Ok, so my truck is using excessive amounts of oil, like 2 quarts every 2-3 days.i drive my truck everyday and depend on it to get me to my work sites, as im a beverage tech with a contract with a big company that requires me to go to many gas stations thru out so.cal in one day. Anyway before i begin taking anything apart i would like some pointers on what or where i should look for. It has 226,000 miles ,no leaks that i have seen on floor or anything. I noticed oil pan gasket has oil all around but its not dripping. Only thing i notice when going up a hill if i rev up high when shifting from 2 to 3 gear i see a white smoke trail coming from my exhaust for a few seconds . I did the sr5 cluster swap and my oil pressure is only high after i put oil in it for a bit. I use 20/50w oil

 

That is very substantial oil consumption. At your level of loss, if the oil was leaking, it is near certain that the whole underside of the truck would be coated.

If its not leaking, the engine is burning it.

Looks like engine overhaul is in your near future.

 

Man, i was hoping it was something like valve stem seals . I get nervous when im out far from home and the engine makes a certain sound when accelerating and its low on oil. Lots of times ive check the dip stick and it doesnt even show anything on the end, afraid of throwing a rod or something.

 

Bad valve seals might well be contributing to your oil consumption, but that much oil loss cannot be pinned on valve seals alone.

What was the onset of this oil consumption?? Did it hit in a short period, or did it creep up worse by dribs and drabs???

 

I bought the truck first week of september, all it needed was valve adjust, but like a month later i did an oil change and only like 2 qurts drained, but at that time no smoke from exhaust, no excessive comsuption (1qrt) a week -week and half
But little by little it gets low alot faster now. After i did my clutch a couple weeks ago, i must have done something to the exhaust because it sounds like an exhaust leak from manifold , and with the burning oil, i am noticing some power loss as well. Throttle feels sluggish as well , am gonna remove intake and check if any oil in that area

 

I have seen this happen quite a few times over the years .

The change in driving style took out what life was left in the engine

Time for a fresh engine either rebuild this one or buy one.

Sell the truck as is buy another .

 

Man, that's low miles for a 22re! Makes me feel sad, must not have been taken care of too well...

 

Ive been wanting to own a toyota truck for awhile now, so im probably gonna
Look into getting a reman motor or if anything overhaul myself.
I admit i bought this truck in a hurry as i needed a truck within that week
At that time, and when looking for a decent truck like this at a decent price
They dont last long on for sale ads. I did get it at a pretty good price ,so i can
Put some money and time into it i guess.

By doing a compression check would be the way to go to determine if
An overhaul is required, correct?

 

Best place to start.

 

Sounds like you have a good amount of blow-by going on - been there, done that! My truck (1983 4WD Pickup with a 22R) was going through the same thing; about 1-2 quarts of oil between refueling. My compression was "ok" but on the low side, I would get puffs of blue-ish white smoke when shifting gears, heavy smoke on start-up that would subside after warming up, no oil leaks and no burnt oil smell in the exhaust. I could actually put a can under the exhaust tip and catch the oil that was coming straight out of the exhaust. I had a tremendous amount of blow-by caused by worn rings and my valve stem seals were shot causing oil to leak past through the valves. Oil was literally running through my engine and out of my exhaust. My oil was contaminated with fuel thus thinning it and making it more combustible as well. I ended up completely rebuilding the engine.

Normally I would say that you could buy yourself some time by using a high viscosity oil, but you are already using 20W-50 so it looks like you have already bought that time. You could do a couple checks to see what your problem is:
1-A compression check will tell you how well your cylinders are sealing. I'm not sure about the 22RE, but I know that for a 22R anything below 142psi is considered low and 171psi is the norm.
2-A leak down test won't really help you much on the oil consumption side, but you said that you had your valves adjusted - this could tell you if you are leaking out of your valves due to poor adjustment if your compression is low.
3-Check you PCV valve to make sure that it is functioning and relieving the crankcase pressure
4-You can check for blow-by by starting the truck, removing the oil cap and placing it upside down on the oil filter. If there is excess blow-by, the oil cap will be blown right off the the oil filler hole.
5-Do the sniffer test on you oil cap. If it smells like raw fuel then your oil is likely contaminated with fuel indicating considerable blow-by.

