I bought this Toyota almost new with about 21,000 miles on it in 1998. It was great for several years. Then about four years ago I checked the oil and noticed it was low. It has been a problem ever since. If I don't check the oil every week or so I risk blowing up the engine. It seems to lose a quart about every 500-800 miles. I've had all the seals, except the rear seal, changed and had the valve cover gasket done too. Even the oil pan gasket was done. It's very annoying because if I want to go on a road trip, now I have to rent a car. I'm at the point of maybe just buying another one. Where is the oil going??? It's not burning it, or if it is I can't tell, I've seen the bluish smoke of a car burning oil and I have a good idea what burning oil smells like too. I saw where other people have complained about oil sludge causing this and I wonder if that's the problem. I know one thing, the car hasn't had the power it should have for a long time and these cars are supposed to run well for 200,000 - 300,000 miles. My mechanic, so far, hasn't figured out why it's losing oil either and I think the only thing that's going to fix this is either an engine rebuild or a new engine entirely.
Toyota makes good cars but I've been disappointed in their customer service locally at Royal Toyota in Bloomington, Indiana. The guys at this local dealership are like a bunch of trolls. They treat customers like they are dumb. I mention this because, I had another issue once with this car too that was obviously a design flaw and they wouldn't stand good for it because the car was 200 miles over the 60,000 mile warranty when I was complaining about the issue while the car was still under warranty. It was the CD changer hitting the cups in the cup holder, it actually stripped the gears so the CD magazine became stuck. They said this was a known issue and told me I shouldn't have put cups in the holder. WHAT!!! I'll never buy another car from the local dealership. I also, had an issue once with the seat belt and they said I had to order a new one because if would fail. They charged me $150 for the seat belt then they wanted $200 dollars to install it. I never even went back, I was so pissed, that should have been under warranty too. They can take the $150 and smoke it. That was 120,000 miles ago and the seat belt still works. That when I stopped going to that dealership for anything.
But, this oil thing really pisses me off because it's expensive to constantly add oil and I think eventually it will cause my engine to blow up, that why I don't take the car on road trips ... this obviously a problem with the engine design because so many people are complaining about it. The internet is full of instances. I hope Toyota is paying attention!!!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought this Toyota almost new with about 21,000 miles on it in 1998. It was great for several years. Then about four years ago I checked the oil and noticed it was low. It has been a problem ever since. If I don't check the oil every week or so I risk blowing up the engine. It seems to lose a quart about every 500-800 miles. I've had all the seals, except the rear seal, changed and had the valve cover gasket done too. Even the oil pan gasket was done. It's very annoying because if I want to go on a road trip, now I have to rent a car. I'm at the point of maybe just buying another one. Where is the oil going??? It's not burning it, or if it is I can't tell, I've seen the bluish smoke of a car burning oil and I have a good idea what burning oil smells like too. I saw where other people have complained about oil sludge causing this and I wonder if that's the problem. I know one thing, the car hasn't had the power it should have for a long time and these cars are supposed to run well for 200,000 - 300,000 miles. My mechanic, so far, hasn't figured out why it's losing oil either and I think the only thing that's going to fix this is either an engine rebuild or a new engine entirely.
Toyota makes good cars but I've been disappointed in their customer service locally at Royal Toyota in Bloomington, Indiana. The guys at this local dealership are like a bunch of trolls. They treat customers like they are dumb. I mention this because, I had another issue once with this car too that was obviously a design flaw and they wouldn't stand good for it because the car was 200 miles over the 60,000 mile warranty when I was complaining about the issue while the car was still under warranty. It was the CD changer hitting the cups in the cup holder, it actually stripped the gears so the CD magazine became stuck. They said this was a known issue and told me I shouldn't have put cups in the holder. WHAT!!! I'll never buy another car from the local dealership. I also, had an issue once with the seat belt and they said I had to order a new one because if would fail. They charged me $150 for the seat belt then they wanted $200 dollars to install it. I never even went back, I was so pissed, that should have been under warranty too. They can take the $150 and smoke it. That was 120,000 miles ago and the seat belt still works. That when I stopped going to that dealership for anything.
But, this oil thing really pisses me off because it's expensive to constantly add oil and I think eventually it will cause my engine to blow up, that why I don't take the car on road trips ... this obviously a problem with the engine design because so many people are complaining about it. The internet is full of instances. I hope Toyota is paying attention!!!
- jhogan, Bloomington, IN, US