2017 Rav4 Oil Burning Chronicles

Pennzoil motor oil
S

STIcandy

Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
151
Location
Whitby Ontario Canada
I figured I would share here, the slow success I have had with cleaning up an oil burning 2arfe engine in my 2017 Rav4 in hopes I can help other people.

In October 2025, I bought a 2017 rav4 with 167,000 kms on it. It had all maintenance records, in every 8,000kms for service. However, shame on me I didn't consider that toyota had only changed the oil EVERY OTHER service, making it 16k oil changes.

After just 5000kms I decided to check the oil and it wasn't even reading on the dipstick. Topping it off I found it was 2.5L low. They changed the oil before I got it and I checked the level when I got it home, so it was obviously burning oil.

I Performed a hot compression test, and she had 210PSI across all cylinders well within specs. So I suspected I may have caught this in time to clean it. I scoped the cylinders. The dark areas and (seemingly) slight scoring concern me, but if it passed the compression test, it can't be too much of a concern.


So I started with my plan:

Step#1 I Performed an engine flush with BG EPR (engine performance restorer) for 30 mins at 1500RPM.

Step#2- I dropped the oil, and left the plug out. Pulled the spark plugs and did a piston soak with carb cleaner through the spark plugs, rotating every 8-12 hours by hand and topping off accordingly.

Step#3- Changed the PCV

Step#4- I did a Fresh conventional 5w-20 oil change with 2 bottles of auto-rx for a 5000km run.

Admittedly I added a bit too much oil, it was 1/4" over the full mark, or roughly 1/4 of a litre.

I drive a lot for work, so I took the car from my wife to get the cleaner working in and away I went on my oil consumption journey checking every 1000(ish) kms

January 27, 2026 Odometer start: 168 427: oil level 1/4" over full

February 1, 2026 ODO 169,417kms: oil level 1/8" over full mark

Feb 5, 2026- ODO 170,420kms: oil level at full mark

February 15, 2026- ODO 171,490kms: oil level 3/8" below full mark. This was the biggest drop yet

February 27, 2026- ODO 172,612 kms: oil level 5/8" below full mark

March 4, 2026- ODO 173,417 kms: oil level 5/8" below full mark (no drop)

Today I changed the oil. Dumped it into a measuring container. I recovered 3.75L of oil. Considering the car takes 4.3L of oil and was over fulled by roughly 0.2L, that puts my oil consumption in the 0.75L area. Vast improvement from the 2.5L discovered originally.

After some deliberation, I refilled this time with Total Quartz 9000 synthetic 5w30 and 2 more bottles of Auto-rx.

The oil was just nasty for 5000kms. But what I couldn't believe was the crap in the filter.

Here's some before and after pictures. I will keep updating as this story unfolds.


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Nice job! Thanks for sharing.

From my learnings here, as long as there are no mechanical issues, the piston soak does the most effective quick clean. Many use Berryman’s B12 Chemtool same way as you used carb cleaner. Valvoline Restore and Protect (Valvoline Restore and Protect) is the newer oil taking over for the piston ring cleanings. You might want to switch to that after your current OCI, plan to use at for least 4 intervals, maybe forever if doing the low to normal intervals you are. It should finish up the cleaning (restore) and keep them clean (protect). Multiple users here recommend Mobil 1 ESP 0w-30 also as it is an excellent oil and listed for longer drain intervals if that is something you may want/need.

Auto RX is older, it worked for me way back. High Performance Lubricants EC30 does an excellent job when added in place of a quart. Many threads and discussions on that, I have pictures of what that removed form my vehicles.

Other potential cleanings – Threads on fuel additive cleaners with PEA for the injectors, possibly valves if MPI, maybe piston tops. BG 44k for fuel highest PEA concentration . Techron has some nice BOGO sales going, ounce/ounce needs 2 bottles for 1 BG44k BUT that may be ok based on sales. Valvoline has a new Restore and Protect Fuel System Cleaner, supposedly not PEA based. No feedback on that yet and as of last week only available at Autozone in limited qty. Redline SL-1 and others also get good reviews from members here.
 
Thanks for posting this
Piston/combustion chamber soak is a much quicker way (overnite) to improve/fix stuck rings than 4 OCIs with Valvoline Restore and Protect.
I did a soak 7+ yrs and 76k miles ago, long before Valvoline Restore and Protect came on the market:
jetman

Post in thread 'GM LS High Oil Consumption Fix(s)'

Clinebarger: Yes I didn't tell yall the rest of the story
smile.gif
. It was leaking oil too, out the rear main seal. The short version is: I'm a DIYer. I changed the rear main seal, dropped the oil pan and installed the GM relief valve shield per the TSB. I also changed the oil pickup o-ring. 15 months and 21k miles later, it is dry as a bone underneath, and only uses 1/2 qt every 8k miles which IMO is OK for a 152k mile engine.

