1990 Townace 4x4 turbo Diesel 5spd burning lots of oil :(

[ingmire]

Im in need of some advice. I recently purchased and imported (from Canada) a sweet new to me Townace. The purchase was too good to be true and quickly a problem with the oil consumption appeared. My local mechanic did a test confirming the turbo needed replaced. I just went through that process and $1000 later the oil consumption hasn't decreased :(((( sadly I don't have any more available funds to put into the rig and I'd prefer sell it to someone in a better position to get the van tip top. She runs great beside the oil issue.

Any thoughts on what the problem could be and or ball park $ amount repair.

Any idea what a fair price for the van 'as is' would be? 170000 miles. Tons of maintenance records. Rebuilt engine / tranny / turbo etc. clean body no dents. Paint is 7/10 at best. Rust underneath and 1 rust hole baseball size behind front passenger wheel well. Interior is in good shape with all original seats. CD player. Power windows. 3252

3253

[Gunflint]

Bummer. Have you thumbed through ace answers yet?

http://www.townace.plus.com/aanswers.htm

This seems to be a common first recommendation over there:
"check the little breather hose at the top of the engine for blockages firs"

Good luck, and let us know how you come about.

Matt

[ingmire]

Bummer. Have you thumbed through ace answers yet?

http://www.townace.plus.com/aanswers.htm

This seems to be a common first recommendation over there:
"check the little breather hose at the top of the engine for blockages firs"

Good luck, and let us know how you come about.

Matt
Thanx for the reply Matt! Also having an additional problem. Van starts great and drives around great ( - the oil consumption issue ) but once I shut her off she won't start again. Battery is good and power is going to the dash / headlights but I turn the key and nothing happens. So far of a wait a few hours and then try again she fires up... Any ideas?

[JDM VANMAN]

Check out this thread it might help-



http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/content.php?225-Re-Ignition-switch-question

Good luck:thmbup:

[ingmire]

Check out this thread it might help-



http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/content.php?225-Re-Ignition-switch-question

Good luck:thmbup:

solved the intermittent starting problem. Loose terminal on the batt. Yay!! Vans rolling again. Spoke with the mechanic that replaced my turbo. He says next step is rebuild or replace the engine .. :( are these engines available in the US? Anybody know where to get one and it how much $ or is a rebuild more realistic?

[Gunflint]

Just out of curiosity did he give you any speculation as to why/how/where the oil consumption is coming from to warrant a rebuild?

Matt

[JDM VANMAN]

Just out of curiosity did he give you any speculation as to why/how/where the oil consumption is coming from to warrant a rebuild?

Matt


Matt,

is it a leaky injection pump that causes the oil loss problem?:cnfsd:

[Gunflint]

That seems weird….but I am no mechanic.

I am not sure how a leaky fuel injection pump would cause an oil leak. Or did he mean oil pump? If so, I would peruse ace answers….you may not have to rebuild or replace the entire engine if your problem is the oil pump.

Once again, full disclaimer, I am a novice mechanic and am only speculating. Maybe someone else can chime in. May also be worth getting a second opinion?

Matt

[Burntboot]

I'm no diesel mechanic, but I would think that if the problem was with the injection pump that would warrant rebuilding the pump.

It's hard enough to find a competent mechanic willing to turn wrenches on the gas versions, being a diesel only makes that task even more difficult.
At first blush, the diagnosis sounds a bit broad, perhaps a second opinion would be warranted here? Further investigation is certainly a good idea.
Especially as you mentioned that the engine has already been recently rebuilt, unless something screwy was done during the rebuild (like not aligning the rings correctly) then again, a compression or leak-down test should be able to confirm that.
I can't see why they would flag the engine as the culprit, unless the excess consumption has caused internal engine damage.

[timsrv]

I'm no expert on diesels either, but I would have a hard time blaming a turbo or an injector pump for oil consumption. If it's not leaking it, but definitely burning, I would think piston rings and/or valve guides. I had a gasoline van that got all the oil rings stuck at ~150k (not sure why). This created excessive oil consumption (like 1 qt every 300 miles). When I took it apart, I could have gotten by with merely unsticking the rings, but since it was apart I went ahead and replaced them. That was the only issue and that engine went back to only consuming about 1 qt every 3,500 miles. Tim

[Burntboot]

Hold the phone here - in your other thread you mention the oil is LEAKING, not burning??
So which is it, a leak or burning?
Generally speaking, leaks are repairable and don't usually require a rebuild?

[originalkwyjibo]

I think you all need to re-read the thread and pay attention to who is posting what. The OP never mentioned the injector pump. That was a question posed by JDM VANMAN to Gunflint/Matt who is not the OP. Jeez guys, try to keep up. Lol

[Gunflint]

Ha. Just realized that. My bad......

Soooooo, ingmire (OP) what was the consensus from the mechanic!!??

Matt

[originalkwyjibo]

I think we're all guilty of skimming posts. I did it once on a different forum and got some of the nastiest comments, hence the lighthearted lol. It was kind of funny to see the erroneous progression though.

[Gunflint]

Yea! :) I was actually whole heartedly reading the posts, just not who was posting!

[JDM VANMAN]

I apologize to everyone for throwing a twisty, curvy, knuckle ball question about the injection pump.:cnfsd: But the positive part is a lot of good possibilities started to come out.:thmbup:

i think I'm catching on- the injection pump has to do with fuel injection and duh... The oil pump of course... the oil.

[ingmire]

Mechanic said since it wasn't the turbo his next best guess was the piston rings. He did no tests. Just following 'order of operations' /:

[89TownAce]

Piston rings would make sense, that's a common cause for oil consumption. My Towny has 115k miles and doesn't burn any oil (yet). I also have a new turbo and a rebuilt injection pump. I kept my old turbo because it actually works great, just had a small oil leak. I might get it rebuilt and keep as a spare or sell it, I dunno.

[Gunflint]

Mark that rig up and running again?

[89TownAce]

I'm supposed to pick it up next week...we'll see. Shop has had it since before xmas, but I have been busy refurbishing a Chevy conversion van so I haven't put any pressure on them. I'm really missing it though and will post an update as soon as she's back.

[NoLimePlease]

That sure is a gem of a van. I hope you get it going :-)