Thanks for that. The only thing I see that might be a contributing factor is the use of very thin dino oil for 5000 mile change intervals. Not that Toyota doesn't foolishly allow it, but personally there is no way that I'd ever run anything but a top tier, group 3/4 full synthetic motor oil as thin as 0w20/5w20 for 5000 miles between changes.

The only other potential factor I can think of is that the engine was very gently driven for most of it's life and then subjected to some redline events which could have damaged the rings due to wear ridges/carbon buildup in the cylinder bores established by many miles of low-rpm use.

 

My car has been burning a lot of oil since about 40,000 miles and has only been getting worse. I have to add about 3 quarts between oil changes. I e-mailed Scion about it and they said there wasn't anything they can do for me. I also drive a lot so my car has about 140k miles on it now and they wouldn't cover it even if it was under a TSB.

So I'm looking at either a rebuild or replacing the engine altogether. What's the price of a rebuild for my car? Toyota really hung me out to dry on this one...

 

I can't believe Toyota these days! First they produce cars that make perfectly competent drivers floor the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing their cars to accelerate out of control and now they won't rebuild your oil burning engine after only 140,000 miles. I'm buying a Kia next time and I think you should too...

 

I appreciate your sarcasm but this was a problem on the car while it was under warranty and they didn't do anything about it when I brought it up to them. I don't have time to keep berating the dealership to look into it so I kept driving and I drive a lot. But no I won't be buying Scion again, I've had numerous issues from wheel bearings to poor workmanship.

And if you read I'm not asking them to do a thing for me anymore, I'm just looking to see what a rebuild costs vs swapping out an engine because my friend who builds the SEMA cars for Scion had several of them lying around.

 

According to your previous posts, your XB only lost (burned and/or leaked) approximately 1 qt of oil every 5k miles even when the engine had 85k miles on it. Why would you expect Toyota to do anything about that? I doubt that even Rolls Royce would do anything for you to remedy that kind of very moderate oil loss. But if you're not satisified with Toyota/Scion build quality and reliability there are a lot of alternatives available.

Good luck with the engine swap or rebuild. I hope it doesn't cost too much. I'm sure that your friend who builds the Scion SEMA cars can tell you how much it should cost.

 

FYI, the light comes on before 5k miles, it starts blinking and that's when I changed the oil. Scion was saying what you are saying which is the oil loss is normal, which I didn't believe to be true and the problem just got worse and worse. I have a 15 year old Acura NSX with similar mileage and doesn't burn oil. That's why I thought there was a problem and that's why I thought there might be something wrong. And why did I expect them to see if they could do anything about it? They issue this TSB acknowledging the same problem I have. I had a TSB on my NSX that they covered up to 150k miles, Acura would give me a loaner car, car wash, etc, all for free.

I don't see why you have to be an jerk about this, I'm just asking how much it costs for a rebuild. There is absolutely no reason why my friend who builds their show cars would know about how much it costs, he just builds their show cars. Just because you don't see Scion in the same light I do doesn't mean you have to act so childish.

 

Okay... so losing ~1 qt of oil every 4500-5000 miles is "burning a lot of oil", Acura (Honda) would happily provide a free loaner car while they rebuild your engine and wash your car for free if it burned that much oil at any time up to 150k miles, Toyota/Scion suck, show car builders have no idea what engine swaps or rebuilds cost and I'm a "childish jerk".

Points taken...

 

With all due respect, and trust me there isn't much, I asked to see how much a rebuild would cost in case anyone has done it. Your input was completely worthless. Interpret what I say however you want, your opinion is irrelevant.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're apparently still ignorant enough to believe that losing 1 qt of motor oil every 5k miles is so excessive that any auto manufacturer producing an engine that exhibits a similarly moderate and perfectly normal oil consumption rate should rebuild or replace said engine within the first 150k miles and throw in a free loaner car, car wash, etc. If you truly believe that Acura/Honda will do this, why buy anything else?

Despite your obvious ignorance and rudeness, I'm going to offer you some useful advice. Don't ever put 0w20 or 5w20 oil in any high-mileage internal combustion engine, especially one that's already burning more than 1 qt per 5k miles. My 20 year old Subaru with 180k miles burns very little oil because I fill it with 10w40. If I put 0w20 in it would burn through it almost as fast as gasoline.

As I said before, good luck.

 

Different oils also tend to have different characteristics as far as burn. Even the same grades of oil (because generally they are never the same viscosity).

When I filled up my car with Pennzoil Ultra 5W20, my car tended to burn more than if I used Pennzoil Platinum 0W20 or Toyota 0W20. I would say about 1/4qt difference over 5-6K miles. Nothing significant by any means, but Ultra did tend to burn more.

