Been working on a car for a friend that was purchased in Texas. The car currently uses about a half quart every 100 miles. (Determined the problem the first time the car was due for an oil change and had no oil on the dip stick)

-No blue smoke or smell

-No dramatic oil drips (some small oil leaks)

-Will replace PCV just to see if it slows down the problem.

This website has some other things to try, but I'm probably just going to switch her to a heaver motor oil and make sure she checks it often. http://www.corolland.com/repairs.html

Sorry to hear about the problems with this car.

I have had my 2002 Toyota Corolla LE since it had 20k miles. It has been the best car ever and I have only done routine maintenance on it. I have always done the oil changes myself and had only noticed minor oil loss in the past. On my way to work this morning my check engine light came on so I check the fluid levels and found the oil level barely registering on the dipstick. I added some oil, disconnected the battery to reset the cars computer and then reconnected the battery after two minutes. When I started the car my check engine light was turned off but it worries me about the oil loss. It has never leaked oil since I have had it and it appears to only be consuming it. After reading similar complaints I'm now worried I may have to keep adding oil over and over. It sounds like it's a known problem but not worth fixing considering the age of the car. A cousin of mine has a 1996 Corolla with 260,000 miles and it still runs good. I wonder if it's just an issue with the 2002's engine??? I need this car to last me a long time still so I guess I'll resort to trying thicker oil and monitor it frequently.

Yet another one of these stupid lemons that's eating oil like it's going out of style.

It's my daughter's car, bought used in 2009 from someone who took amazing care of it. My mechanic said it was a fantastic deal for $7K, engine was spotless, etc. My daughter's been commuting back/forth to college with it just this fall, maybe putting 350 miles/week on the car.

Now suddenly when I took it in to get routine maintenance on Sept. 2nd, the same mechanic (Mike) said it looked like it might be "burning oil" and to have my daughter check the dipstick every ~1000 miles. On Oct. 14th, she checked it and it was down to below the first dot (e.g., LOW). So I dumped a quart in to bring it up to the second dot (e.g., GOOD), switched cars with my daughter (she's now driving my 2006 Nissan Sentra since I only commute ~5 miles/day), and set up an appointment for today to find out where the oil was going.

Mike just called me to say it's "consuming" the oil and suggested a flush/clean for ~$85 to perhaps clear out some sludge. I did a Google search and found this site, along with dozens of other similar complaints. Mike also researched the issue and confirmed that it was a common problem.

Some sites with similar complaints have suggested replacing the piston oil control rings to the tune of ~$1700, along with switching to all-synthetic oil (e.g., Castrol Syntec oil), seems to help significantly. As to whether it's worth dumping that much money into a 10-year-old car is something I'm still debating.

Wish I had known all this stuff BEFORE I bought this car. Friends/coworkers all seem to have hundreds of miles on their Toyotas with no problems, so most recommended I get this one for my daughter.

I did a search for 2006 Nissan Sentra on this website and found like 10 hits, mainly about cosmetic issues (e.g., paint, interior trim, etc.). I guess my car is on the "good" list. Thank heavens one of them is.

Never again will I buy a Toyota.

as many others on this website, my 2002 Toyota Corolla has been consuming oil like crazy. no leaking. i add about a quart a week. my mechanic says i should plan to get a new car within the next year. it runs pretty good when there's oil in it.

i'm super disappointed in toyota and won't buy another one. toyotas should last way more than 130,000. i think toyota should step up and fix our cars. maybe not for free..but there should be some seriously reduced price fix for this...they have faulty engines.

Bought new 2002 Toyota Corolla LE with the 1800 4-valve 4 cyl engine which now has 90K on it. Started burning excessive oil at 75K to the point of needing 1 quart per week or every 2-3 hundred miles. In addition now the engine knocks badly and is getting worse. Engine does not leak a drop but rather it seems to be an oil consumption problem. According to the dealer and what I have read this is a known issue with this engine. Something about undersized pistons and oversized rings. Car is long out of warranty and spending $5000 to fix a $4 to 5 thousand car makes no sense. I have switched to full synthetic oil and keep the level past full. I baby the engine and hope it holds together until I can replace the whole car.

