8.0
pretty badTypical Repair Cost:
$1,300.00
Average Mileage:
85,818 miles
Total Complaints:
11 complaints
Most common solutions:
- not sure (6 reports)
- Chevy needs to redesign engine (2 reports)
- change piston rings/replace engine (1 reports)
- class action lawsuit! (1 reports)
- replace engine (1 reports)
engine problem
Helpful Websites About 2002 Chevrolet Prizm excessive oil consumption
2006Oct 22
Prizm 1.8L Vvti 1zzfe
- Automatic transmission
- 105,000 miles
Now it uses 1 quart of oil per 100 miles! Otherwise it runs well, and it's a good car, and there is no cloud of smoke, but it burns a lot of oil like they all seem to. I bought it three years ago from the original owner at 105,000 miles, and it used a quart per thousand miles then. Now I have to add oil every other day. I purchased a used engine today with 63K miles, and I'll install it and hope for another 100,000 miles. If the new engine doesn't use oil yet, I may try synthetic oil, since some say that helps.
2008Jun 11
Prizm
- Manual transmission
- 101,000 miles
Have a 2002 Prizm, bought it a year ago with 98,000 miles on it. In June I took it in for a regular oil change, they called me telling me there was less than 1 qt. of oil in it, and that I needed a new engine (which I did not do, as i could not afford!)
As everyone here keeps saying, the oil light never came on, the check engine light never came on, no oil ever leaked, and wasn't burning oil. I've been just checking the oil monthly since then and refilling as needed. A mechanic friend suggested that I put in this engine restore stuff in and that helped me go a little longer between oil top-ups, but I just tried this again tonight, and now the check engine light has come on and it's making strange sounds and feeling weird. Help!!
Why has GM not done anything about this???
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2008May 30
Prizm 1.8L
- Automatic transmission
- 68,000 miles
I bought this car for my daughter from a dealership May of 2008 and within 2 weeks the engine was making knocking noises. The oil didn't even register on the dipstick. It was driven 700 miles and needed another 2.5 qts of oil. We still owe 6000.00 on this car and am very disappointed in Chevy for not owning up to this problem, My last 2 cars were Toyota's so thats why I decided on this car, but now wondering about Toyota! If there is a class action lawsuit, I will definitely be there. This is CRAP! Gas is expensive enough and now adding oil every fill up is ridiculous. Would appreciate any feedback on people who have paid for repairs, what was done and the cost. This car was so well taken care of and I was very proud to get it and now just sick about it, please help!!!
2008Mar 28
Prizm 1.8L Vvti
- Manual transmission
- 67,000 miles
Bought new. Overall, a good car, except for the motor. Original brakes and no rotor warping, 5-speed shifts better than almost any other car I've owned, excellent fuel economy, but definitely a problem motor. Here's the description, from start until now.
1. Changed the oil/filter every 3k. At 9k, noticed the oil started draining black, not brown. The oil that was changed at 3k in other cars almost looked like new. Hmmnnn.
2. At about 9k miles, an engine knock, pinging problem developed. It would ping in hot weather - more so in stop and go driving, with greatly diminished pep. Running too lean? Cold weather, no ping (???) Seemed to happen at certain speeds, 15, 25, 35, and I'm guessing this is when the vvti changes the exhaust cam. Just thought that someone forgot about the i (for intelligence) in their vvti, that maybe Toyota didn't quality check the fuel management programming.
3. Towards the end of the 3k oil change cycle, the pinging would get worse. Simply shifting gears below the above speeds helped at first, but this wasn't fun. And then it couldn't be driven on the highway between 60 and 65 due to constant pinging.
4. At about 15k, noticed that only 3 quarts of oil drained and 4 quarts went in. This stayed fairly consistent until about 48k.
5. Also from 9k on, odd noises would emanate from the motor until it warmed up - metal to metal type noises.
6. Thought it might be the oil I was using, but changing from 50/50 synthetic blend to straight non-synthetic, increased consumption.
7. Now, I don't know if I even need to change the oil. In the last 5k miles, added a quart at 1500, then at 3000, and now it's at 4700 and needs another quart. Maybe I'll just keep adding fresh oil, since there's less and less to drain out.
Also, from researching late '90's early '00 2.4 Camry motors, they had some type of oil related sludge problem due to the way the oil was distributed. As I'm not a mechanic, the techno jargon is "some type of oil distribution worm gear 'crushing' the oil" rather than distributing it. Maybe this is related to the 1.8 design.
To end on a positive note, apparently the 1.8 in the 2009 Toyota/GM models is completely new. Wonder why. But thanks to this problem, I'm not sure about spending 16k on a new Vibe.
If GM would back this problem, even though it's a Toyota motor, they would earn/keep my loyalty. Mistakes happen. How about taking the price of a new engine (from the figures on here $3500 - $5000) and adding it to a rebate that can be used on any new/used GM car. That might do it.
