Excessive oil consumption on the 2009 Toyota Camry
1 fire 1 of the 144 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When excessive oil consumption gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Toyota Camry report excessive oil consumption at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 137,500 miles, from 81 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 62,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 180,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 117,670 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
4% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62,330 miles | 80,000 miles | 99,000 miles | 137,000 miles | 180,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $900–$6,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 190,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 240; the 2009 has 144. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
With toyota t-sb-0094-11, toyota acknowledges that they have a problem with oil consumption in a handful of car models. They have set the bar high in order to get the repair covered, either under the normal or extended warranty. The problem gets worse as time goes on, so most cars will not experience issues until they are near or passed their warranty mileage. A series of oil consumption tests is required, but in my experience, they do not make sure the oil is not over full. I have had two tests thus far, and both times they have overfilled my oil by ~0.5 quarts. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 toyota camry. The contact was driving approximately 35 MPH when a loud noise emitted from the engine area. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road. The contact inspected under the hood and noticed that the engine dip stick reading indicated a zero oil level. One quart of oil was dispensed into the engine however, there was an excessive oil leak which required oil to be dispensed in the reservoir every 1,000 miles. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000. Updated 1/23/13 *cn the consumer stated after further researching the failure, it was found to be an enviornmental issue. A complaint has been filed with the epa and carb. The consumer has requested for the original request for an investigation to be disreagrded. Updated 02/11/2013 *js
Toyota motor corp. Has issued service bulletin # t-sb-0094-11 dated aug. 11, 2011. This sb describes the diagnosis and repair of toyota motor cars and trucks using the 2az-fe 4 cylinder engine. These engines have a defect resulting in excessive oil consumption. Excessive oil entering the combustion chamber does not burn with the fuel air mixture. It enters the exhaust system as unburned fuel. In the exhaust system there is a device called a catalytic converter. This device has a normal internal operating temp. Of 500-1000 degrees f. Oil entering this device is like "pouring oil on the fire" which results in exhaust system overheating anf fire. Further...excessive oil entering the comsumption chamber results in engine spark plug fouling and mis-fire. Engine mis-fire results in a most very serious consequence...namely...catalytic conv. Overheating and fire. When a spark plug fouls, it does not fire and ignite the fuel and air in the cylinder. Result? Raw fuel enters the exhaust system including the catalytic converter. Now you are "pouring gasoline onto the fire".I suggest you folks investigate this engine defect, and determine if…
Also reported on the 2009 Toyota Camry
Other body or interior problem
Other speed control problem
Other visibility problem
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Other suspension problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 144 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does excessive oil consumption happen on the 2009 Toyota Camry?
Across 81 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 137,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is excessive oil consumption on the 2009 Toyota Camry?
144 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed