We are now burning a quart of oil EVERY 300 MILES. Filter is still changed every 3,000 miles. (And it has been since car was purchased at 103,000 mi.) Adding 20% Marvel Mystery Oil HAS HELPED, but only very temporarily. Oil consumption will decrease to adding a quart every 600 miles when Marvel Mystery Oil is added. Everything else on the car works perfectly. Never had to replace a window motor, switch, knob, anything! 178,000 miles and counting! Normal wear and tear, the brakes, tires etc. taken care of as needed.
Like so many others, at about 140,000 – past the extended warranty I purchased, of course – my 2009 Toyota started sucking down oil. After checking your site, I read about the Tech Service Bulletin for this problem, and called my local Toyota dealer and also Toyota corporate, both of whom claimed that there was no such thing and thus there was no fix for this problem. Funny, how three mechanics I spoke with and several Toyota Rav 4 owners I know all knew about this problem.
Towards the end, the car was sucking down about a quart of oil every 500 miles. We kept dumping in oil, but the transmission just went, so the car is dead – definitely not worth the cost to fix. Sad to say that we have a 2012 RAV4, with about 130,000 miles on it, and we just paid it off (we bought it used 4-5 years ago, with about 40K miles on it), and I just had to buy a new vehicle (not a Toyota) to replace my 2009 RAV4, so we are not in a position to trade in the 2012 RAV4, before the oil issue hits that car too.
BTW, we pride ourselves on taking excellent care of our vehicles. Our previous Hondas have all exceeded 250,000 miles, as did our previous Subaru. (We only went with Toyotas when we needed a larger vehicle for our family.) Based on the oil consumption issues with the RAV4 and the terrible response by Toyota, we probably would not buy another Toyota.
Burns 2 to 3 quarts of oil between oil changes, we bought Toyota because we thought they were a good vehicle, by them not standing behind this known problem, shows what think of us. they know the problem is in the piston rings specifically the lower ones, letting oil thru and thus the consumption problem.
The last 3 times I have had my Rav4 in for an oil change, I have been told that it been low on oil. This last time today 1/20/18 only at just under 3,000 miles, I was told by my shop that my car was really very low on oil, down a couple of quarts and that Rav4s are known for this when they reach 70,000 or more miles. This is the first that I am hearing about this and will contact my Toyota dealer on Monday to see what the have to say. Looking up information on-line I found it said that the piston rings start to go bad. Any more information on this? Why won't Toyota put out a recall for this if it effects a lot of their cars
2009 RAV4 burns a qt of oil for every 1000 miles. Out of warranty with 164,000 miles, Toyota wanted nothing to do with it. I bought Toyota hoping to get 250k - 300k miles. Bummer. Rant complete.
- Richard M.,
Windham, US
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My 2009 RAV4 starting burning more oil over a 1 year ago. I switched to high mileage oil and not going past around the 3000 miles limit for a oil change hoping it would help not use so much. I would go and get my oil change and I was always very very low or none. A friend of mine had the same problem with her 2008 and she took to Toyota dealer and they repaired it for no charge. I decided to go and have an oil consumption test done and my RAV failed. I was told that there was not a campaign on my 2009 RAV4 and I was denied out of warranty assistance. I indicated that the 2009 RAV4 has the same problem as the 2008 due to something faulty on the Toyota product but they did not care about that even though I have bought Toyotas since the mid 80s. So I am at the point of wanting to buy another vehicle next summer and I am currently checking my mileage every 1000 miles to see if I have enough oil and not to lock up my engine. I was told by Toyota headquarters that it would cost 4,000 to $7,000 to fix the vehicle and they will not even touch my vehicle unless I sign a statement that after tearing the engine apart to find the problem I would commit to paying the fee to repair it. The $4000 to $7000. I feel a campaign needs to be announced to repair the 2009 RAV4s. It has the same problem as the 2008s that they did a campaign on. Very frustrating. I want to sell my vehicle and who will want to buy it in the condition it is in? My RAV is toasts with 157,000 miles on it. I thought Toyotas were good for 200,000. Guess I was so very very wrong and now I am paying the price $$$$$
Vehicle was purchased new, always used synthetic oil, always serviced by the dealer, and uses more oil at 80,000 miles than my 97 Suburban at 238,000 miles. Toyota did the test and it passed, only used 2/3 of a quart in 1100 miles. They learned a lot from their ties to GM
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
We are now burning a quart of oil EVERY 300 MILES. Filter is still changed every 3,000 miles. (And it has been since car was purchased at 103,000 mi.) Adding 20% Marvel Mystery Oil HAS HELPED, but only very temporarily. Oil consumption will decrease to adding a quart every 600 miles when Marvel Mystery Oil is added. Everything else on the car works perfectly. Never had to replace a window motor, switch, knob, anything! 178,000 miles and counting! Normal wear and tear, the brakes, tires etc. taken care of as needed.
- Kevin T., Long Beach, US