Just want to pass along my experience and help people make an informed decision when looking at used Toyota Corolla's. I just bought a new Honda Fit last week but was also looking at the new Toyota Yaris. After my experience I am very skeptical about Toyota's commitment to quality about now and so voted with my dollars on a Honda.

We bought this car used from an auto broker. It was all detailed out and looked great. But when we started driving it, we started hearing rattling sounds after about the first 800 miles, like when I turn a corner or come to an abrupt stop. I checked the oil and found it was at the bottom of the stick. Put a quart in, the rattling sounds stopped for another 800 miles. This has been going on for over a year now! My mechanic says the plugs look fine, so the car is "using" excessive oil, not "burning" it. There's no evidence of any leaks anywhere. We have no idea why it's doing this, but the mechanic says it's too expensive to fix - would require a rebuild! Is there a recall on this model? Will Toyota do ANYTHING?

Recently purchased my first Toyota Corrolla CE 2002 with 102,000 miles from my co-worker. It came with engine oil consumption problem. According to my co-worker, his Mechanics has told him that oil consumption is related to the Valve or Ring/Piston problem and it is expensive to fix it. I have to use 1 qt of oil every week with my driving no more than a 100 miles a week.

2nd problem I discovered is rubber around the steering wheel is loose.

What happened to Toyota's quality and service.?? Now I have to think twice before buying my next car...

Bought my first Corrolla 2002 CE from one of my co-worker. It leaks oil from the day I bought it. According to my co-worker, the problem started after 90,000 miles. His mechanic has told him it is valve or Ring/Piston problem. I talked to my mechanic about the problem, according to him this is a known problem with every Toyota. It will start burning oil after 90 thousand miles and it expensive to fix. Question is what happened to the reliability of the Toyota which was build to keep running without any problem. Now, with this problem and reading all the problems people reported on the web I have to think twice before buying another Toyota....

My wife bought this second hand about a year ago as a replacement after an accident. I think it's been using excessive oil since the very beginning but I don't drive a lot (maybe a couple of short trips per week) so I haven't really noticed. I recently took the car on a 4000km trip and noticed that it was using 1L of oil or more per two tanks of gas. I brought it in to a mechanic and he checked the compression etc. but couldn't find a problem (he thought it could be due to clogged oil rings). The mechanic suggested I just keep driving it the way it is, but, I'd really like to find the source of the problem.

Also, the car started losing power and stalling whenever the heater fan is turned on. This is not an alternator or battery problem. If I have the car running and turn the heater or AC on it just stalls. If the fan is on when I try to start the car I just can't get it going. If I am driving and turn on the heater/AC fan the car noticeably loses power. The problems with this car are getting really irritating and I'm thinking of trading it in for something else.

Before this I had a 1987 Supra, it still runs great!

Bought the vehicle from a dealership a month and a half (3000 miles) ago. Three weeks ago I had the car serviced at my local garage for an unrelated issue and they discovered that the vehicle was over a quart short of oil. I had the oil topped off and went on my way. I took the car in today to the dealership today for my first scheduled oil change as the owner of this vehicle. The technician told me that the oil level was so low that it didn't even register on the dipstick. They think it might be the head gasket. THANK GOD FOR EXTENDED WARENTEES.

I own 2002 Toyota Corolla, a station wagon, manual transmission, and I noticed an extensive oil leakage. The car has been regularly services and oil change was done every 3-5K miles. I am the first owner and I took good care of it since the beginning. However, several month ago I've noticed that it has started using more oil. I took it to a mechanic who suggested to use slightly thicker oil than Toyota advises for new cars. So far it appears that it has fixed the problem, and I don't see any performance issues (at least yet).

