“The Toyota engine is fundamentally a good engine.”
But there have been several Toyota 4 bangers that have had problems with oil consumption, due to pistons and rings. I’m not talking ancient history, either, but the 2 generations before the 2AZ-FE. Plenty of owners that took excellent care of their engines ran into this scenario
The question then becomes what is a fundamentally good engine?
What is NOT a fundamentally good engine?
I believe there are fundamentally good engines
I believe there are fundamentally bad engines
“the big issue I suspect is that either the mechanic did not install the new pistons and rings properly, did not hone the cylinders or you did not break in the new rigs properly. You probably weren’t given break in instructions.”
@db4690, I’m glad we agree on something. I’m old school so an engine that uses less than 1 quart of oil every 500 miles OK and if they can run 300k+ miles as long as you keep oil in them, then they are a fundamentally good engine.
Most of the oil consumption I’ve seen on Toyota engines is from the front oil seal, not the rings. But Toyota did have an issue around 2000 with sludging caused by some design feature and extended oil change intervals and then the ring issue around the mid 2000’s when several other manufacturer’s also had ring issues (Nissan Altima comes to mind).
Well, most of the Toyota oil consumption I’ve seen is not from external leaks, but usage due to rings and pistons
As far as I know, the ring issue already existed in the early to mid-1990s. The 7A-FE is a classic example. In my opinion, anyways
I believe our differences in opinions may be caused by our different experiences . . . ?
Your definition of a fundamentally good engine is quite interesting. By your definition, the percentage of fundamentally good engines is very high, yes?
I think one problem is that the OP is not a car person. The car has had some real issues, but the associations made by the OP are a bit inconsistent with popular belief. Now it would be helpful if the OP came back, read all the posts and give us some more info.
On this Toyota engine, I agree with DB on its issues. Both the head bolt and then the oil burning have been clearly addressed as unusual by Toyota. Now doesn’t mean they all do it. My '05 I4 is close to 140K miles and still no head bolt issues, but I am well aware of the potential. Now, we bought another car, a 2013 Sonata and you see that Hyundai is admitting that the 2011 & 2012 are subject to major engine issues. I am not sure if it is my luck or if you sell a large enough volume of any car, common failure patterns are going to be more pronounced.
The Toyota “A” series engines are notorious for the front seal leaking, but as long as they had oil. 300k was no problem for them. They did burn a little oil as well but that front seal caused more oil loss than rings in my experience. The 1ZZ-FE also had a front seal issue.
My 61 Fiat did not have a fundamentally good engine.
Toyota does not allow the technicians to hone or modify the cylinder bores in anyway;
Inspect the cylinder bore.
Visually check the cylinder bore for the
presence of crosshatch and/or vertical
scratches.
• If the cylinder bore has visible crosshatch
and no vertical scratches, the cylinder
block is OK to re-use.
• If vertical scratches are present and
can be felt with a fingernail, or if the
crosshatch is not visible, replace the short
block assembly.
This is the break in procedure from the bulletin;
7. Test drive the vehicle to verify normal operation.
Break in procedures from the 1950’s and 60’s with those soft iron blocks and iron rings don’t apply today. If there are imperfections in the cylinder bores the seating of the rings cannot be reduced to a few miles by driving technique. It will take tens of thousands of miles of wear for the rings to match an imperfect cylinder.
