I purchased my 2009 Toyota Venza in 2015. I regularly maintain my vehicle and treat it well. I was getting my oil changes at the Toyota dealership where I bought the car and then in 2018 decided to go elsewhere due to cost and wait time at the dealership. Toyota never once reported my oil being low at the time of my oil changes. I started taking the Venza into Jiffy Lube and they would always report my oil was low upon arrival. I asked them about it and they said it was normal because the oil is so thin and it just “evaporates”. I asked them a few times if there was an oil leak and they never found one. I just assumed this was a normal thing so didn’t worry about it too much and regularly check it between oil changes and dump in oil as needed.

A few months ago the Venza started sputtering and throwing a bunch of warning lights so I had my mechanic (not Toyota) take a look at it. He Was getting misfiring codes and replaced spark plugs and a few coils. He thought that would fix the issue but it didn’t and he couldn’t figure out was was wrong so I decided to take it to the dealership where I bought it. They charged me $180 to diagnose it and informed me the engine would need replaced. They said it either has damaged rings/cylinder walls or bad stem seals. My Venza has never smoked or leaked oil.

I started doing some investigating on the oil consumption and soon realized that this was a common problem and that a lawsuit had been filed about this issue. My husband’s co worker also has the same year Venza and has the same oil consumption problem so I’m wondering if there is a possibility of a defect in the Toyota engine that is causing this oil consumption and engine issues. I asked the Toyota dealership and they informed me that they don’t know anything about it.

The more I research this issue, the more common it seems to be. I have also had to replace the rear end shortly after I bought it and it didn’t even have 100,000 miles on it.