2007Feb 10
Prizm
- Automatic transmission
- 85,000 miles
My son brought me his 2002 prizm in Feb 07 saying it was using quite a bit of oil. I gave it a quick going over and found no leaks or any apparent reason for the oil use.Two days ago, he brought me the car and said it was using about a quart of oil a day.I pulled the engine apart and noticed a lot of play from piston to cylinder on three holes. I pulled the pistons and took measurements. The pistons show almost no wear but the cyls show about 5 thousands taper. This, matched with the pistons having very short skirts, means the pistons are rocking excessively. When this happens, the oil rings cannot stay seated, causing a lot of ring blowby and the heavy oil use.Reboring and new pistons rings etc. would fix it for a while, but because of the very short skirts, this is a short life engine. This is my opinion ( 43 years twisting wrenches ) and I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I am going to patch this one by honing the cyls straight and knurling the pistons to fit if I can find some rings. It may be a throw away engine as parts seem to be very hard to find. Good luck with yours. Rbuck.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2005Jan 12
Prizm LSI 1.8L
- Automatic transmission
- 75,000 miles
2002 Chevy Prizm bought new in 2003. I owned an '89 Toyota Tercel before this car and, while it had less horsepower than your average riding lawnmower, it was absolutely bulletproof. I actually tried to kill the thing toward the end and did end up blowing the head gasket but that Tercel limped all the way to the VOA lot. So when I bought the Prizm I thought, "great, Toyota's quality with Chevy's bells and whistles." Wrong. The first omen of trouble to come was the transmission failing at 52,000 miles. Now I'm certainly no mechanic but I do know that a transmission - especially an automatic - should not be outlasted by the car's second set of tires. Chevy must have thought it was ok, though, because all I got from them was a sympathetic "too bad" and the standard line about being out of warranty. $3,500 later I'm back on the road. I had no more significant problems until about two years ago when I noticed the car "consuming" (my new least favorite word) an exceptional amount of oil. It started out losing around one quart per month or about every 500 miles. I didn't realize just how pronounced the problem had become until I started commuting 70 miles round trip to my new job each day. Now the damn thing sucks down at least one quart per week, or every 300 miles. You'd think the car would be showing this somehow: plumes of white smoke or large black puddles in the lot. Not so. There is some smoke visible while under hard acceleration at highway speeds and the bumper does have a slight coating of greasy soot right above the muffler but come on, four quarts of oil per month? Where is it going? Narnia? I'm stumped here. I've got too much left to pay on the car to consider junking or short-selling it but the thought of another expense like the transmission makes me want to drive the thing off a cliff. My garage and trunk are littered with empty oil containers and I feel like an idiot standing out in my company's parking lot once a week monkeying around my open hood making sure the engine won't seize on the way home. I live in Michigan, Land of the Big Three - where one can be legally beaten for driving a foreign car. But I'll tell you this, I'd rather take a whipping from the local goon squad than buy another GM. If a company isn't ethical enough to correct its mistakes then they don't deserve customer loyalty. HELLLOOOOOO HONDA!
2007Sep 01
Prizm LSI 1.8L Vvt-I
- Automatic transmission
- 85,000 miles
Using oil mysteriously as the other reports indicate. I am a fairly competent backyard mechanic, but I have so far been unable to find where the oil is going. The car is garaged and no oil leaks / drips on the concrete floor. If I wipe the tailpipe with a clean rag it comes up dry. There is no visible smoke during start-up or under acceleration. TI will be checking the PCV valve in the spring to see if it is maybe stuck open. I am really not interested in replacing the motor as the car is getting up there in mileage. I would be very interested in finding out the resolution others with this problem have arrived at.
2005Apr 20
Prizm LSI 1.8L
- Automatic transmission
- 45,000 miles
This car has used oil since i bought it in 2005 with 45k miles. No smoke and no leaks , yet I have to add 1 quart every 500 miles. Very annoying. At 130,00 miles an exhaust valve burnt up, cost me $1500.00 for a used head installed. Now at 170,000 miles it still burns oil and again I have no compression on the same cylinder.
2007May 26
(reported on)Prizm 1.8
- Manual transmission
- 57,000 miles
I have an '02 Prizm with the Toyota 1.8L that I purchased new. The car now has 57k miles. The car has always used about 1/2 quart between 3000 mile changes. Now it is using 1.5 quarts in the last 2500 miles. There are no leaks and no smoke.
2007Dec 01
Prizm 1.9 1.8L
- Automatic transmission
- 184,000 miles
Well I was doing an Internet search to see if there were others that have experienced my problem and found this site and am amazed at all the same complaints!! I purchased this car in 2002 with 14,000 miles on it on the recommendation of my brother-in-law who owns a used car dealership. Same car as the Corolla yet $$$ less. Absolutely no problems until this past summer. I commute 700 miles per week , all highway driving and noticed I was down oil, about 1 quart per 1k miles. Didn't think anything of it but as the months passed the amount increased to 2 quarts every 1k. Engine light would go on and I was shocked to find the oil level down below the dipstick indicator. Then I became aware of the engine noise which indicted no oil. Catylitic converter went and my mechanic found that the PCV valve was loaded and thought that this had something to do with the excessive oil consumption. Well I had the converter replaced , PCV valve and oil change. Drove 1100 miles and was down 4 quarts and was on the verge of blowing the engine.
After reading this web site I find it hard to understand how this problem escaped GM and Toyota and why there is not a recall or compensation. A class action suit should take place.
We have partnered with JustAnswer to offer online auto repair help and advice from expert professional automotive technicians. You describe your engine problem or ask your question and they try to help you figure it out. The fee is typically $9 to $15, but you can offer to pay more for really tough questions. You will usually receive an answer in 10 minutes or less, and you do not have to pay anything unless you accept the answer.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2008Oct 15
Prizm 1.8L
So the car started burning oil at 70k or so last year 10/08. i just kept adding oil, and it did get a little better in how much oil it consumed, but now at 85k on 11/09 i am just deciding to replace the car. It is a big hassle, and I don't trust this car to go any further. It's not really Toyota's fault with a poor engine design, but more the transmission. It mostly happens on the 3-speed ones. There are way too many RPM's at high speeds, that it causes the piston rings to wear out and let oil enter the combustion chamber. My advice, if anyone buys a prizm/Corolla make sure it's a 4-speed auto/ 5-speed manual.
dude8370
Columbus, OH, USA
SEND A COMMENT »