Help! Vvt-i Oil Consumption Problem!

February 9, 2006

Hi all!

I am a 2002 Toyota Celica owner and I live in Italy. The car has 25.000 km - it's about 15.000 miles.

It consumes about 0.25Kg per 1.000km (it should be something like 0.2L per 610 miles, or even more), and that's impressive!

I brought this used car last year, and the Toyota's warrany on the car is expired on May 2005 (in Italy we have a 3 years warrany on Celica).

I read a couple of posts about that problem, there are a lot of people having this engine trouble on other car with this 1.8 ZZ VVT-i engine (Avensis, Corolla, Celica and so on...).

I read also that Toyota in UK extended to 5 years the warranty on this engines (1.8 VVT-i), is this true?

The point is that I don't want to spend the whole repair cost, since this is an "almost common" problem on this engine (from 1999 to 2002), and Toyota Motor Italy says that they don't know anything about that!!

What do I have to do?

Do I have to write to Toyota Japan?

Do you have any specific information about this problem? …or any documentation… any evidence of this warrany extension... I would be very glad if I can make this extension usable also in Italy because it should be something like an European warrany.

Thank you very much for your help!

your friend

Luke

February 9, 2006

Mine's getting through a bit of oil at the minute actually (2001 Celica VVT-i). I'd just put it down to it being cold, and the engine using more at the minute. It seems to have got better since its been a bit warmer in the UK. I wasn't aware there was a problem with the 1zz-fe engine and oil consumption! Do you have any internet links to any other information on the problem that I can read about?

Welcome to TOC UK by the way!

February 10, 2006

Thank you! I'm happy to be here!

Yes of course, I can give you a couple of links on this forum after a quick search!

Check this out.

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...Oil+Consumption

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...topic=48141&hl=

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...topic=48299&hl=

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...topic=48200&hl=

The engine on the avensis is this the same 1.8 zz vvt-i that we have on Celica and MR-2.

I'm also into CelicaTeamItalia. There are people having the same problem!

Can anyone of you help with this? I'm reading also about a 1.8 vvt-i black list!

I'm looking for proof about the warrany extension...

February 10, 2006

Hi Luke and welcome to the club.

Regarding an engine warranty extension on the 1ZZ engine from Toyota I very much doubt anything would be put in writing. Although it is possible this could have been carried out under a purchased “Extended Warranty”

I don’t know weather the 1ZZ engine has any similarities with the one fitted to the Roadster but there are a few reported failures due to a possible pre-cat issue, one of the other forums I use has addressed this alleged problem on quite a few occasions, below is a copy of one of these posts:

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My car was registered in April 2000. It had an intermmediate 50,000 service on 19th March this year, with no apparent or reported faults. The mileage is 48,750. A short while ago I heard an alarming clattering noise when on the over-run, which quickly developed into the problen occuring all the time. I thought I had escaped the pre-cat failure some members have experienced - serves me right for being cocky I immediately took it over to my dealer for an investigation, hoping for the best. No such luck The prognosis is cylinder block bore wear, invloving a short block replacement at a cost of over £3,000 (parts are £1,600 + VAT). The garage said they would contact MrT. Then the "fun" really started

The standard warranty is 3 years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes sooner. Customer Relations got back to the dealer and said because the engine is over 5 years old they would not even consider making a concession towards the cost. Bearing in mind I have run 7 MR2s over the last 15 years and my wife has had 4 Toyotas the dealer suggested I tackle MrT myself. After several phone calls I have got them to reconsider and I have been offered a "generous" discount of £350 off the parts. I have already explained that there were no warning signs of engine failure eg loss of power, but that the bore wear must have been happening over some time. It would appear that most of the staff in the Research and Customer Relations Departments have no or very little mechanical knowledge of how their cars work.

I have explained that we have considerable knowledge within the ROC of this problem and as a result Toyota must accept that this is a "known fault". I need to prove this, in order to get them to re-consider their offer and at least pay for the parts. There are masses of posts and comments on the forum, too many for me to scan through for information. I am hoping that our members can provide me with information where they have got MrT to pay for repairs. I think all I would need are registration or chassis numbers - don't publish on the forum, but email me at, or PM me.

I daren't use the car in case it increases the extent of damage, so it's parked up in my garage (and it's a beautiful hood down day in Birmingham)

Sorry it's a long saga, but hopefully it will bring results.

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I would think any engine problem would be given warranty consideration after being investigated by the dealer; this of course will cost money for the investigation and would not be guaranteed to recoup any of the costs incurred should the results go against you.

Hope this helps a little

Les