Another Toyota oil burner saved by a Berryman B-12 piston soak!

[mccandish]

Over the past months, I was impressed by several posts (here and here) concerning a possible fix for oil burning issues in some Toyota engines.

I own a 2010 Toyota Highlander with the 1AR-FE 2.7 inline-4 with 350,000 miles. I have always changed the oil at 5,000 miles with mainly whatever was posted on clearance here at BITOG. Over the past 150,000 miles or so, oil consumption has increased from 0.5 up to 3.5 quarts for the 5,000-mile interval. Gas mileage had also decreased from a range of roughly 22-24 mpg to 20-22 mpg (mainly highway use).

At the last oil change, I tried the Berryman B-12 piston soak by pouring 2-3 ounces in each cylinder and letting it sit overnight. In the morning, cylinders 1, 2, and 4 had barely lost any fluid, while cylinder 3 was nearly dry. I rotated the engine a bit and let it sit for another eight hours or so. Once again, 1, 2, and 4 still had quite a bit of fluid left in them. I used a long blow-gun attachment and some shop towels to remove the leftover fluid.

I refilled the crankcase with Rotella Gas Truck 5W-20 and crossed my fingers. One of the first tanks of gas I ran through posted a tick over 24 mpg - something I hadn't seen in a long time. Gas mileage overall has come back up at least one mpg which is nice.

As for the oil consumption, over the 5,123-mile run the little 4-cyl lost only 0.75 quarts. Not too shabby. I refilled with Mobil EP 0W-20 and will keep an eye on things. Overall, a huge success!

 

[atikovi]

In the morning, cylinders 1, 2, and 4 had barely lost any fluid, while cylinder 3 was nearly dry.

What does this mean? One cylinder or three cylinders are the problem children? Sounds like #3, and if so, maybe a few more rounds are in order.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I'll get in early on the BITOG bingo and recommend 1 or 2 OCI's with some HPL EC30 also. It's definitely clearing some junk from my higher mileage engines. I put some filter pictures in the OTC & 3rd party oil section for HPL EC30

 

[Graham Piccinini]

What does this mean? One cylinder or three cylinders are the problem children? Sounds like #3, and if so, maybe a few more rounds are in order.

My understanding is that #3 rings are stuck, while 1/2/4 are still fine and rotate, which is why they sealed well and kept the fluid above the piston. Most literal form of a leak-down test. I'm sure a proper leak-down test will yield similar results and expose #3 as the problem child.
I agree on an additional B12 treatment. From my personal experience: if B12 just started breaking things down, but wasn't given more time to break down the carbon as much as possible - then the success results only last an OCI or two, before the consumption comes back. So the longer the better, and rotate/top-off more often if possible.

 

[KrisZ]

I agree that cyl#3 needs another round of soaking.

 

[mccandish]

What does this mean? One cylinder or three cylinders are the problem children? Sounds like #3, and if so, maybe a few more rounds are in order.

Yes - I believe cylinder 3 is where the problem lies. Oddly, all of the plugs looked roughly the same and reasonably well after 30,000 miles.

I wish I had refilled that cylinder with more B-12 at the time, but things seemed to have worked out well enough. Once the weather is warmer, I am going to try another soak on all cylinders (with a bit less in 1, 2, and 4 this time).

 

[Gus_Mahn]

Did you run it with the B12 in the crankcase? I did on the ‘17 Audi Q3 that I did a two can flush on. It stared to miss after 5-10 minutes of fast idle, so I shut it off. I assumed it was the PCV system picking up a lot of light ends. I drained the oil that night, changed the plugs and filter the next day. Oil came out gritty. It’s ran great since. It was using 2qts in 400 miles. Customer made it 1400 miles and never added oil. I wish I’d had the chance to check the oil to understand the usage, but the owner never shows up as planned.

 

[mccandish]

Did you run it with the B12 in the crankcase?

No, I drained and refilled immediately. I may try that right before another oil change, though.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

I wouldn't advice using B12 in the oil. Tried once on a 4qt sump. It thinned the oil so much that the engine couldn't stay running for more than 3-5 seconds on its own. I'm glad the above experience with the Audi Q3 was good, but it's too risky for the bearings. In my case - the oil that thinned down didn't even feel like oil anymore, wasn't slippery at all. And went from new golden oil color to an extremely hazy milkshake color.
If you absolutely must though, then at least try to offset the viscosity loss with a higher starting viscosity. For example: 1 bottle of B12 to 5qt jug of 20W-50.

 

[Kira]

An interesting read. I'm in the 'do a repeat soak' camp as it appeared to hit the bullseye.

 

[We're Metals]

With 350,000 miles, I wouldnt change a thing. The soak was a nice experiment which ended up paying off. The consumption is very look compared to where it was. What is the condition of the rest of the vehicle like? Thats a lot of miles on a 2010 vehicle. Nice!

 

[fantastic]

5w-20 on a 350k SUV that's burning lots of it.. Why not thicken up the oil? If your having success w/what you're doing then keep it up.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

I've wondered if E-85 maybe with some concentrated fuel injector cleaner or Top Engine would work as a flush. We could run a gallon through the rings over a week. After the oil change, I also think running it easy for 1/2 hour or so then some WOT runs might be good. If I ever do another flush, each cylinder is getting some fogging oil or 2-stroke oil before starting it. I did stress a little about starting a dry cylinder, but it seems no ring harm is typically done by the flush process.

 

[KGMtech]

Interesting. Far easier & cheaper than tearing down the engine to replace the rings, so glad for you that results are positive.

 

[mccandish]

5w-20 on a 350k SUV that's burning lots of it.. Why not thicken up the oil? If your having success w/what you're doing then keep it up.

The previous fill was Total Quartz 5w-40 and it did slow the consumption a bit. It still needed the piston soak, though

 

[fantastic]

The previous fill was Total Quartz 5w-40 and it did slow the consumption a bit. It still needed the piston soak, though

That should work well. Thanks for the information.

 

[BillyHW]

What does B-12 do exactly that could solve an oil burning problem?

 

[mccandish]

With 350,000 miles, I wouldnt change a thing. The soak was a nice experiment which ended up paying off. The consumption is very look compared to where it was. What is the condition of the rest of the vehicle like? Thats a lot of miles on a 2010 vehicle. Nice!

It's in great condition. I'm lucky to be able to perform all of the maintenance it needs. It will stick around until car prices come back down to Earth and then an upgrade may be in order (knock wood). Here's a photo from back in the summertime.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

What does B-12 do exactly that could solve an oil burning problem?

The bottom piston ring is the oil ring. It's really a pack oil ring, separator, and a second ring. Newer cars use low tension rings to increase fuel mileage. For whatever reason the drain holes separator and piston have become smaller during the switch. Overtime the the holes and eventually the ring pack becomes plugged even frozen in place, so the oil that used to be scraped off the cylinder wall and drained through the piston now just gets dragged up and down the cylinder and is burned. This maybe be compounded by the long oil change intervals the OE's are recommending. The ring flush cleans the drain holes.

 

[centertex]

The previous fill was Total Quartz 5w-40 and it did slow the consumption a bit. It still needed the piston soak, though

Total Quartz is an oil brand that's hard to find in central Texas. It is the oil KIA and HYUNDAI use for first fill at the factory according to a press release on the KIA website. KIA dealers here use PENNZOIL Full Synthetic of unknown API or ILSAC