I have had an issue with engine burning since April '15 when the vehicle had 77.5K miles. Since then, it has gotten increasingly worse to the point where I know have to regularly check my oil and sometimes must add a quart or more every 500 miles. This is an incredible annoyance and mechanics are reluctant to address because it is 'like looking for a needle in a haystack'. My biggest fear is forgetting to check the oil and running on it dry and blowing the engine. I have found others with similar problems and Toyota did acknowledge a problem with the 2006-8 Rav4s. I'm still paying on this vehicle and now have 118K miles on it. Our family has had Toyotas since the late 80's and this is the first problem we've had. We still own a '05 Corolla and an '04 Camry. This is a true lemon, but from what I've seen online Toyota will never call it. So for now I'm stuck with this dog!! Too bad, because I had been a die-hard Toyota fan. Looks like next one may be Subaru or Honda!!

Another recent problem is the VSP Trac code and check engine is on, started at 116K. Recommendations are new catalytic converter or emissions canister - both over $600 fixes. Never ends with this dog!!

This problem of excessive oil consumption has gradually increased this year to the point where I need to add oil every two weeks. I currently have 152,000 miles on my 2005 RAV4. My mechanic has said that this problem seems to be common with older Toyotas and will be a significant expense due to the labor involved to fix the issue. I believe this should be a Toyota recall and not on the car owner. Toyota is aware of the problem but denies it. I called them yesterday and they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. If I were to forget to add oil, this frequently it gets so low, I will destroy the engine. It has been so low after only three weeks that it didn't even show up on the dipstick. This needs to be resolved!

Excessive oil consumption started earlier this year when oil indicator light came on well before scheduled maintenance was due. Initially, the mechanic was not concerned and just topped off the oil, and I had the oil changed at the next scheduled date (mechanic did note that the oil was again low, but not low enough to engage the oil light). About a 1000 miles after that change, the light came on again, and the mechanic did the same thing. When it happened again, I took the car to a different repair shop and had the oil changed (earlier than scheduled), and personally verified the oil level. Same thing again, and this time had the shop run a diagnostic ($250 TYVM) and was told the repair (remove and replace the cylinder head valve stem seals, head gasket, and valve cover gasket) would cost in excess of $3,400.00. Kind of disappointed in the "Toyota quality" at this point.

The oil light kept flashing on all the time so I checked the level. To my horror - NO OIL LEFT IN MOTOR! The RAV4 was not due for a service until another 2000klms. Now I check the dipstick every week as I'm finding that the oil level is down halfway every time. So it is using an excessive amount of oil. It doesn't blow smoke from the exhaust and it doesn't appear to be dropping oil on the ground. I have put a large piece of cardboard box under the vehicle to check whether its dropping oil, no oils stains on cardboard. So where the hell is all the oil going???