1K after an oil change, 1Q of oil is missing. What happen?

[whycatone]

95% of the time, the oil guage is normal, but had noticed it had gone way down, stepped on gas, it will go back to normal. The oil light went on twince since oil change, but it went on for no more than 10 sec, then it went away. No noticeable oil leaks from the engine, just a tinny bit from the rear main seal. No white smoke or blue smoke.

What is wrong with the engine? Does it mean it is time for rebuild?

It is a 97 LC

 

[lndcruz]

Nope, pretty normal oil usage.

 

[firetruck41]

Nothing wrong. Up to 1qt per thousand miles is "normal", though that is the high end. The Oil gauge has nothing to do with oil level (well unless there is NO oil in the engine), the gauge tells you the oil pressure, it will usually fluctuate up with throttle or when the engine (and hence the oil) is cold, and go down once the engine is warm or at idle. The oil light is strictly an oil level warning light, that notifies you, that you are about 2 quarts below "full".

 

[Joe Egolf]

did you change brand of oil ,or go from or to synthetic

 

[lndcruz]

did you change brand of oil ,or go from or to synthetic

yeah, what oil and weight did you use?

I'm using mobil 1 10w40 and my consumption went way down.

 

[tblume]

my consumption went way up after changing to rotella syn from the "high mileage" quaker state. going back to that next time...

 

[whycatone]

This is my first oil change after I bought the LC at 150k miles, and based on the PO service records (One Owner), it was alwasy serviced at dealer or the same service station, so I would guess they used regular oil.

The oil I am using now is some kind of mix regular & synthetic for high mileage vehicle, and it was recommend by the guy at Auto Zone. Should I stay with regular or Synthetic? Does the "High milesage" oil make any different?

 

[fourtrax]

That last question will open a can of worms, do you prefer Toyota or Lexus or maybe a ford? everyone has there own idea, as a result there are so many misconceptions out there. High mileage oil usually has additional additives to help "condition seals" But, basically any oil that meets SAE 10w-30 will work in your cruiser. As your motor ages and wears the clearances will get larger moving up to a 10W-40 oil at this time should help restore oil pressure and minimize oil consumption and won't hurt anything at all. Just keep an eye on the level and change it s needed, i also avoid mixing different blends of oil together, when i change the oil i select the blend/brand i am going to use then if i need to add oil to top it off between oil changes i will use what i put in from the start. Maybe it's just a little of my OCD kicking in, but i think adding a random qt of this oil than a qt of that oil to keep your engine oil topped off is not the best practice.

 

[jlg32281]

depending on where you live and how cold it gets there, you can even run a heavier oil. i run a 20w when i can get it.

 

[Kernal]

After one oil change I checked the oil level after I got home (shut down the engine and came back out a few minutes later); it was a almost a quart low, then I checked my slip, they only used 7 quarts.

 

[kidglove13]

Normal usage.

 

[aclos3]

I recently went through some oil questions myself. I bought the truck 13 months ago and performed an oil change using 5W-30 Mobile 1 synthetic since we were headed into winter and the owners manual stated that either were acceptable. I hadn't done much oil research here, or I would have gone heavier. With this light oil, I consumed 1 to 1.5 quarts of oil during the past 13 months and 7000 miles. I am hoping to have lower consumption with the 10W-30 I am now running. If I don't notice much improvement, I will move up to 15W for the next change.

 

[fourtrax]

the 5w, 10w, and 15w refers to the thickness of oil when it's cold and will benift you more during startup in cold weather. Most of your oil consumption is going to happen during normal operations so changing from a 30 weight to 40 weight should help you more. so you might try 10w-40 or a 5w-40 for winter time.

 

[ALCO]

These engines use some oil. Unless it starts to fail emissions or starts fouling plugs and blowing a blue smoke screen, don't worry about it. Just stay on top of it.

 

[IdahoDoug]

I'm looking for clarification here. Did YOU change the oil or did someone else? If you put 8 quarts in it, that's a different animal than if you relied on someone else to change your oil and get the level right.

DougM

 

[whycatone]

The oil & filter were from Auto Zone, and I had a local shop changed them for me.

 

[UCBerzerkeley]

The oil & filter were from Auto Zone, and I had a local shop changed them for me.

egads. so yah, as has been said, the gauge in the car is oil pressure. that will fluctuate whether idling or gasing it.

it is almost impossible to give you a straight answer, without knowing how much oil was added, the oil filter or even what type of oil was used.

have you considered changing your own oil? i think i speak for many of us on here when i say that changing the oil has become both a satisfying and relaxing experience, one that i look forward to as I get closer to each change. also, that way you know exactly how much oil your car wants, of what type, and how much it burns.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Just FYI, I deal with shops frequently enough to have seen the guys take the quality oil 1-2 customers a month bring in for their oil change and just put shop oil in. They'll take the 5 quarts of Mobil 1 out to their trunk and use the shop bulk. The smart owners ask for the empty bottles, 'cause they're recycling them.

I guess my point is, if you had a shop do your oil change, you actually have no certain knowledge how many quarts went in 1000 miles ago. So, don't get concerned about oil usage needlessly as it may all be for naught.

DougM

 

[Elijah]

Where is your location, what will your winter climate be like? If I drove my 80 series 12,000/year or 1,000/month this would be my oil preference and interval. BTW, I'm in Salt Lake City; change oil in October/November to Rotella 5w-40 (blue container) for cold weather. 6 months later, March/April, change oil and put in Mobil Delvac or Chevron Delo for 6 months.

 

[Tools R Us]

95% of the time, the oil guage is normal, but had noticed it had gone way down, stepped on gas, it will go back to normal. The oil light went on twince since oil change, but it went on for no more than 10 sec, then it went away. No noticeable oil leaks from the engine, just a tinny bit from the rear main seal. No white smoke or blue smoke.

What is wrong with the engine? Does it mean it is time for rebuild?

It is a 97 LC

I my experience, the 1FZ is a big motor, with a lot of oil surface area, so how/when the oil is checked makes a big difference in the measurement. I always check it after being driven to operating temp, turned off parked relatively level and allowed to set for a few minutes. If allowed to set overnight the measurement will be different, depending on filter size, etc, the difference is pretty big. Depending on how they checked the fill, it may never have been full.

When changing oil, my fill method is, pour in 2 gal and drive, after warm, check and top off. My last change was before Cruise Moab, ~6500mi ago, just checked it and it's maybe a cup low, ~1/8" from full on the stick.

If your running thinner viscosity than ideal for your conditions expect higher consumption. For my conditions, any oil change will see 120F+ during it's life, so I select viscosity by the lowest temp that the motor will be started, in my case the chances of it being started in less than 20F are about zero, so I run Mobil One 15W-50.

The oil recommended by Toyota in the USA is distorted by politics, I prefer to use the foreign recommendation. The “for everybody else but USA” Toyota recommended oil chart;

AU viscosity chart
1FZFE motor
20w50 oil- -7C deg to 38C plus ; 19F to 100F plus
15w40 oil -10C deg to 38C plus; 14F to 100F plus
10w30 oil -18C to +38C deg; 0F to100F
5w30 oil -30C to 8C deg; -22F to 46F

For most US climates something in the 0W-40 to 10W-40 range would probably work best? I wouldn't make a motor condition decision based on one low oil event.

Even among 1FZ's some motors are happier with one oil, others prefer another. Both of my brother's rigs have run Rotella syn 5W-40 with good results, mine has a start up chain rattle and higher consumption on it, prefers the Mobil One. For your next oil change, try another brand/viscosity and find what your rig prefers.