03 Corolla - Burning a lot of oil and heating issues

mossy464 · 07-01-2015 11:24pm #1

Right, so i'm looking for some advice on my 03 Corolla.

It's always burned a lot of oil in the last few months but I thought this was due to lack of maintenance. The heating was also dodgy for the last few months as it only blew cold air unless you were doing high revs, i.e. on a motorway.

Brought it to our family mechanic last week for a service. He changed the oil etc and he topped up the coolant which was very low and he linked this to the heating issue.

The heating was working perfect then for the first few days and after a journey back up to Dublin from Cork I noticed the next morning that it was only cold air again.

Checked the oil and it seems to be low again and I think the coolant is also low. What are my options here? Is it going to keep burning oil at this rate or is there a way of fixing it?

Cheers

jenno54321 · 08-01-2015 1:28pm

Sounds like your head gasket is on its way. Sorry to break that news to you.

mossy464 · 08-01-2015 6:03pm

Thanks. I feared it was something major.

Any idea how much that would cost to replace or is it worth replacing? Should I just keep topping it up in the mean time.

Toyotafanboi · 08-01-2015 6:26pm

jenno54321 wrote: »

Sounds like your head gasket is on its way. Sorry to break that news to you.

it doesn't really sound that way.

those corollas were well known to be fond of a drop of oil (particularly models built up to 2002), so i wouldn't let the oil burning phase me unless it is a very large quantity we are talking here. anything up to 1000ml per 600 miles is deemed "acceptable". have you measured the oil consumption OP? in terms of filling the oil, resetting the odometer, driving "x" amount of miles and seeing what it takes to refill the sump?

what kind of oil is in the car right now? what kind of driving do you do?

the loss of coolant and cold air can be numerous things. personally my own corolla was loosing a small bit of coolant fairly regularly and it was a leaking radiator, i've seen a few others with leaking rads too. i'm not convinced, but i've seen heater matrix blockages being reported as common on that model corolla too on the owners forum, so that may be another plausible item to check on. what kind of coolant is in the car right now? had you been topping up with just water?

have a good look around the radiator/ coolant hoses etc for signs of leaks.

mossy464 · 08-01-2015 11:39pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

it doesn't really sound that way.

those corollas were well known to be fond of a drop of oil (particularly models built up to 2002), so i wouldn't let the oil burning phase me unless it is a very large quantity we are talking here. anything up to 1000ml per 600 miles is deemed "acceptable". have you measured the oil consumption OP? in terms of filling the oil, resetting the odometer, driving "x" amount of miles and seeing what it takes to refill the sump?

what kind of oil is in the car right now? what kind of driving do you do?

the loss of coolant and cold air can be numerous things. personally my own corolla was loosing a small bit of coolant fairly regularly and it was a leaking radiator, i've seen a few others with leaking rads too. i'm not convinced, but i've seen heater matrix blockages being reported as common on that model corolla too on the owners forum, so that may be another plausible item to check on. what kind of coolant is in the car right now? had you been topping up with just water?

have a good look around the radiator/ coolant hoses etc for signs of leaks.

I havent measured the oil consumption precisely so I think I'll do that. I think its 5w40 oil.

I drive from dublin to cork about twice a month and the rest is just getting to and from work monday to friday which is about a 25 km round trip each day.

I had been topping up with just water. The mechanic topped up the coolant last week. I'm not sure what coolant is in the car.

The mechanic didn't find any signs of leaking or anything so not sure. Don't know much about cars myself.

I was planning on topping up the oil and coolant tomorrow and see how it goes over the next week.

greasepalm · 08-01-2015 11:53pm

did he look at waterpump or crusting of antifreeze common with toyota around seepage areas,cars not serviced regularly with oil and filter changes and waiting for oil light to flash-low oil damage glazing would have happened by then.
how is the car starting in the morning when cold ,chugging on 3 cyls then 4 would be symptoms of head gasket

mossy464 · 08-01-2015 11:55pm

Im not sure if he did or not to be honest.

Its starting perfect in the morning when cold.

Toyotafanboi · 09-01-2015 12:02am

mossy464 wrote: »

I havent measured the oil consumption precisely so I think I'll do that. I think its 5w40 oil.

I drive from dublin to cork about twice a month and the rest is just getting to and from work monday to friday which is about a 25 km round trip each day.

I had been topping up with just water. The mechanic topped up the coolant last week. I'm not sure what coolant is in the car.

The mechanic didn't find any signs of leaking or anything so not sure. Don't know much about cars myself.

