Q: Car using oil and shaking

asked by on December 15, 2016

My Corolla uses a lot of oil (not leaking out on ground). Example, 3 quarts of oil to go 200 miles. When low on oil it rattles and shakes.
2001 Toyota Corolla My car has 90000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

The amount of oil usage you have would cause a large cloud of smoke out the tailpipe. If you see smoke out tail pipe then you most likely have piston ring damage and not sealing on piston walls. You should have a cylinder leakage check to verify where the cylinders are pulling in the oil. You may need to have engine replaced.

Although there is a possibility that a malfunction of the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) system, huge oil leakage past the valve stem oil seals, or other reasonably easy to repair fault, accounts for this rate of consumption, if your oil consumption is truly measured as quarts per 200 miles, or even three quarts per 2,000 miles, clearly something major has gone wrong. I would request a check of the PCV system as well as cylinder compression. If cylinder compression is good, try installing new valve stem oil seals. You can request these services as PCV system inspection and replacement, and engine diagnostic service in which you would simply request that the Mechanic test, among other things, cylinder compression in each cylinder. If you have a follow up question or concern, please let us know.

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