mechanic in england Lexus expert around London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire

[mgulraiztahir]

Dear all, I purchased a pre-owned Lexus is250 2008 in year 2018 and immediately I found out it was consuming oil. I observed that it was needing 1 litre every 900miles, it doesn't lose engine coolant at all, it doesn't give black/gray smoke (almost none). I replaced rocker cover gasket with manifold gaskets but it didn't help much.  

Then when I was replacing passenger side headlight, I had to remove air-intake filter compartment and found lots of oil deposits underneath. I assume it is head gasket but I am NOT a mechanic, hence need expert's advise and assistance. 

Does anyone know a good mechanic (Lexus expert) around London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey in the UK? 

[Linas.P]

If it is really consuming that much oil then your cheapest option would be to replace the engine. Reality is that there are no experts that would be able to do complete engine rebuilt for reasonable price, they either do not exist, or it will cost more than new engine (and I mean new new).

That said I am not convinced that your problem is head gasket, it would look different - depending on how it is blown you would either have milk in oil (which clearly you don't have), or you would have loads of white smoke, which again sounds like you don't have. But these engines have quite common issue for modern DI engines and that is "low friction" piston rings which get stuck and lets oil in... or rather out (depends on perspective). Short of complete bottom end rebuilt (meaning pistons out, new rings in) there isn't much you can do about it. Again if the oil burning is so excessive then you may as well have scored/generally worn out bores (meaning new block). As for blue smoke there wouldn't be much... only really for a second at the cold start-up. In grand scheme of things 1L per 120-180L of fuel isn't really that big amount, some gets captured and burned in the catalytic converter as well, so you would not see any visible smoke.

Again I could not guess without looking at it, but by the time you burning 1L of oil per 900miles it is the case of engine replacement. Not because your engine can't be fixed, but because replacement engine is £600 + as much labour and rebuild will be £2000-£3000, so rebuilding is just not economical.

Are there other ways? Maybe... you could try flushing, decarb, thicker oil, generally shorter oil change intervals. Theoretically stuck rings could get unstuck and if enough carbon and other deposits get's cleaned they may seal properly again, but don't get your hopes very high - I mean it was doing it for 5 years already... and that sort of thing probably should have been done 3 years before you acquired it to really work. Likewise flushing can make situation worse, but in your case you don't have much to lose - so you can try few of these "non-invasive" methods and if it doesn't solve the issue then plan replacement of the engine or the whole car maybe.

Why this happens? Simply poor maintenance, no regular oil changes and that kills these engines. Realistically 6000 miles is the most any engine should ever go on same oil, for DI ideally 3000 miles. In UK people run them for 10k+ and by 100k miles this is what happens.

[Spock66]

8 hours ago, mgulraiztahir said:

Then when I was replacing passenger side headlight, I had to remove air-intake filter compartment and found lots of oil deposits underneath. I assume it is head gasket but I am NOT a mechanic, hence need expert's advise and assistance. 

I suspect it's worn piston rings which creates excessive crank case pressure and oil then comes through the PCV system.

[johnatg]

But it might just be a simple oil leak. Find a garage which will do a test with UV sensitive dye - they can put it in the oil and with a UV light see where it is coming from. It might be disaster or it might be something relatively inexpensive - a gasket needing replacement or something.

[Linas.P]

1L per 900miles would make massive puddle under the car over 5+ years. Somehow I doubt such leak could be missied.

2 hours ago, Spock66 said:

I suspect it's worn piston rings which creates excessive crank case pressure and oil then comes through the PCV system.

That is good point - would explain why there was oil under the air intake, which I was quite confused about at first.

Although the outcomes is the same - it is cheaper to replace engine than it is to replace piston rings.  

[Bluemarlin]

No sense speculating, just get a decent garage to diagnose it. You don't really need a Lexus specialist for that, but the two I know of in the south east are Toyotec in Surrey and Japex in Herts.

It might be an economically viable repair, or it might mean that your cheapest option is a litre of oil every 900 miles, but you wont know until you get it properly checked out.