Well it appears my 2002 LE has fallen victim to this problem as well. I bought mine early 2009 from a used dealer who had just purchased it from a Toyota dealership (Tanksy Toyota, Dublin Ohio), which still had the dealership's paperwork documenting the comprehensive used car inspection, with nothing noted beyond normal wear and tear for a 7 year old car. It had 130,000 miles when purchased, and ran well during the thorough test drive. Later that week, during a drive to a family function, I noticed the oil light lit, and pulled up to my destination to absolutely nothing on the dip stick. I'm not sure if it was the constant medium revs that a 65-70mph highway trip demands that kicked it in, but it was all downhill from there. Quick note: I'm a contractor who drives ~200 stop and go miles a day, however I make it a strict point to drive as gently as reasonable due to needing my car to last as long as possible. After filling up with new oil, I checked it every morning, eventually needing to put in a quart or two every 1.5 to 3 days to keep the level correct. I had kept this going for a few months, hoping that this was all I needed to do to keep an otherwise well-functioning car together. I was still getting ok mileage as far as I could tell, always getting at least 300 miles per gallon, even with the constant stop and go driving for my job (and a trunk often full of heavy equipment). Earlier this week, I noticed intermittent power delivery on the highway, and as I slowed down to an off-ramp light, the engine chugged to stay running as it lowered to idling RPMS. I was hoping it was just in need of new plugs or wires, but my mechanic did everything he could with new parts and it still misses and chugs. He said as far as he could tell, it was a deep internal problem and he assumed I'd be told to get a new engine from dealers & mechanics alike. He was unfortunately right. I just find it morbidly funny that among all of my (literally) weeks of research to make sure this was the solid workhorse car for me, that I completely missed this website or any others relating to the leaking oil problem. All I had to do was Google "how much to replace the engine in my 2002 Toyota corolla", and here I was. Major bummer, but if this somehow aids any future purchasers be weary of this surprisingly (seemingly) common problem, then of course I hope it serves to be helpful insight. I'm greatly disappointed that this happened to me, but I can't with good conscience suggest a blanket "steer clear from Toyota" stance, just like I avoided saying the same about my Ford which died a similar death last year. Just be thorough on your research and ask every question you have before picking up a used vehicle. The extra day or two bumming a ride to work as you make absolutely sure your decision is the right one could potentially save you from enduring much greater problems down the road.

The engine started burning excessive oil at around 60,000 miles initially (just out of warranty). I lived with the problem until 100,000 miles later when the engine stalled while driving to work. I was buying oil by the case at that time. The rear of the car near the exhaust was completely black from where burned off oil and settled on the car's bumper and trunk. There was gasoline in the engine's crankshaft assembly! I had my niece's husband (who owns his own garage) replace the engine with a used one for around $2.5k. He got a good laugh watching smoke pour out of where the oil dipstick goes. After 3,000 miles on the used engine, the transmission now won't engage. OK, engine and transmission, these are the two most costly and most important components of a car. With a Ford, I may be able to make it to 100,000 miles on the original engine and save the cost of buying 2 cases of oil a month (ie. $70 a month). I owned a 1995 Corolla and it was better although it burned alternators like crazy. At least it would've been cheaper in the long run. Toyota quality has definitely slipped and their reputation and sales will fall as a result of these MAJOR problems. I don't know what my next car is going to be, but it won't be another Toyota unless they get their act together.

Bought this car from my in-laws, thinking that replacing the PCV valve might fix the problem.The first engine locked up on them after 80,000 miles or so. Same problem. They replaced engine w/ a used prism engine, of unknown mileage. In-laws then decided to sell it to us cheap. Good thing since I have to pour nearly 2 quarts of oil into it for every 500-600 miles driven! I'm guessing that this engine has somewhere around 60,000-80,000 miles. Just like everyone else here, I cannot find oil leaks anywhere.

Maybe instead of trying to deal w/dealership, we could all try to contact Toyota Corp. directly and tell THEM our problem. If that doesn't help, maybe a class action suit? Also, check to see if your state has a Lemon Law on the books!

Per my mechanic my 2002 Toyota corolla needs a new engine due to a damaged piston. My car has never overheated, therefore its shocking to know I am having this problem. My engine light is always on. I constantly have to check my oil gauge since the piston is excessively consuming it. My mechanic is also very surprised that a Toyota corolla is having this type of problem. He stated that these cars are usually great cars. Obviously not anymore. I am very upset and disappointed. I feel they should recall these vehicles. I will stop buying Toyota's and go with Nissan's or Honda's.