I would say that if you have fairly good compression and minimal leak down then bad valve stem seals are to blame. Typically bad seals show more indicators at start-up (like big puffs of blue smoke) because as the seals warm up they get some of their elasticity back thus sealing better. Also, as the engine sits, oil can seep past the seals into the combustion chamber where it sits until it is fired up again. It is possible to swap the valve stem seals with the head on the engine, but it isn't exactly easy. You have to pressurize the cylinder through the spark plug hole to keep the valve seated while you remove the keepers and spring to swap the seal. Lose pressure on the cylinder and that valve goes "TINK" when it drops down into your cylinder (been there, done that too...). Then you have to take the head off anyway to get it out. So it is usually best to do it with the head off.

If the compression is low you're at least looking at a re-ring, if not a complete rebuild.

 

Did a compression check and each cylinder read at 120
When i removed the plugs ,i found alot of build up on electrode end, i think its called
Ash deposit or something like that. I cleaned the plugs ,cleaned throttle body and after compression check and parts
Clean up, i started up truck , it blew a black ,wide spray onto driveway from exhaust. Maybe a carbon type blow out dont know. It seems a little more responsive now on throttle. But know there is valve noise coming from valve cover, like a rocker is really loose and another one like valve is out of adjustment again.

So, what you guys think about my compression numbers? I always went with if it read at 90 or so then it gotta go, but at 120
Thats like alright i guess. Thinking of doing valve seals , and see what happens

 

Whoever taught you "90 or so then its gotta go" should never touch a 22R engine. Low compression tolerances very between every make/model of engine so a rule of thumb like that cannot be applied across the board to every engine. The facts are facts, per Toyota's service standard, compression should be between 142 and 171 PSI. At 120 PSI, you are well below the threshold of low compression and since it is even across each cylinder then that is indicative of extended wear. If one or two cylinders were low then I would say check your valve clearances, but since all of them are similarly low then the chances of having a valve on each cylinder out of adjustment, stuck or leaking at the same rate is slim.

Spark plugs are a huge clue in diagnosing what is happening inside your engine. It is literally the only was you can see what is going on inside without actually popping off the head. The deposits you have on your plugs is indicative of something wrong within your engine (they should be clean with a slight brown/grey tone on the ceramic insulators). Without actually seeing your spark plugs, I can't really give you and indication of what is going on, but I can generalize a few symptoms.

Typically if the plugs are oily, black and wet, then you're having problems with oil getting into the combustion chamber. Since the deposits are "Wet" looking, that typically means that you are getting a lot of oil in the combustion chamber, but not necessarily burning it.

If the plugs have black puffy deposits then you're likely running rich. Typically caused by a faulty fuel injector or bad oxygen sensor that is reading lean all the time.

If the plugs have dark brown dry deposits then you're likely running too lean - also typically caused by faulty fuel injectors or bad oxygen sensor.

Since you have been running 93 octane with considerable oil consumption, I would venture to say that the plugs came out with a hard black coating on them indicative of unburnt fuel (misfires and incomplete burning of that 93 octane fuel) and oil consumption. I would also venture to guess that you likely weren't using the original plugs and ideally the plugs that were in there were within factory speck. If they were within factory spec (the recommended plugs) then they would have not had the proper heat range to burn that premium fuel that you shouldn't have been using to begin with. They would have been too cold; on top of the engine not having the compression ratio to properly burn higher octane fuels. If you or somebody else decided to get fancy and put some high end spark plugs in it that claim to "improve performance" then I would suggest replacing them. The NGK BPR5EY plugs are all you need - there is no need to deviate. Installing plugs with the wrong heat range can cause a lot of headaches.


I fear that you likely aren't going to get away with not rebuilding this engine. You can try replacing the valve stem seals, but I think that you would be wasting your time. And like I said before, it can be done without removing the head, but it isn't easy and one little mistake will result in the need to remove the head anyway. PLUS to remove the valve springs to get to the seals you would need to remove the head bolts and rocker assembly and pressurize the cylinder to hold the valves up. At that point, your head is no longer secured to the block and you risk not having a properly sealed head gasket when you re-install the rocker assembly and head bolts.

Honestly, if you are looking for a quick fix for this, I don't think you are going to find one.