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Oil Consumption

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Blackcoog

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Nov 14, 2000
Messages
1,998
Location
Mounds View, MN, USA
What would cause a motor to puff a little bit of smoke on startup and burn two quarts of oil in 500 miles? No oil leaks and replaced the PCV. If it is doing it during driving it isn't noticeable. One might think that 2 quarts of oil would leave a smoke screen behind the car and this doesn't seem to be the case.

Ran a compression test and came up with good numbers:
1. 195
2. 181
3. 195
4. 205 (plug was wet)
5. 195
6. 197

The test doesn't seem horrible. #2 I suppose could be a little low but could be test related. Since the plug was wet on #4 that is suspicious. You'd expect it to be very low if that was the cause of the oil consumption unless the oil was sealing the ring. I was thinking we could he pop the plug out and put a towel over the hole and crank it to blow any oil in the cylinder out and run a test again? Would a leak down test be better if we can get it done?
 
Well, first thought would be that I have heard compression tests should be upwards in the 220 range?:shrug: - That is just hear-say. So to me it would seem that you are burning some off because of bad rings. That would be my only suggestion.


Actually, my saturn did the same thing. Puff of smoke in the morning or if it sat for a few hours, but while driving there was minimal to no smoke behind coming from the exhaust. I burned up more than 3 quarts of oil going from Beaver Dam, WI to La Crosse one way.

I put some oil leak stopper in and though it did go through less oil on the way home, it smoked like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't even let it idle in our neighborhood because the neighbors complained about it:eek:.


PS, these results were with a stock exhaust
 
Compression tests on a brand new motor might hit 220 if you are lucky. 200 range is very good. Normally we see 170-180 which is what my Cougar is at. The higher the better but as long as they are close you are usually perfectly fine. If one is very low than you have a problem.
 
What type of oil is in there. From what I understand, full syn oil doesn't burn as noticeable as dino oil.....i.e. you can't see it burn out of the tail pipe vs the nice blue cloud of the dino oil
 
elraido said:
What type of oil is in there. From what I understand, full syn oil doesn't burn as noticeable as dino oil.....i.e. you can't see it burn out of the tail pipe vs the nice blue cloud of the dino oil
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Not true. You can see full synthetic burn just fine. However instead of blue smoke it's white, kind of like coolant. Of course, it still smells like burning oil.

If it's only doing it on start up then it sounds like the oil may be draining into the cylinders when the car is off. Could be valve seals, pull the intake manifolds and try to see if any of the valve stems are wet. If they are then you need to replace the seals. They will also burn very small amounts of oil all the time which might not be enough to see while driving.
 
I agree with Striker on this one. It definitely sounds like valve guides. I just feel like with TWO courts of oil gone after 500 miles, you would see more than just a puff of smoke on start up and you could smell it while driving. I am not calling you a liar I am just saying that is really strange. I know my car burns about a court of oil every 3,000 miles and my number 2 cylinder plug is covered in oil. Granted I can also see leaks coming from almost every gasket...I can ask my old engines teacher on Tuesday, he has seen everything.
 
Well I'm helping diagnose it over the phone so I'm taking someone's word for it. I question it as well. If you get a chance to ask let me know. I'd appreciate it.
 
Any chance you can replace a valve seal on #4 without removing the head? I haven't worked on valves/springs yet but it sounds like I may be doing it soon.
 
Blackcoog said:
Any chance you can replace a valve seal on #4 without removing the head? I haven't worked on valves/springs yet but it sounds like I may be doing it soon.
Click to expand...

I've seen it done without removing the heads on an 04 Cobra at the ford dealer I used to work at. It was pretty cool, they removed the spark plugs and pressurized the cylinder to keep the valve from falling into the motor.
 
tsSVT said:
I've seen it done without removing the heads on an 04 Cobra at the ford dealer I used to work at. It was pretty cool, they removed the spark plugs and pressurized the cylinder to keep the valve from falling into the motor.
Click to expand...
yup, you just have to make sure that the piston is perfectly at TDC when you pressurize it or it will spin.
 
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