At 70K now, I see about 1/4qt of burn every 6K miles or so... Sometimes more/less depending on oil used. I tend to stick with Toyota 0W20 or Platinum 0W20 though.

 

No more mysteries or headaches. I bought a new engine with less than 20 miles and getting it installed soon. My car is definitely one of those affected by the TSB. Drained less than 1 qt after adding 3 qts this time around. That's not normal, trust me... Even though my engine's been misbehaving because of some faulty design I'm over the specified mileage because I drive a lot so I'm not covered. If you want a good deal on my old engine let me know.

 

just throwing this out there since i voted on the poll

girlfriends xB burns 1qt of oil every 1000 miles. car has never been abused/raced and all maintenance is up to date. synthetic only every 5k miles. Car is currently @ 58k miles, but has been burning oil since around 40k miles. Motor runs healthy, isnt sluggish and is 100% smooth, just burns oil. On startup blue exhaust is barely noticeable but noticeable if you look hard enough.

She doesnt want to deal with getting it fixed or replaced, she is planning to trade it in at the end of the month.

 

Mystery solved!

No wonder your engine is worn out and burning so much oil! Your engine is designed to be run with ~4 qts of motor oil but you run it down to less than 1 qt before adding oil. Don't you know how destructive that's been to your engine?

You also don't seem to understand how warranties and TSBs work. Your 140k engine is definitely not now, nor was it ever covered by or affected by this TSB. Your oil consumption rate was perfectly normal within and beyond the warranty range.

Hopefully you've learned an important life lesson from having to replace your expensive engine prematurely due to your own negligence. Remember to check your oil level more often and don't wait until it's 1" below the tip of the dipstick before adding. Your new engine will last a long longer if you do this. Good luck.

 

Fred you're such an assumptive, worthless character. Get a life and act your age... Maybe someday people will like you for once...

 

Speaking of assumptions... LOL

Maybe I was wrong about you but I can only go by what you've posted on this forum and I have no patience for people who refuse to accept personal responsibility and instead blame someone else for all of their problems. Even assuming that you didn't do any damage to your engine through your own admitted negligence, you still never qualified for this TSB because your engine didn't start burning excessive amounts of oil until sometime between 85k and 140k miles. That's the bottom line.

 

Malibu Rapper, sorry to see that you are having to replace your engine so soon. People here keep boasting about how these engines are bullett proof and will go 400k with ease!! lol Look at the bright side, you'll be saving a ton of money on oil now!

Seriously, your engine developed this situation around 40k like a lot of us and Toyota's TSB is worthless since most people will not burn enough oil until they are out of warranty.

I know that there are some of us that would like to know how much you paid for your new engine with such low mileage and we won't harp on how it's your fault and never the car makers.

Don't bother answering back to those that just like to argue with you, it drives them nuts!!! I know how to handle children.

Good luck!

 

This forum used to have signs of intelligent life... not so much these days...

 

xbscion, thanks! It's a little overkill replacing the engine since I could keep adding a quart every 800 miles. It does still run fine minus the tremendous oil consumption. I'm not used to having cars that burn oil. My old xB never had this issue and overall that was a better built car. I don't think cars in this performance range should burn oil. I think if I would have waited and gotten one without the problematic engine I would have been better off but I was one of the first to get the new xB at the time.

My engine deal was pretty good. My friend gave me the engine with less than 20 miles on it for $700 and is charging me $900 to install it. It's from a manual but he will just move over whatever is necessary to make it work. It's his last engine, he had a few because when they built the cars for for the auto show they got stacked up in some kind of grid display, one car on top of the other, and they removed the engines.

More than anything this is also to give me a good conscience when I sell the car. I couldn't live with telling the buyer that they had to add oil every 500-800 miles and that it's "normal." With what we know from the TSB, my car has had this issue since day 1. It only started to manifest around 40k when I asked the dealer about it. Faulty piston design or what not, it was destined to burn oil.

I'm just looking forward to not having to carry around a case of oil and getting my hands dirty.

 

Toyota has a clear flaw in their design here....there is no debating that!
My 2003 Honda Element has 153k on it, I've always ran Mobil 1 full synthetic 5w20 in it. I change my oil every 5-7k. It burns about 3/4 of a quart in that period...never more than that.
My 2008 XB with 110k burns 2qts every 3k.
Heck, not even my turbo diesel F350 burns that kind of oil.
I thought cars burning excessive amounts of oil was a thing of the past....a 1980's Chevy pickup thing?
I've owned many Honda's over the last 10 years and never, ever had a 'problem' with excessive oil burn....just sayin'!
I'm not convinced that 'modern day' Japanese engines should be "expected" to burn these amounts of oil...even with "high mileage". BTW...I thought a modern Japanese engine with 150k on it was just breakin' in? Oh wait, that's another debate.

 

THAT and those LED tails that fail.....