I have an 88 4runner 22re, automatic and am very curious as to where my oil is going. I have NO visible leaks at all and am still low on oil after only driving 70 miles or so after the first oil change since i had it. I changed it the other day and I only put 4 qts in. I checked it while I was at my dad's house and saw that it was at the L mark. I looked at my owner's manual and saw it needed 4.5 qts, correct? Is that what you all put in there?I just want to make sure!! I figured that might be why it was low. My mistake!! Well, I added about 3/4 of a quart to get it where it was supposed to be and drove it home. I went to my hunting club which is around 75 miles round trip the next day and checked it today and it was low again. What is the problem? I have no visible leaks at all. The 4runner does not smoke at all starting or driving so what could be happening? Is it serious? I know older toyota's are known for using oil but I figured I would be able to drive more than 100 miles or so before having to add some more, you know? More like 1000 miles would be a little bit better. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Probably just burning it. Does your hood have a fine oil spray on the inside?

 

I know that it seems like its disappearing into another dimension but it has to be going somewhere.


As ^ said, check for the misting, but more likely there is just a leak you haven't found yet. How have you been looking under the vehicle? Have you had it on a lift? Maybe its in a more inconspicious area.

Good luck!

 

It is 4.5 or 4.8 something like that. That could cause your dipstick to show a low reading. Or if it is loosing oil it might be your rear main seal.

 

none at all. there is nothing under the hood that tells me it is leaking.

 

it has been up on a lift and checked out by a certified toyota mechanic and he also said there were no leaks. there are no oil stains in the driveway either. if it is leaking, it has to be going somewhere, right?

 

ok, thanks for that. we checked back there to see if it might be the rear main seal and nothing. where could it be going?

 

check your radiator coolant. If you have a head gasket blown it could be going into the radiator (hint, open the petcock valve on the bottom of the radiator, oil would go to the bottom...

 

Definitley check your coolant. And while you're at it, take a smell of your exhaust (just a little one, we don't need you passing out on us ) and see if you can detect any burned oil smell.

 

4.5 is the correct ammount of oil to put in. if you're loosing that much that fast without seeing it pour out its gotta be in the coolant. Burning a quart in 75 miles would be pretty obvious from smelling/looking at the exhaust.

 

After 75 miles you discovered that you where low correct you had 4 qts in and you needed 4.5 qts once you corrected that was it still low?

 

yes. my mechanic flushed my radiator for me not more than a week ago and mentioned nothing about oil being in the coolant. he is a very very good friend of mine and would have definitely told me if there was some in there.

here is my problem now. I am using valvoline 10w30 and when we first changed the oil, my dad got a couple of quarts and poured it through there just to clean it out a little bit. we just let it drain right through to clean up anything that might be in there. he bought them so i said wha the heck? when we started to add oil to the truck, there were four empty qts of oil and am not sure if one of them was what my dad put through there. so it has me thinking that we only put three qts in there thinking we may have put 4 in there because of the empty 4 qt bottles. does that make sense? we are NOT sure if that happened or not but it would certainly make me feel better if it did. but when we added another 3/4 of a quart to the truck, we found another full qt of oil that could have very well been mine but i am not sure. we had so much going on that day.

i am going to toyota today to buy another oil filter and am going to change it again today and will be putting 4.5qts in and will continue to monitor it. i am not sure when the last time the oil was changed before i did it three weeks ago so that might be a good way to clean it up a bit. is there anything i should look for in the oil?

 

the exhaust looks normal. there is no abnormal smell to the exhaust that i could detect.

 

if it was my head gasket, what other symptoms might i be having that i could possibly look for? keep in mind it is not smoking at all. thanks

 

Sounds like you've exhausted (pun intended) all leads for a blown head gasket; doesn't sound like you have one.

Did you, at some point, have oil visible on the dipstick??

 

you shouldnt need to change it, just make sure its full, and keep an eye on it.

 

there has always been oil visible on the dipstick. it was just not where I wanted it to be or where i thought it should be.

 

well, i have already bought the oil and filter so i can MAKE sure it has exactly 4.5 qts in there. i am better off doing this than worrying myself to death. i even went and talked to my mechanic and he told me there was no oil whatsoever in the coolant. i will make sure i check over the oil as well when i change it.

 

well, i just changed the oil and added the FULL 4qts and it was a little bit above the F mark on the dipstick. I started it up and ran it for a few minutes to get the new oil circulating and checked it again after it cooled down a bit and it was a little bit below the F mark. I added 1/4 of a quart and it is right at Full where it needs to be. I am going to continue to monitor it and make sure the oil stays where it needs to be after driving it for awhile. does anybody see a problem with what I did? i am used to Tacomas so 4runners are a new dimension for me. thank you all so much for the help and comments and please keep them coming.

i also checked the spark plugs and they looked pretty good to me and my dad as well. they had a little bit of carbon on them but nothing too bad.

 

Having to add 1/4 qt was due to the filter filling up with oil, I would imagine. Keep us posted! I love a mystery!