Excessive oil use

I just bought a 1995 Toyota Corolla. I had it about 2 weeks when the oil light came on, when I checked the oil, nothing registered on the dip stick so I added 4 quarts oil. Then today the same thing happened. What could be causing this?

How many miles are on the car?? Is the engine LEAKING the oil out on the ground? if not, then it’s BURNING it…You could have the PCV system checked from end to end…Problems here can cause excessive oil consumption…

Not enough information. Are there oil puddles underneath it? Does it smoke? How many miles on it? How far did you drive it in the two weeks? Is it overheating? Does the oil smell like gasoline?

Check the oil level every day. Have the coolant checked to see if it contains any oil. With the car idling look underneath for any oil drips, especially around the area of the oil filter.

You are burning oil, leaking oil, and/or a bad head gasket is allowing oil to get into the coolant. The oil is going somewhere, and you need to figure out exactly what is going on.

If the engine is not leaking oil like the Exxon Valdez then run a compression test. This may help to determine if the engine’s top end is shot. If it is, time for a new engine and you have now discovered why someone probably dumped the car.

Whenever you run an engine this low on oil and the oil light illuminates the engine will suffer some damage, even if it had no damage before this incident. From the sound of things you bought someone else’s problem child.

It doesn’t matter. You don’t get to run an engine out of oil twice and expect that it has any kind of future. If you have a warranty on this car, invoke it.

I checked the oil, nothing registered on the dip stick so I added 4 quarts oil.

Did you check the oil level after adding the additional oil?  Could you have overfilled it?

the mileage is 168,000. Oil is not leaking on the ground. tell me more about PCV system.
Thanks

No puddles on oil on the ground, and it does not smoke. the car has 168000 miles on it. it is not over heating, prior to the oil light coming on it smelled of gas, I had it checked and the gas tank had a leak, i replaced he gas tank and it no longer smells of gas. I drove about 300 miles before the oil light came on. When i bought the car, it had not been driven for about 4 months. the person i bought it from is a family friend. thanks for your input.

Yes i checked the oil after adding the 4 qts, and it registered full.

no warranty, bought from a family friend. So are you saying the engine is shot?

hum! Thank you…I did check the oil as soon as I got home and added oil, however if the engine is damaged it would need to be replaced and probably not worth the cost on a car this old?

Ok, thank you!