Burning lots of oil!

[B Peterson]

Count me as another unlucky victim of the 1ZZ engine burning lots of oil. Long story short, I purchased my 2001 Corolla CE 1.8L 6 weeks ago. It had enough oil then. Today, it was at half a quart. The guys at Tunex said the low oil caused the timing chain and tensioner to also get some damage, and they can still hear a rattle now from it. Reading through countless google searches, I saw everyone said this was a problem, but nobody knew what the cause was. The fix was to either dump in oil, or to get a new engine. But many of those who got a new engine said the problem came back around 50K miles later!

Then I hit this forum, and see lots of you have done great research on it. Thank you! The three links below describe it well! rolozuki seemed to say it best (in the third link)

"There is a known problem with the 1ZZ engine with a piston and ring fault. Basically the oil drain holes in the piston are insufficient, causing them to clog, thus causing the oil control ring to also carbon up.

This leads to excessive oil consumption, and regardless of oil type(semi/full synthetic) this cannot be seen in the exhaust(thanks to the Cat!!)

This often leads to bore scuffing and wear as carbon builds up, and oil level falls(especially as owners usually have little idea of what to do with a dipstick!!) This has lead to some engines being rebuilt/replaced.

Theres now a modified short block assembly(and piston/ring set) to cure this. "

http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde...showtopic=11848

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...=0&p=717266

http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=146762

My questions now are the following:

1) I'm guessing what I've got isn't really repairable. The "fix" is a new motor, correct?

2) I don't want to have the same problem redevelop if I get a new motor. rollazuki mentioned "There's now a modified short block assembly (and piston/ring set) to cure this." Where can I find out more information about that?

[B Peterson]

Just an update in case other people with the same problem stumble on this thread.

I've read that older Isuzu Troopers have the exact same problem, the oil drain holes on the piston get clogged. In the Isuzu's case, the oil pressure light often never came on in time, and many people's engines seized! http://www.automotiveforums.com/t130758.html

Some people there mentioned to try and use a de-carboning fluid to try and unclog the holes. It sounds like a couple of people pulled it off. So my plan is to watch my oil levels very frequently. When I feel it's time for another oil change, I'll go through a process of adding in Seafoam. I've never done it before, but this video walks you through it. Google Video for Seaform. I'll try to post updates when I know more.