I inspect 15 to 20 Toyota vehicles each week, unusual to need to add oil between oil changes. I have noticed some 2016 and newer direct injection V-6 engines need 1/4 quart between oil changes.
I find most dipsticks to be stuck in the tube, the lube techs are not checking the oil level, only filling the engine and closing the hood. If they checked the oil level after running the engine, they would notice the engine is over-filled. I find the need to drain 1/2 quart from many engines during the 5000 mile inspection.
Last week a Lexus CT200h was towed in, engine seized, no oil. $4200 for a used engine plus labor, parts and fluids. Customer approved the repair, then declined and towed the car out of the shop. This vehicle was in the shop 30 days earlier for a 145,000-mile service, tire rotation and complete inspection. “Junkyard Kenny” performed the inspection and I’ll bet $1,000 that he did not check the oil level. It is that one out of a thousand that will bite you, the oil level must be checked.
Had that happen to me. I do not check oil often but the dipstick could not be removed by reasonable force. Took it to the dealer still under warranty, said due to probably many short mile trips water built up and rusted it into place. They removed the tube, greased it up and said all is good. Free under warranty. I think about 15k miles.
Many regular Car Talk members state that the oil level should be checked during each fill of the fuel tank, how could the dipstick oil seal dry out and stick in two weeks? How could this be a warranty issue?
Don’t know the facts just relating the story as I know it. Sure I had never checked the oil before 15k, so maybe the dipstick had never been removed. It was taken care of by no charge to me, so if you want to try and get Toyota to charge me good luck. My understanding is the dipstick rusted into the end of the tube near the oil pan. My gawd that is what a bumper to bumper warranty is all about! Never said anything about an oil seal.
It doesn’t matter if I say it or not. If someone buys a new car, most likely they’ll find that this is the case if they do check their oil frequently. If they bought a car in the past, they might assume this is the case on all cars. The irony is that by having many modern engines use less oil, people are more likely to run them out of oil, because from time to time there will be a newer engine that does use oil, or some leak or fault will develop in a newer engine.
So if you don’t have a low oil level warning, check your oil at the gas station! If you don’t have a noticeable low oil pressure light, and instead you have a gauge where it would be easy to not notice if the oil pressure goes low, it is especially important! Perhaps install a bright light or buzzer! An engine seal can blow out there is no other way to save the engine. The Volvo 240s would go 500,000 miles but many were ruined due to the main seal blowing out.
I admit to being spoiled by an engine that burns little oil and not checking for over 3000 miles! I do have the red oil light though so if it went low I can pull over and walk.
Exactly. Every time a piston moves up and down the cylinder wall it leaves a deposit of oil on it which is washed away after the sparkplug fires and then finishes the power stroke. Most engines I’ve owned or ever worked on do NOT use enough oil to add between oil changes. HOWEVER - You still need to check your oil periodically between oil changes. I’ve probably checked my oil hundreds of times over the years without ever seeing it more than 1/4" below full line.
From my experience and many other mechanics and engineers I know it’s not normal to add a quart between recommended oil change intervals.
From what I’ve read, some Audis, VWs, BMWs, and Subarus can use more oil than most, and can require oil addition between changes. It’s true that most cars don’t, but I think the point is to check, that the only way to know for sure.
The last car I owned that needed a quart between oil changes was a 1971 Ford Maverick with a 250 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine. When I bought the Maverick as a used car in 1973 with 24000 on the odometer, it used a quart of oil every 300 miles. I had the valve stem seals replaced at a cost of about $60, and oil consumption dropped to a quart every 1250 miles. I could live with that.
I owned or have owned three Toyota products–a 4Runner and two Siennas. I have never had to add oil between oil changes. However, the owner’s manual for the 2011 Sienna I used to own said that consumption of a quart of oil every 650.miles is not abnormal.
I really don’t worry if oil consumption is no more than a quart every 1000 miles. I prefer not to have to add oil between changes, but I can live with having to occasionally add a quart of oil.
However, with respect for the environment, I retired my lawnmower at the end of the last season that burned oil so badly that I was fogging for mosquitoes as I mowed. I calculated the oil consumption of the mower to be equivalent of a car using a quart of oil every 150 miles.
They don’t want you to know about certain things. That’s why they took out all the panel gauges. They could have made it easy to check oil level without even having to open the heavy, snow covered hood with the two secret release mechanisms. You might mess something up in there! With the new cars they could just add another flashing light to the instrument panel or a voice alert that says “I will not start unless you check the fluid levels first!”.
