Burning Too Much Oil

[imported_Kyle_G]

ok.. so it isnt a Honda.. but its a Toyota Camry. A 97 to be exact. Anyhow.. hes got like 140,000 miles on it. And itll burn an entire pan of oil in like 4-6 days. He says theres never any spots on his driveway, and ive never seen any on mine when he parks it at my house. Now granted i havent really had the chance to take a look at his car.. i was just wondering if some one might be able to point me in the right direction.

So as far as i know, its not leaking any oil from the bottom. And i know its burning some.. he has the infamous blue smoke out of the tailpipe on heavy acceleration and when he starts it up. Where else might i look? And if i remember correctly.. i changed his plugs a while ago.. and they seemed fine.. just your normal everyday wear and tare. But this was before his problem mind you. So where are some tell-tale reasons/places i should be looking? Thanks.

[oompahlumpa]

yeah blue smoke thats deffinatly oil burning

[dubcac]

Do you see any oil leaks around the motor itself or anywhere in the engine bay? Look at the plugs again since the problem has started. Is there oil in his coolant, or coolant in his oil? Could be a leak other than from the bottom, head gasket, piston rings, valve seals.

[businessman_b]

Do a compression test. See what kind of numbers you get across the board. After getting the results, you should have a pretty good idea of where to start. If you can, do a leakdown test as well. If I had to guess right now, I'd say either a head gasket, valve seals, or piston rings.

[civic_mybaby]

i would have to say that you probably have worn piston rings. oil is leaking into the cumbustion chamber and burning up with the air fuel mix. thats why you have blue smoke.

[civic_mybaby]

either that or worn valve guides

[imported_team_adrenaline]

without compression #'s I would guess valve guides and valve stem seals, piston rings would cause the car to always smoke, but the quantity it's burning is kind of high for valve guides or seals, but anything's possible.
How's the cars performance? Is there noticabls lack of power? Any funny noises(knocking, ticking, etc.)? How well has it been maintained? How does he drive?
The only reason I ask the last couple is because 140,000 miles is awfully low for a toyota to have this kind of problem.