Burning Lots of Oil after Oil Change in 81 Tercel

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andrewjoelpeters

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Hi everyone,
I just changed the oil for the first time on my new-to-me 81 Toyota Tercel. It was burning a bit of oil before, but after the oil change is leaving behind some pretty hefty plumes of blue smoke when I accelerate. I put in Penzoil High Mileage 10w-30, but am not sure what the previous owner had in it. I thought about adding an additive, but the forum convinced me not to, and now I'm thinking about changing the oil again to Valvoline Max Life 20w-50. From the little I know, it doesn't seem like a valve stem issue because I don't see smoke on start-up, only at higher revs and after the engine's been running a bit.

Do you think it makes sense to go ahead and try the 20w-50? My manual suggests 10w-30, 10w-40, and 10w-50 for -10-100 degrees F, and 20w-50 for 10-100 degrees F. I'm in Santa Fe, NM, so it seldom dips much below 10 degrees. Also, I'm noticing it's gotten a bit harder to start -- do you think the oil could be to blame?

Thanks!
 
I think this tells you that the PO had something drastically thicker in it, like maybe 20W-50.
The thinner oil should make it easier to start, not harder.
When you say it's hard to start, what do you mean?
Is it cranking slowly or does it crank normally and then take too long to fire and run on its own?
 
@NHGUY 212k!
@fdcg27 That's what I was thinking. Come to think of it, I think I might have seen a quart of straight 20 or 30 oil in the back when I picked up the car. I drove it a couple more times today and it started up no problem -- I think it must have just been a cold morning.

I'll check the pcv hose tomorrow!
 
So I couldn't wait until tomorrow and went and checked out the PCV tonight. I couldn't get the valve itself off (I'll try a bit more tomorrow), but the hose was tired and brittle -- it cracked around the base of the valve just from me wiggling it off. I tried looking into the PCV, but it has such a bend in it that light won't get through. Time to replace it? And can I go ahead and try the 20w-50?
 
With a heavy oil user, if the PCV isn't soaking wet with oil, isn't likely your problem...

My bet it's a valve stem issue which was common back when... In spite of everything you read on BITOG here are the classic symptoms when they are bad...

Will cause smoke when accelerating after a period of idling, a moderate amount on a hot restart after setting a few minutes and usually very little smoke when totally cold(kinda depends if oil drains past rings while setting)... Spark plugs will most certainly build up white and fluffy ash deposits after as little as 2K miles... If plugs are black and oily that's usually a ring issue or maybe leaking valve causing low compression and incomplete combustion...
 
Okay, thanks TFB1. I'll try to go ahead and replace them when I have time. In the meanwhile, should I go ahead and change the oil out for something heavier? Or is the valve stem issue simple enough that a beginner meechanic could go ahead do that instead?
 
I have no idea of complexity on a 'Yota Tercel as I've mostly been a Ford/Chevy guy all my wrenchin' days...

I once did a set in a 2.3L Mustang, 45 minutes after I started was driving down the street... To be fair the valve cover was off, gasket scraped, plugs removed, etc, all I had to do was pressurize the cylinders, remove springs, repl seals and put it back to gather... On a 4.6 Ford I changed one side in about four hours, total SOB... Could do both sides of two 5.0 in that time...

For the oil I'd just add the thicker oil... If it is stem seals, weight of oil doesn't help to a major degree...
 
Just sent the PO an email asking for her magic potion!

I went ahead and took another look at the PCV valve again and soaked it in carb cleaner. It looks pretty clean now, but the gasket is brittle and cracked, so that could be a culprit. I'll pick up a new gasket in the next couple of days. O'reilly's also had Valvoline MaxLife NextGen 10w-40 on sale for $1.75/gt so I grabbed a few quarts of that. From what I've read about MaxLife, it seems like it could be a suitable choice -- if you don't think so, I'll just give it to my roomates!

Originally Posted By: TFB1

For the oil I'd just add the thicker oil... If it is stem seals, weight of oil doesn't help to a major degree...


Do you mean the thinner oil? Why should I add the thicker oil if won't help with the burning?

I gotta wonder though, if it is a stem seal issue, why would the oil burning pop up so suddenly after changing my oil?
 
I had the thought you were going to buy the 20W-50 mentioned in your first post, so rather than waste good oil add it as top off instead of a full change... No there won't be a great effect on the first quart but if consumption slows with each quart added the thicker oil is surely helping...

BTW Saying thicker oil doesn't help very much with bad valve stem seals is based on my 47 years of vehicle ownership(yes I bought my 1st car in 1966)... Possibly that's not true in your case, as something apparently made a difference when the oil was changed... Remember we don't actually know what's causing your engine's issue, just that stem seals is the mostly likely...
 
IF it's burning a lot of oil during acceleration (even after you replaced PCV valve), your oil control rings are stuck and there's nothing you can do to bring the oil burning issue down.

Forget about thicker oil for it's still gonna seep past the jammed oil control rings and gets burned.

A rebuild is in order.

Q.
 
Originally Posted By: TFB1
BTW Saying thicker oil doesn't help very much with bad valve stem seals is based on my 47 years of vehicle ownership(yes I bought my 1st car in 1966)... Possibly that's not true in your case, as something apparently made a difference when the oil was changed... Remember we don't actually know what's causing your engine's issue, just that stem seals is the mostly likely...


Got it -- thanks. Well I think I'll go ahead and do the stem seals this weekend, worst case scenario I spend a nice Saturday in the garage!
 
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blue smoke coming out of your tail pipe when you accelerate---> oil control rings are jammed and oil seeps past compression rings;

blue smoke coming out of your tail pipe when you decelerate--> that's valve stem seal.

Also: first thing in the morning it puffs out blue smoke and gradually disappears when the engine warms up, that's also valve stem seal.

**you have to learn to differentiate between the 2 before you can find a proper fix.

In your case: I still bet on the stuck oil control rings, of course, one must also consider getting all the valve stem seals replaced while you have the head off.

Q.
 
Originally Posted By: Quest
blue smoke coming out of your tail pipe when you accelerate---> oil control rings are jammed and oil seeps past compression rings;

blue smoke coming out of your tail pipe when you decelerate--> that's valve stem seal.

In your case: I still bet on the stuck oil control rings, of course, one must also consider getting all the valve stem seals replaced while you have the head off.

Q.


Thanks for the pointers. Maybe I'm just thinking a bit wishfully that it's valve stem seals and not rings. If it were rings, though, wouldn't it be especially noticeable when the engine is cold? I usually don't start to see smoke until the engine is warmed up, or when I'm taking off after sitting at a light. I'll try to look for it while decelerating and let you know what I see.
 
Just realized you accounted for my observation exactly...

Originally Posted By: Quest
Also: first thing in the morning it puffs out blue smoke and gradually disappears when the engine warms up, that's also valve stem seal.


Just took it for a short drive: there was a nice puff of smoke on start-up, but it went away after about thirty seconds. I couldn't see much smoke while I was driving, but it's night time so that might not be too indicative. When I pulled into a parking spot but left the car running, I noticed it smoking for ten seconds or so and then disappearing. The park lot I was in is up a steep hill, which would seem to make sense for the smoking -- going from higher revs to an idle. Thanks again for the help!
 
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