Question about Toyota V6 buring oil?

[Bullet]

The car is a 1997 Toyota Avalon V6 with 93,000 miles. The Engine at startup (and in traffice afer idling a few minutes) blows a blue/gray smoke, not a small amount of smoke, but a great deal. It clears up shortly.

since the engine runs smooth and strong, and has no cooling system issues (engine was not overheated) I serously doubt there is a piston/ring failure. I didn't check the cylinder pressure as it seems like a nighmare because one valve over is against the fire wall and has the intake system covering it. The engine has had oil changes regularly and overall was well maintained.

Yesterday, I changed the oil to Valvoline Maxlife high milage 10w40 oil and added Valvoline's oil conditioning thats in the red bottle in an attempt to swell the valve seals as I feel this is most likely the problem. It has reduced the smoke a good deal but thats probably due to the heavier oil as its to soon for the conditioner in the oil to do anything.

Afer looking at pitures in a service manual I feel replacing the valve stem seals is a little above my limits on this type engine. I've changed these seals in my truck's engine ( A Dodge V6 - a completely different type engine) a few months ago and the old seals seem to have harden up, so I'm sure what if anything the seal conditioner in the high mileae oil can really do.

Anyone know what a dealer might charge to recondition the heads?

Also, is there anyting else I could check that might be sucking oil into intake system?

 

[Bullet]

Is it possible the oil thinned out at about 4000 miles causing this problem? The oil is always changed at Jiffy lube, so I don't know which oil they use, but it would have to be fairly decent conventional oil.

 

[JHZR2]

jiffy lube ought to be using pennzoil.

But for all you knwo they used 5w-20 or something (though some people have great success using light oils in engines not specced for them).

Did this only start after the last oil change, or has it been getting worse and worse?

Id suggest skipping the jiffy lube, and doing a few changes yourself. Use pennzoil, chevron, havoline or mobil clean 5000 10w30 oil. A potentially better option is to use mobil delvac 1300 super or chevron delo 400 15w40 oil.

using a 15w40 oil alone mayu rid you of the burning problem. But I want to go one further. Get a product called auto-rx. You can find links on thsi site, and use it as directed, with one of the oils perscribed here. See if it helps.

Id shy away from any other additives, though the valvoline stuff has gotten some good rerviews.

JMH

 

[Bullet]

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry for the double post, as I posted it in the Mechanical/maintance area.

Moderator Please combine. thanks.

 

[kenw]

This will get moved along with the rest of it)

Your problem is very common, and the most common cause is valve stem seal leakage. ...and the most common cure is to move to 10w40. SO far, so good.

You're not fixing the problem, tho, just postponing the inevitable. I moved both of my Camrys (97 v6 and 93 i4) to 10w40 after about 120k. The startup smoke was pretty noticeable on the 93 and is much reduced now (180K). But not totally gone either.

Now having said all that, I can't say that I would tackle the rebuild myself on the v6. That rear bank of the is a real booger.

Until it gets so bad that you are fouling plugs or adding oil between changes (i do dino at 4-5k), I wouldn't bother.

 

[Alan]

Have you checked the PCV system?
My Toyota V6 gets rather oily quickly.

 

[cestes]

This happened to me as well.

Bottom line: 1) change your PCV valve and 2) do at least one Auto-RX ( www.auto-rx.com ) cleaning.

I took my car to the dealer and they informed me I had sludge in the engine. They wanted $1,400 to flush the engine and change the valve covers. I thought it was the valve seals, too, but they told me the seals were fine. The dealer explained that the oil channels were plugged with sludge and the oil had nowhere to go but out the PCV valve and into the engine to be burned.

I just started my second auto-rx cleaning cycle and I'm not getting any more smoke.

I did a ton of research and it turns out it's not uncommon for these Toyota engines to have problems... I was hoping mine would be reliable and stand up to some neglect like my Nissan!!!

 

[Winston]

Sometimes valve stem seals can be changed with the head on the car. I have heard of it being done on Mitsubishi V6 engines.

You need a spring compressor and a compressed air source into the cylinders to keep the valves from dropping.