2001 Toyota Corolla excessive oil burn?

(2011-08-29 14:20:09) 1. Five-7Vortec Says: I recently bought my mother's 2001 Toyota Corolla. We are the second (technically I am the 3rd) owner of this vehicle and it has a very good care history and has been an incredibly reliable vehicle. About 6 months ago, my mom got a new car and this one sat in the driveway completely neglected till I found a college I could bring the car to and have it fixed right and cleaned up, I have just bought it.

It has acquired extreme hail damage over 90% of the body thus chipping the paint and water accumulating under the paint and lots of oxidation (planning on a new paint job in the future, trying to fix major stuff first). It has been burning a LOT of oil... about 1 quart every 150-200 miles or so but we always made sure there was oil in it to ensure no damage was being done. I have noticed a small area underneath the car that a medium sized pool of oil has formed. I've done a lot of research on the 1ZZFE Corolla engine for 1998-2002 and have found that many people have had the same problem. I've heard it could be stuck piston rings, bad head gasket, cracked/weathered valve stem seals, cracked piston rings, and even that the pistons in the models listed were smaller than the actual cylinder bore (???).

I live in Kansas, where the summers (especially this one!) are brutal and the winters are just as cruel. So my first thought was that since my mom owned it at the time, she never let the car warm up when it was 10 degrees and lower outside, and from sitting in that weather the valve seals would've froze up and started to become brittle as the engine heated up when she drove, leaking oil into the combustion chamber. I have done a little bit of inspection, there is no white smoke that comes out, it seems to be performing just as good as it did the day we bought it, but when you get up to higher RPM's (I've hotrodded the Corolla a few times.... I'm cool! lol) it noticeably sends some dark smoke but it's not very thick. This car has only 120,XXX miles and I believe it has a lot of life left in it. My mother also had an AE86 Corolla and the thing had over 400,XXX miles on it before it went. If someone could help me out with this problem I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!2. Stpaulguy Says: You're right it's a common problem. To check the valve stem seals you'll need an air compressor, an air chuck adapter to fit in the spark plug hole, and a valve spring removal tool. You remove the camshaft. Then remove the spark plug and screw in the adapter. Fill the cylinder with air to prevent the valve from falling down. Then use the valve keeper removal tool to remove the valve spring keepers. Remove the spring. The seal is under the spring. If you see cracks, then it's bad. If not, you've got much bigger problems. Typical price for a Jasper rebuilt engine is $3,000 plus installation. Lots of unhappy Toyota owners out there right now.3. KEITH W Says: If it has oil on the ground it must have a leak external find it & fix it then go from there.A compression test will tell U if lower eng prob or in the head.4. Christopher Dahlen Says: If it where leaking oil into the combustion chamber the smoke you would see would be blue. White smoke is is you are burning up coolant just fyi. First id start with trying to find where the oil leak is coming from and fix that. Then move to the head gasket and valve stem seals check those. Then go into the internals. Tag: 2001 Toyota Corolla excessive oil burn?