Its a dream to drive. If the darn vehicle didn't drive so good I would of sold and not fixed it...
 
Sequoiasoon said:
Nice job! Thanks for sharing.

From my learnings here, as long as there are no mechanical issues, the piston soak does the most effective quick clean. Many use Berryman’s B12 Chemtool same way as you used carb cleaner. Valvoline Restore and Protect (Valvoline Restore and Protect) is the newer oil taking over for the piston ring cleanings. You might want to switch to that after your current OCI, plan to use at for least 4 intervals, maybe forever if doing the low to normal intervals you are. It should finish up the cleaning (restore) and keep them clean (protect). Multiple users here recommend Mobil 1 ESP 0w-30 also as it is an excellent oil and listed for longer drain intervals if that is something you may want/need.

Auto RX is older, it worked for me way back. High Performance Lubricants EC30 does an excellent job when added in place of a quart. Many threads and discussions on that, I have pictures of what that removed form my vehicles.

Other potential cleanings – Threads on fuel additive cleaners with PEA for the injectors, possibly valves if MPI, maybe piston tops. BG 44k for fuel highest PEA concentration . Techron has some nice BOGO sales going, ounce/ounce needs 2 bottles for 1 BG44k BUT that may be ok based on sales. Valvoline has a new Restore and Protect Fuel System Cleaner, supposedly not PEA based. No feedback on that yet and as of last week only available at Autozone in limited qty. Redline SL-1 and others also get good reviews from members here.
Click to expand...
I'll look into the different oils thanks! I have no intentions of lagging the oil changes back out to 16000kms (10k mile) oil changes. That is what caused this mess in the first place. Having said that the previous owner lived in town and those 16k kms are far more damaging than my highway rural 100-200km/day commute would be. If I can get this under control, my ultimate target down the road is 10k kms OCI which usually lands every 3-4 months. My 2011 rav4 did that and was spotless with no oil burning.

Thanks for the heads up on fuel cleaners. I'll check them out. Unfortunately in Canada, many of those cleaners aren't available.
Bobmikel said:
That kind of drop from ~2.5L to ~0.75L over 5,000 km suggests the rings were at least partially restricted rather than mechanically worn, especially with even compression across cylinders. The fact that consumption stabilized toward the end of the interval is also a good sign.


Moving to a 5W-30 was a reasonable step given the mileage. It’ll be interesting to see if consumption trends down further over the next interval with a cleaner ring pack and fresh oil. Keep posting the measured drain amounts; having actual numbers instead of just dipstick impressions makes this thread a lot more useful.
Click to expand...
Ride_Red said:
Give Valvoline Restore and Protect oil a try.
I'm halfway through the first oil change in my daughter's CR-V (150K miles) and have another jug in the garage for the next oil change. It has been effective in reducing oil consumption for a number of people on this forum.
Click to expand...

walterjay said:
Valvoline Restore and Protect has helped me on a daily driver. You are a perfect candidate for it.
Click to expand...
Valvoline Restore and Protect is my next step in the cleaning process for at least 4 OCI'S
Sequoiasoon said:
@STIcandy - The borescope pictures look very bright and clear. What brand/model borescope? Link?
Click to expand...
Its a vevor brand. I'll check for you!
 
Very solid plan of attack. Thanks for the post. My nephew worked a Toyota master tech for years and now works for Toyota corporate. It always amazed him how some customers thought you can basically bolt the hood down, ignore the mechanics and because it was a Toyota it would run forever.
 
16k OMG not good.
Mobil 1 has a new oil they claim cleans in one oil change
 
Samurai1225 said:
Very solid plan of attack. Thanks for the post. My nephew worked a Toyota master tech for years and now works for Toyota corporate. It always amazed him how some customers thought you can basically bolt the hood down, ignore the mechanics and because it was a Toyota it would run forever.
Click to expand...

When Toyota themselves are very proud of the fact that you can go 10k miles between oil changes, customers are smitten with their low maintenance Toyota until they have egg shaped cylinders.
 
tblt44 said:
O 16kms
Still to long
Click to expand...
My Civic begs to differ. That’s my typical oil change interval and the car has 306,000 km on it now. Under the right conditions with the right oil it’s perfectly safe.

We also have member tig1 who has been doing 10,000 mile intervals for 40+ years in all of his cars with total success
 
Patman said:
My Civic begs to differ. That’s my typical oil change interval and the car has 306,000 km on it now. Under the right conditions with the right oil it’s perfectly safe.

We also have member tig1 who has been doing 10,000 mile intervals for 40+ years in all of his cars with total success
Click to expand...

Using an off the shelf 0W-20?
 
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