Oil Leak? Burning Oil?

[spydermonkey]

I bought a 96 Tacoma with 72k miles on it about 3mths ago. After a

about a mth, we changed the clutch. The mechanic suggested we change

the rear main seal while he was down there, so we did. Other

maintainance that I did was change the engine oil, pcv valve, and air

filter. About a couple of weeks later, i checked the oil when filling

up the gas. It showed no oil on the stick. I put a quart of oil in,

and it showed halfway on the stick. I decided to keep the oil there.

About a mth later, i checked the oil again, and it showed nothing. I

looked to see if there was any oil leaks ont he ground, none. I dont

see blue smoke coming out of the exhaust either, not much smoke at all after the car heats up. One thing I did notice was the radiator fluid is brownish, but this could be caused from rust/contaimenants. Mechanic suggested I get it flushed when I had it examined before purchased, havent done it yet.

Question, could the rear main seal be causing the leak? I havent

looked yet under the car at the engine. What about the PCV valve? I dont see any oil around the valve.

I dropped the car off at the mechanic tonight. Hopefully its not anything major.

Any comments/suggetions appreciated. Thanks.

[Kelvyn]

It may just be you have a 'thirsty' engine. Some engines do use oil, I've seen manufacturers quoting up to a pint per 1000 miles as being normal so unless you leave oil stains on your driveway or garage floor or you get lots of blue smoke from the exhaust don't worry, just make sure you keep it topped off. Looking on the bright side at least you know your engine will always have fresh oil.

[kendo2222]

my corolla gs 1.6 is burning oil at about half from the full line after about 120 miles, its blowing black and white smoke when u rev it up, no oil leaks on floor, a test at a garage showed that the number 3 cylinders had oil about and that spark plug very oily, prob leaking seals. was told need complete engine rebuild costing about 1000+. does any1 know any cheap reliable garage that can repair this i am in northampton and travel to and from london. kalvyn i see u r from luton any recommendations. thx kendo

[DeejDaMechanic]

my corolla gs 1.6 is burning oil at about half from the full line after about 120 miles, its blowing black and white smoke when u rev it up, no oil leaks on floor, a test at a garage showed that the number 3 cylinders had oil about and that spark plug very oily, prob leaking seals. was told need complete engine rebuild costing about 1000+. does any1 know any cheap reliable garage that can repair this i am in northampton and travel to and from london. kalvyn i see u r from luton any recommendations. thx kendo

←

Okay, is this only occuring when your engine is cold, or does this continue to happen all the time?

If it happens when your engine is cold, this is usually normal, but as for the third cylinder plug being oily, this could mean either damaged piston rings, or, a retarded spark..

This happened with my bike, by bike was burning a lot of oil and the smoke was black/white. On further inspection, i found that the sparkplug in cylinder 2 was very oily. Try changing your spark plugs, at first, the car may be very smokey because it's burning off the excess oil in the pot, but this should only last about 10 minutes.. After that, if you're still having the same problem, it would almost definately be the rings.

Just find a place that can do the rings/seals you need, and if you're not afraid of getting your hands dirty, it's very easy to have a go at yourself for around £30-50

If you're interested in doing it yourself, PM me, and i can talk you through, or get you a guide on how to do it.

Hope this helps.

Dave