1999 Toyota RAV4 - Oil Consumption

[Tim Martin]

A customer has a 99 Toyota RAV4 that uses about 1 quart to 800 miles. Runs fine, no cel, no dtc, gets 30-32 mpg, but this oil consumption is unusually high. Has 125,000 on the clock. In examining inside of cylinders, there is evidence of oil coming through intake passages. (I have a boroscope) Did they have an issue with the rocker covers as some of the 3.0L Chrysler engines did where the baffle held oil and the pcv valve sucked it in? Or might there be some other issues.

[liljoe]

I have had to put valve stem seals on these for this very problem.

[Tim Martin]

Did that one smoke at startup?

[Tim Martin]

Is this something I can do in my shop or need the head to come off and a machine shop do it? According to Mitchell service info, it appears that the head would have to be off, disassembled to put valve stem seals in.

[steven kiser]

if the cylinders will hold an air charge the guide seal can be replaced on the heads while on the vehicle. i've never personally done one on these but unless there is something unique it can be done on the vehicle. i've had to modify a fair amount of spring compressors but i've always been sucessfull.

[liljoe]

I use a 3/4 socket that I modified and a palm ratchet to compress the spring and use a magnet to remove the keepers, remove the old seal with t pair of vaccum hose neddle nose pliers, I use a deep 10mm socket to push the new seal down to seat it. For reassembly I put the keepers in the retainer with a little grease and thn push the spring down and using my finger tip put the keepers in place.

[liljoe]

One thing I forgot to mention is that you will want to stuff rags in all the openings that you can so no keepers fall into never never land. It really sux when that happens.

[Tim Martin]

Hey! Thanks for yer plan and the picture of yer tool. Ain't nobody in these parts that knows about something like that. How long does it take? Reason being the customer will want an estimate for this. Many thanks for yer help. I am really likin this forum thing the longer it goes. Wish we could get more techs to post requests and ideas.

[liljoe]

I charge camshaft R&R time pluse .2 per valve. You will prob lose at this the first few cause it can be a little tricky but after you do a few it becomes real easy. You might want to adjust your time accordingly.

[liljoe]

One more thing I forgot to mention is that once you air up the cylinder take a flat ended punch and hit each valve retainer close to the edge and this will make it easier to release the keepers.

[steven kiser]

woah joe, you say hit i understand because i've done this many times. i would strongly reccomend tapping it and use a brass punch. i'm afrain if it was hit too hard the keepers would fly off to never land and the valve may drop. i know this is an unlikely extreme but i'm a constant victim of "gee i never thought that could happen".

[Tim Martin]

Oh yes!!!! Ya gotta love tech talk. I thought about the same thing though. But up here in pa dutch country we have the saying "ya gotta take a dutchman for what he means" an I figured that applies in this situation. But layin all jokes aside I greatly do appreciate you fellows takin the time to share yer ideas. Lets keep up the good work!

[steven kiser]

tim, thanks for the pat on the shoulder. it really means something to me.

[Tim Martin]

Ya know, every now & then even the best of us needs that encouraging pat on the shoulder, shot in the arm, or whatever ya call it. An the way I figure, those of us guys at this level of the game best do it for each other cause we all have customers an vendors that don't do it. Although I have some excellent customers & vendors that i'd just about die for, well not literally, but ya get the picture. They stick right with ya, be it a mistake, high bills, or whatever. But hey, again, there are a few good techs left in this country an I say we recognize quality when we see it. This forum has proven to be one of the best moves I have made for my business in a long time. THANX TO ALL!!!!!!

[liljoe]

woah joe, you say hit i understand because i've done this many times. i would strongly reccomend tapping it and use a brass punch. i'm afrain if it was hit too hard the keepers would fly off to never land and the valve may drop. i know this is an unlikely extreme but i'm a constant victim of "gee i never thought that could happen".

Good call Steve, I didn't think it out far enough I guess.

[steven kiser]

hell lil joe, you thought it out fine. sometimes i think we all, myself being the leader will talk or give advise as we're all on the same level. my son is working for me know. he's going back to college next semister. (another story). he was working on a vehicle and i told him to take the ford scanner put the red card in it and hook it up, set it up and give me the codes. he just stood there looking at me. i said "what". he said "you lost me" i asked when. he said "when you said good morning". i always assume that i'm dealing with tech's at my level. my delete button is worn out from deleting my replies it the tech help sections.

[Tim Martin]

I realize that it has been 2 months since i first started this thread but the vehicle is scheduled to come in to get the valve seals in. I am wondering about the time it may take. It was suggested by one of you fine techs that i use camshaft r&r + .2 per valve for seal replacement. According to Mitchell1 estimator that would be about 10 hours to do a job like this. Is that about how long I should allow for in my schedule?

Thanks for your ideas.

[steven kiser]

i've been working on vehicles for many moons now. the remving the cam's may include r&r heads. if you use a labor time guide and there are no time guide lines for doing just seals i may follow lil joe's policy. i would also add that there may be a chance that it may be less. i would suggest you include a complete head set and oil change alng with coolant in your estimate. do a leak down on each cylinder. hate to hear that you got to the last cylinder and it wouldn't hold. another little tip i use is to order a few keepers to have on hand just in case. i've been saved a few times. whew......................................

[Tim Martin]

according to Mitchell1, i can r & r the cam without head removal. (4cyl engine) But thanks steve for your input into this project. I depend greatly on input from my peers since coming into this forum. It is good and i do wish that we could have more techs/shop owners contributing. But possibly that'll come. btw, i got started in auto repairs in the middle 1960's in my dad's shop. i feel like i have been doing this a long time now and yesterday as i was working on a 6.5L turbo truck engine and cracked my elbow badly, i wonder how much longer my bones can keep on getting banged up and i can still navigate decently. until then........ i'll keep on going for lack of anything better to do.

Thanks again steve.

[Tim Martin]

Was doing some research on this vehicle and various techs and shops are suggesting going to a lighter weight oil such as 5w-20w. One fellow recommended 0w-20w as a solution for the oil consumption on these problem vehicles. Anybody have any amount of success doing this? What about going to synthetic?

Currently the owner puts 10w-30w in.