAREFULLY and see if there is pressure or vacuum in the crankcase. There should be a little vacuum . . . if there is pressure then probably you are getting blowby past the rings.

 

I've been wondering about the tC's oil consumption . . .

I didn't have to add a full quart, but was half a quart low at 3500 miles on my 08. My tailpipe also has some soot on it, but I saw a new Si with the same situation. My car just turned 5000 miles, and I checked the oil before the oil change and it was still full at that time. I babied it during the break-in period, too.

Do you check the oil at all between oil changes? Cars will lose some oil, but yours sounds a bit excessive.

 

Soot in the tail pipe is too much oil leaking somewhere. It should burn some oil when breaking it in but the usage should reduce after break in. I used less than a cup of oil in the last 15k miles after the first oil change at 3700 miles to Synlube and it is still full with most of the cup added to bring the level up to the full mark after the initial oil change and it is still full at 18650 miles. Plus I drained exactly 1 gallon out of the engine and filter at the first oil change so it didn't really loose much at all breaking it in either.

 

So far the consumption has leveled off, so I attributed it to break-in. If my engine loses more oil than I think it should over the next oil change period ( more than half a quart?) then I'm going to start working the dealer over.

Isn't soot on the tailpipe also a sign that the engine could be running rich?

 

i think there has to be a major problem with my car because my dad has an astrovan with 180,000 miles that never burned any oil and i got my tc with 20,500 miles and it has been burning oil since i bought it with the black soot. it sounds fine drives fine but everytime i check the oil between oil changes its way to much missing. Even if they fix the car, i didnt pay for a brand new o miles car to fart out oil at 20,000 miles and die at 30,000. Holler at a new scion tc wit the lemon law in pa

 

hmm....watching...

 

if all works out with the dealer. Now i dont have a car for tommorro need loaner

 

from what people seem to be saying on other forums is that it could be a faulty o2 sensor... or that the mixture is rich as scribble said.


also found this... not on a scion/toyota forum but still may be something worth looking into?
"Check the rubber tubing that goes from your breather chamber to the PCV valve. If the inside is deteriorated there's a chance the soot you see in the exhaust is degraded rubber tube material."

 

I posted a smilar thread: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...217&highlight=

Although it seems like you are burning more oil then me, apparently, my issue is "normal".......

But yeah, it seems like this 2.4L motor loves to drink oil....

 

An engine will burn more at break-in, but not that much more.
I use either GC Castrol, or Royal Purple, and the most I've seen burned at 4500Mi OCIs is the last one with slightly under the full mark, which is maybe 3-4 oz at most.
If your car burns way more than that, it might have an issue.

As for soot on the pipe - it's normal.

 

Soot in the tail pipe is unburned carbon and is NOT normal for a properly running engine. If your gas mileage is ok and I mean in the 30mpg area for the tC then the soot is being caused by the oil burning. Checking the spark plugs is the first step to figuring out what is going on. One fouled plug is a defect either in a piston ring or valves, all of them fouled is a bad engine break in or the PCV valve is stuck open sucking in too much of the crank case oil vapors.

 

Unless you are driving your Scion on the track or hard ALL THE TIME, you should have minimal oil consumption in the 3K-5K mile range. Burning 2 quarts of oil in 3k miles is a major issue. I have an air cooled 911 which burns about a quart every 1K miles, which is normal for an air cooled motor(!)

I have over 55K miles on my Scion and change the oil every 5K miles. I drive highway mostly and do not have any appreciable oil loss when I change my oil.

This is a problem...have it checked by the dealer ASAP

 

Dealership just called back, said car is running fine and everything is supose to be the way it is... waiting to pick it up and let you kno about the stats.

 

Make sure you ask them what they did. I'm curious.

 

how much did you pay for your heated seats w leather

 

Too much

I had them installed before I drove the car home from the dealer and I want to say they were $2000. Not positive on the number anymore. I didn't really care though as it was tagged onto the car note each month. They did do the door inserts and center console as well though.