Oil Consumption

[natenkiki2004]

If it was a leak, you would notice it. I was losing about 1.5 quarts in 400 miles from my oil pan and everywhere I went there was a basketball sized puddle. It actually ended up being a drip every 5 seconds. Granted yours isn't as bad but if you idle the engine and don't see any drips underneath for 30 seconds, it's time to look elsewhere.

If you get a puff of smoke when starting, that's definitely valve stem seals.

Try a trick; find a long and somewhat steep hill. Put the trans into first and wind it up then let off the throttle. Let gravity keep the RPM's high. This will generate an above-normal vacuum in the engine. When you get to the bottom, pop it in a higher gear and take off. You'll need a spotter at the bottom of the hill to watch for smoke out the exhaust. If there's a significant amount when you hit the throttle at the bottom, that can be a good indicator of rings going bad.

 

[Wolfie_85]

Thanks! I'll have to try that. I'm going to let it run a bit with a drip tray under it as well, it might not cause the exact conditions, but if it's dripping a lot, it'll tell me what's going on.

 

[acschilling]

I have had good oil consumption results from replacing stock valve cover gaskets. It felt like it should be done because I could feel oil caked on the back of the engine. When I took the stock metal gaskets off they just flopped right over from at rear, inside edges.

Your smell could be hot, caked oil.

Relatively easy fix.

 

[Wolfie_85]

The valve cover gaskets have been replaced, but since it was done by a shop when I had my head gasket done, I will take a closer look. Like I said, oil consumption/loss wasn't an issue until I had the head gasket replaced. Now, thinking about what vq5speed said, with all those gaskets being replaced, maybe there IS a leak somewhere that wasn't there before.

FR-425's idea is another I will use, clean it up it and see if there's any new muck appearing anywhere.

 

[2stroke]

It is very possible you are burning oil. I run mixed gas in everything I own except my cars. There is an exception, and that is my old 94 explorer. It has run gas mixed 40:1 for months now. I also run mixed gas in 4 stroke lawn mowers. The explorer puffs a little on startup, then you don't see smoke again. The lawn mowers puff on start up, and if you idle for a while, you can rev them and get them to smoke. The point is, they don't really smoke at all. Doing some simple math, 600 miles at 18 mpg means you burned about 33.3 gallons of gas. At a 40:1 mix, that's 3.3 quarts of oil, close to the rate you burn oil. Not only that, my explorer doesn't have catalytic converters (I don't drive it on the road), and it still doesn't smoke. I suppose it's possible your lower intake gasket is allowing oil into the intake runners, but the engine wouldn't run very well at all if that was the case. You would probably be burning/loosing coolant as well. My vote is for bad stem seals. You can do a compression test to check for ring wear, but piston rings just don't wear out like they used to.

 

[SuperKirby]

I'll jump in here. I go through a quart every 2-2 1/2 weeks, so roughly 400-500 miles. If I crawl under it, there's oil drips from the oil pan bolts, but there's minimal oil on the driveway under the vehicle. I get the little puff of smoke on startup which would imply valve seats (not sure how, new heads assemblies with less than 5000 miles). I know I need to change my oil pan gasket, just have had a chance yet. I need to get that done and see if that doesn't change my oil usage. I still don't understand where all my oil is going though.

 

[Wolfie_85]

Exactly where I'm at, SuperKirby! My engine, from heads on up, was taken apart and reassembled. Heads were cleaned up and inspected. All checked out. Now, as said previously, a shop did all the work. I never did a head gasket and had nowhere to do it.

Never had it lose oil like this til after the head gasket. This means it's coming out of or going in to somewhere new, exciting, and mysterious. Yay!

Here's where I'm at now: I degreased the engine and will drive her around a few days, see if I see anything new. Maybe I'll tighten up the oil pan bolts a little while this issue is on my mind.

 

[larrydd999]

Just a comment FWIW. Our '92 had a leaky rear main and I could see the oil haze behind me on a hot day - and the engine had a slightly 'hot oil' odor every time it was shut off. I originally thought it was the valve cover gaskets (they used to leak also) dripping on the exhaust, but when I took it to our local - excellent - shop they gave me the news. Pulling the engine was a bit beyond my ability so I had them do the job (including the oil pan gasket and valve cover gaskets) and all has been well since.

 

[SuperKirby]

That's my plan - I'm going to degrease and tighten the oil pan bolts. I have a new oil pan gasket if it looks like it's still leaking around the oil pan, but I'm holding off trying to change it. From what I can tell you can change the gasket without pulling the engine, but it's hard to do and nothing guarantees it will work. I'm also considering the possibility that it's the valve cover gaskets, but I don't think so.
I got new manufacture heads, I wonder what kind of warranty they had and if they'd replace them if the seats are already bad? And do I really want to do another head gasket job?