2.7L Oil Consumption Problems

Hey Everyone,

Been having a hell of a time with my truck. Trying to figure out an oil consumption problem. This thing either burning it or spitting it out the tail pipe. See image as to why I think that.

Did and oil change and only 2.5 quarts came out. The oil was very watery and black at only 1.5k miles on the last change. The truck doesn't smell like anything burning but when the truck got to temp it was showing just a bit of white looking smoke from the tail pipe along with a bit of what looked a bit wet. Tried to get a pic. You can even see some soot came out of the tail pipe when I shut the truck off and back on.

I got the heads rebuilt a few months ago due to a burned valve and replaced the PCV. Wondering if something wasn't put back together correctly or what. The oil level showed that there should've been at least 5 quarts but hardly any came out when doing the oil change.

Any thoughts? I'm at my wits end trying to figure it out. Thanks all!

 

I am confused. You mentioned heads rebuilt. Was it one head from a 2.7 or both heads from a 3.4 V6?

Did you Remove the heads and have them rebuilt or did someone else remove and reinstall the heads?


Did the TTY head bolts get reused?. If those torque to yield headbolts got reused then whats going out your tailpipe can be your explanation. At any rate the head should be removed and inspect the head, head gasket and engine block.

TYY head bolts cannot be reused because they will have stretched too much. TTY bolts are used on aluminum heads because as they heat and cool they change their shape as they get to operating temp and cool down again.

 

I'd get a compression check and leakdown test done. Sounds like oil is getting into a cylinder, and if the head work is that new it could be suspect. Might be under warranty from whoever did the work.

 

Believe I just said heads cause it's what I'm used to. It's the 2.7L I4 that I got. The head bolts were not reused. I bought new ones.

Took the head to a reputable shop in Kansas City the gave it to the mechanic to put the head back on.

 

Other than a cracked head or engine block as a mechanic I cannot think of any other way as to how you are losing so much oil. Either way you have to remove the head. Take a straight edge to the head and iron block and verify that those assemblies are straight. Disconnect the exhaust manifold and inspect it to determine which exhaust port is taking the oil. Inspect the exhaust port at the heat as well. You are losing an uncommon amount of oil. You mentioned thin oil so this makes me believe that you are losing engine coolant as well. I might want to think that your head gasket is very defective. When disassembling the head make sure that you take pictures.
I am going to assume that you reassembled the head, head gasket assemblies properly. Remember your torque pattern and sequence. Don't forget your additional 90 degree tightening turn with the torque wrench.
P.S. I would be curious if there was any kind of foreign object on the head /gasket surface when you assembled the head.

 

Definitely a question for the mechanic. Gonna try to see him soon. I don't have the smarts or the tools to check his work. Supposedly a very reputable shop so I'll need to see what the next step is. Gotta be something that wasn't put together well.

Checked the level before before today's oil change and was on the low part of the dip stick. When draining everything only 2.5 quarts came out. Very odd...

 

Your oil retainer rings are more than likely gunked up. Ive got low compression on every cylinder and burn a quart every gas tank. New oil comes out black. Service history says it was changed every 5k with synthetic . From my reading, its a common enough issue with this motor.

 

Sounds like piston rings. Pull your spark plugs and check for oil or excess gunk on and around the electrode.

 

Pulled the plugs. Nothing out of the ordinary there. They was no wetness or anything around them. Coils looked fine also.

 

How does it sound with the oil cap off?

Really bad engines, especially four bangers you'll see exhaust come out of the crank case. (this never works on the v6)

If there's no smoke or loud puffing, i'd be more inclined to say a blown valve seal. But this sounds like gummed ring lands.

 

Folks, this oddity right here is worth focusing on.

@M37r1c, how much oil did you put back in? If you drained out 2.5 quarts, but had to put in 5 quarts to get the oil level back to full, that’s hard to explain. I don’t know if the 2.7 has the same issue as some of us have with the V-6, but oil can get smeared on the dipstick and look like there’s more oil in the engine than reality. Others don’t have this problem. I do, and I pretty much check the oil in the morning by pulling the dipstick out once; some oil appears to get spread into the dipstick tube and getting a solid reading after that is hit or miss.

If you only had to put 2.5 quarts back in to get it to full, then that’s a different issue.

 

So saw the guy who worked on my truck. A few mechanically inclined ones have said the same thing so I'm gonna give what they say a shot.

Long story short due to the head being being resurfaced some have told me that I may be making more compression than it used to. Due to the oil being thin it could be getting past the piston rings and then out the exhaust.

Was told to use a thicker oil as that should keep the oil from getting past the rings. The engine is approaching 200k so it kind of makes sense. Was using 5w-30 and was told to go a grade up. Just did an oil change with heavy 10w-40, if I have issues starting I'll go down a grade but I'll drive it around and see what happens.

Does this stuff make sense? Hate for the piston rings to be bad as I pretty much a rebuilt everything from the block on up. Mechanic says when he looked at the bores everything seemed good. No scratches or anything.

I'm sending an oil sample to Blackstone labs to see what they can make of the oil I got and maybe tell me what's going on in the inside. Thanks for the help all. Welcome ideas.

 

Well did a long drive of about 300 miles from an oil change and I lost a quart and oil is starting to look dark. Really ticked off as I just spent a ton of money on getting the head rebuilt and put on. Seems like there is still a lot of soot build up by the tail pipe. Gonna take it back to the shop and see what the options are but I'm getting ready to offload this thing. Can't keep throwing money at it I feel...

 

So I'm reviving my old thread to help those know how I handled this issue I HAD. I watched a video by a YouTuber called DIYDave. He had a Corolla with a 4 cylinder that was very similar to my Tacoma. Watching his video netted some interesting info using a product called berrymans b12 Chemtool.

Doing a piston soak he was able to make his consumption from a quart every 300 miles to a quart about 1000 or so miles. He knew he wasn't going to completely fix the problem as he knows one of his rings seems bad but I didn't think I had the problem.

I tried the piston soak using b12 Chemtool using a similar method as him and it completely fixed my oil consumption problem. I've gone 1200 miles so far and not a drop has been used. I recommend this product to any i4 guys that are having the issue following the same standard or small variation as DIYDave. I'll be around for any questions. Take care all.

 

Any updates? I am burning oil. Not a ton of oil but it's significant.

 

They screwed something up,take it back and have them fix it.
Sounds like a bad headgasket/head.

 

Haven't had an issue yet. The piston rings are the weak point of these motors. If oil changes aren't done they will seize up. Piston soak fixed the problem for me.