I've done the B12 piston soaks on all of our Corolla's. Love the stuff!
Another B12 Chemtool Piston Soak Oil burner success with Toyota 2AZ-FE
- Thread starter FALARAK
- Start date
Update: 12/20/24 - 139819 miles.
3959 miles since last oil change. This includes two highway trips around 1000 miles each. It consumed very close to 1 quart of oil (see picture).
I did another oil change with Valvoline Restore and Protect 5W-30 and this one is going back to college after the Christmas holidays.
Right now it looks like ~1qt every 4000 miles. I'm very happy with that.
3959 miles since last oil change. This includes two highway trips around 1000 miles each. It consumed very close to 1 quart of oil (see picture).
I did another oil change with Valvoline Restore and Protect 5W-30 and this one is going back to college after the Christmas holidays.
Right now it looks like ~1qt every 4000 miles. I'm very happy with that.
That is not bad at all, may be R&P can improve it even more. Interested in the results.
Thanks for the follow up, that's basically normal oil consumption at this point!
BTW we had 2 late 80s Toyotas, a 1988 Camry 2.0 4 cyl and a 1989 Corolla GTS 1.6 with the 4AGE engine, neither one burned oil, the Camry we sold at about 150,000 miles and the Corolla at about 100,000 miles.
BTW we had 2 late 80s Toyotas, a 1988 Camry 2.0 4 cyl and a 1989 Corolla GTS 1.6 with the 4AGE engine, neither one burned oil, the Camry we sold at about 150,000 miles and the Corolla at about 100,000 miles.
I only have a sample size of 1 that I can monitor currently on the VRP and that is on a questionable motor IMO.
I'm using it in my FIL's '16 Renegade with 2.4L Multi-air Tigershark. He got a new motor under warranty earlier this year and I'm doing 4k changes on it. The dealer fill needed 1/2 quart after 2 weeks and not too many miles. I think I used some PP in it for the top off. After that it stayed full until 4k change.
I used VRP 5W-30 at the 4k change and that was currently down about 3/4 of quart last check about 2 weeks ago. I might try to check it tomorrow at my normal flat place at gas station. It's 400 miles shy of the 4k change. I'm using the VRP to try and keep his rings from having issues and scoring cylinders like his old motor had.
The volatility test that @JAG did on the VRP was intriguing for me. NOACK used to be discussed a lot on here but no one really seems to post that anymore and harder to find data when I looked. I'm going to try the same VRP on next change and monitor it the same. If it does the same then future change I might try a different brand and maybe viscosity oil to see. He's going to be 80 and just had back surgery so his driving is less anyway which just makes that more difficult.
I'm wonder if @FALARAK usage of 1qt at 4k is from a possible piston ring issue or volatility issue. If volatility issue would something like HPL PCMO be good test to keep cleaning? I don't think I've seen any volatility things on the HPL but know some respected users here have used for many miles with no top off needed. I don't drive enough in a vehicle not already using some to really swap to test IMO.
Maybe other users that do more consistent higher miles with no issues will try it and report back not as one of the ones using VRP to try and solve a burning issue.
Basically I think I'm looking for the swap to VRP and it starts using some and then back to what they had prior and it doesn't again.
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I had read in another thread that the B-12 that remains (presumably within reason) after a soak will burn off once the engine comes up to temperature. Is there any truth to this, or does one need to consider doing a 'flush' oil change with cheap oil after doing a soak?
Are there any reasons not to do a B-12 soak if your engine consumes say, 1/2 quart in 3K miles or something low like that?
Are there any reasons not to do a B-12 soak if your engine consumes say, 1/2 quart in 3K miles or something low like that?
I dont think there is much need to do a short OCI with cheap oil. I did it mostly just in case there was any sludge from the flush, sill coming out.... and honestly $30 in oil/filter is just NOTHING compared to any real engine work.
It most definitely will not burn off to quickly, because one person did a hard drive with the chemtool in the crankcase, took it out on the highway, did several Italian tune-ups, and ended up developing a rod knock.
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Yea, I mean the residual B-12 though, maybe even a touch more than that. Definitely not the entire bottle.
The reason you have reclaimed the oil usage back to normal is because you cleaned out the oil control rings, for some dumb reason toyota has used an actual spring as the oil ring expander which is great for race or high revving bike engines which will require teardown soon.
You will need to do this every 6 months to keep it reasonable, there will come a time when even that wont work because the oil scraper ring cage will wear itself down to the point that the gap on it will become 3mm
Ive repacked quite a bunch of these engines. I use the classic 3 piece oil rings (not all manufacturers sell it for the later model 2az)
Once you open it, you want to ask who the hell signed off on that design for a car known for its longevity. The oil ring assembly has extremely tiny exhausts like the 1st iteration of the bmw m54 had. (That too burned oil mid life)
If you are into motorcycles too, then you will right at home as almost all yam R1 and R6 look like that.
You will need to do this every 6 months to keep it reasonable, there will come a time when even that wont work because the oil scraper ring cage will wear itself down to the point that the gap on it will become 3mm
Ive repacked quite a bunch of these engines. I use the classic 3 piece oil rings (not all manufacturers sell it for the later model 2az)
Once you open it, you want to ask who the hell signed off on that design for a car known for its longevity. The oil ring assembly has extremely tiny exhausts like the 1st iteration of the bmw m54 had. (That too burned oil mid life)
If you are into motorcycles too, then you will right at home as almost all yam R1 and R6 look like that.
Just do it right before your regular oil change, then change filters in a few hundred miles in case they caught a bunch of junk. I cut open two different filters after piston soaks on two different 2az engines and both had a lot of crunchy black stuff in them.
Why every 6 months? It has already been over 6 months on this example.
I am hoping that using Valvoline Restore and Protect might be able to keep the oil control ring from getting carbon deposits and the problem returning. Only time will tell.
If we have to perform this activity once a year, that will be fine. $9 worth of B12 Chemtool and a pretty easy service, is a HELL of a lot simpler and cheaper than paying for an engine teardown for new updated pistons/rings.
The oil ring design that toyota chose actually requires this cleaning every few hundred hours of use.
Infact yamaha sell a product just for this purpose, but even then the issue doesnt fully eliminate as the oil scraper ring cage weardown will warrant a repair, its just how the system is designed.
The updated ring kit is basically toyota using the classic legacy 3 piece oil ring design with pistons that dont have the added drainage slots.
Ive redone quite a bunch of these, while the engine is good and economical, it has some shortfalls and will require teardown.
Thanks. Well, for now, burning 1 qt every 4000 miles is super acceptable to me, for an engine with 140k miles on it. If it lasts the kid through 4-5 years of college, at around 10k miles a year, it will be a success.
To keep it in good shape for long, make sure the engine has absolutely zero oil leaks as that causes the pcv to not function as designed and leads to oil burn in the ring stack.
Only use a full synthetic 5w30 in it, itll run for long, expect a valve seal job in about 30-40k miles, they would be cooked.
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