I was planning on topping up the oil and coolant tomorrow and see how it goes over the next week.

yeah, do a precise measurement and let us know where that leaves you. you'd be surprised how bad 1000mls per 600 miles feels. you are using over half a litre of oil per tank of petrol which feels like an awful lot. i had a corolla that way. it never gave up, but it was irritating.

top up your oil to the full mark, drive 500 miles, top it up again and tell us what it took to top up.

5w40 certainly wouldn't be my choice of oil for that car, but that's somewhat a matter of opinion.

as for the coolant, i'd like to properly flush the heater matrix, engine block and rad, refill with new coolant and have it correctly bled. then drive it for a while and see how it goes. it's easy to get into a bad situation topping up with water, getting airlocks (if it was very low) and having corrosion set in (from the use of tap water).

i wouldn't panic over this car just yet.

mossy464 · 09-01-2015 12:06am

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

yeah, do a precise measurement and let us know where that leaves you. you'd be surprised how bad 1000mls per 600 miles feels. you are using over half a litre of oil per tank of petrol which feels like an awful lot. i had a corolla that way. it never gave up, but it was irritating.

top up your oil to the full mark, drive 500 miles, top it up again and tell us what it took to top up.

5w40 certainly wouldn't be my choice of oil for that car, but that's somewhat a matter of opinion.

as for the coolant, i'd like to properly flush the heater matrix, engine block and rad, refill with new coolant and have it correctly bled. then drive it for a while and see how it goes. it's easy to get into a bad situation topping up with water, getting airlocks (if it was very low) and having corrosion set in (from the use of tap water).

i wouldn't panic over this car just yet.

Thanks for the advice. I'll see how it goes.

mossy464 · 19-01-2015 10:12pm

So I think I may have overeacted about the oil burning. After taking a proper look at it in full daylight twice over the past week its actually fine i think. The level is between the two dots on the dipstick.

However, the heating is still not working. I topped up the coolant with a full bottle and there was a short burst of heat on my first journey after but since it is just blowing cold air. Especially frustrating on these cold mornings. The mechanic checked for leaks etc when he serviced it a few weeks ago but didnt find any.

torrevieja · 20-01-2015 12:15am

sounds like your water pump

torrevieja · 20-01-2015 12:31am

sounds like your water pump

JohnBoy26 · 20-01-2015 7:14pm

torrevieja wrote: »

sounds like your water pump

Highly unlikely, especially when no leak was found.

jca · 20-01-2015 11:10pm

More likely to be an airlock in the heater matrix/pipe work.

greasepalm · 21-01-2015 1:22am

switch blue to red and/or intake fresh air rather than recycle try that,what is the temperature gauge reading midway? feel how hot the 2 heater pipes are going in through bulkhead hot if temp gauge goes down to blue section while driving stat stuck in the open position.
was rad checked when cold rather than expansion bottle for water/coolant?

Toyotafanboi · 21-01-2015 6:52pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

as for the coolant, i'd like to properly flush the heater matrix, engine block and rad, refill with new coolant and have it correctly bled. then drive it for a while and see how it goes. it's easy to get into a bad situation topping up with water, getting airlocks (if it was very low) and having corrosion set in (from the use of tap water).

from what you say, it doesn't sound like your mechanic checked too hard. have you tried the above yet?

mossy464 · 28-01-2015 10:59pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

from what you say, it doesn't sound like your mechanic checked too hard. have you tried the above yet?

I'm not entirely sure how to do this. I dont know a whole lot about cars.

I've just topped it up with water a few times which has improved the heating.

zurbfoundation · 29-01-2015 3:21pm

Thermostat?

joujoujou · 29-01-2015 3:53pm

mossy464 wrote: »

[...] topped it up with water a few times which has improved the heating.

Tap water? :eek:

Best way to have entire system blocked.

mossy464 · 29-01-2015 3:55pm

Yeah, tap water.

I'm a bit lost as to what to do next tbh. Hoping to get rid of the car soon, have a possible decent motor coming up.

joujoujou · 29-01-2015 3:57pm

It already has been said what next:

[post]93752755[/post]

as for the coolant, i'd like to properly flush the heater matrix, engine block and rad, refill with new coolant and have it correctly bled. then drive it for a while and see how it goes. it's easy to get into a bad situation topping up with water, getting airlocks (if it was very low) and having corrosion set in (from the use of tap water).

greasepalm · 30-01-2015 10:44pm

how many garages use tap water for top up?

03 Corolla - Burning a lot of oil and heating issues

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