Tanji
Member
I have a friend coming over today so I will have him see if blue smoke comes out when I start because I never saw blue smoke before. It is really annoying.
Losing oil
- Thread starter Tanji
- Start date
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I have a friend coming over today so I will have him see if blue smoke comes out when I start because I never saw blue smoke before. It is really annoying.
Tanji
Member
So on cold start I had my friend check if there is any blue smoke and he didn't see any. We then drove for a couple of miles and there was no blue smoke coming out. We then took out the spark plugs to check for carbon build up because my mechanic told me to check that and there was no carbon build up. Just how am I losing so much oil?
Our 2002 hunt camp KJ uses a lot of oil and it never hits the ground. I'm guessing it's being burned up in the CAT. She doesn't smoke much but you can definitely smell burning oil. Nice thing is that I just need to change the oil filter once in a while instead of doing complete oil changes!!!
Tanji
Member
Our 2002 hunt camp KJ uses a lot of oil and it never hits the ground. I'm guessing it's being burned up in the CAT. She doesn't smoke much but you can definitely smell burning oil. Nice thing is that I just need to change the oil filter once in a while instead of doing complete oil changes!!!
Haha at this point I am considering selling it. It's gonna cost too much for me to repair since I am still in high school.
Aceofspades
Full Access Member
Excessive blow by ?
Gotta be going somewhere; it's either burning up in the cylinders blowing past the oil retention ring, or it's passing by the valve stem seals under normal oil pressure... both both conditions and especially with this much quantity of oil missing, that's where you'd see blue smoke.. valve stem seals (like on my old Ford 4.6l mod motor- which I loved btw), you'd see it on a cold startup and then after idling for a while, like in a drivethrough.. pull away and PUFF blue... but you're not seeing that...so, ???
Our 2002 hunt camp KJ uses a lot of oil and it never hits the ground. I'm guessing it's being burned up in the CAT. She doesn't smoke much but you can definitely smell burning oil. Nice thing is that I just need to change the oil filter once in a while instead of doing complete oil changes!!!
Could be this. When my passenger side valve cover gasket was leaking badly, it dripped onto my exhaust downpipe and cat converter.. also onto the O2. Caused an O2 sensor code as it got into the plug, which is the first sign I had. I could also smell it, of course, and later as it got worse, you could see smoke from that side of the hood.
It may be worth, just one last try...have an actual shop check it out. Don't have to have them fix it for a bajillion hundred dollars that you don't have, but maybe just for the diagnostic portion.
I might not recall, but you did a compression test, yes? What about a cylinder leak down test? How do the valve cover gaskets and oil pan gaskets look? Front and rear main seals? Check coolant? Possibly some oil is leaking into the cooling system via a bad head gasket (Lord I would hope it's not this for your sake- not unfixable, just one of the more involved options).
Yeah, but this too is where you'd see blue smoke at some point out the exhaust, if not while under load driving or at idle, then on a cold start or after a long idle. If the rings were so bad that in 1 weeks' time he's losing 1-2qts of oil, that is a SHIT TON of oil to lose in 7 days and probably less than 300 miles.
New vehicles, which oddly enough are much more liberal with their oil consumption, usually state about 1qt or 1L every 500-1200 miles would be considered "normal" and not cause for a warranty concern nor repair. I saw this a ton at the VW/Audi/Subaru/Mazda dealer I worked at in service.
Owners would be concerned (and rightly so) that every month they have to put a quart to quart and a half of oil into their $40k, $50k, $60,000 brand new vehicle... well, they were driving 300-400 miles per week and under those conditions, that much oil loss was normal. No blue smoke nor rough running symptoms, as the vehicle was designed with this in mind, however.
2003libstepD
New Member
Actually some synthitcs can cause oil leaks. Its bc the seals will react differently .. but most higher qual synths now use more than one type of hydrocarbon so the seal leaks are much improved.
..............................:blah:
Yes, like soluable methane, heptane and cyclobenzene. :gr_grin:
No, just lots and lots of no.
IF, and this is a big IF, a synthetic motor oil is indeed the cause of a seal or gasket leak, it is because it contains a higher detergent concentration than previously used oils and has cleaned and exposed a weak point in the integrity of the sealing material.
It isn't because "synthetic oil is a smaller molecule", or that it contains "more than one type of hydrocarbon", or any other pseudo-science BS.
I know I'm being harsh here, and I don't intend it to be rude at all, but I suggest copious amounts of research on petroleum refining and some mid level organic chemistry to bone up on the subject.
Mangate
Full Access Member
My 02 has never used a noticeable amount of oil between 6,000mile changes, until recently it has started to use maybe 1 qrt over that interval. Just coming up on 80,000miles.
Friend had one using oil, lots and lots of miles
No leaks, no noticeable smoke on start up , followed many times no smoke
UNTIL if he really got on it and at higher RPMs it would smoke
Of course he drives like me , trying out the rev limiter as often as possible
so he was losing some oil
No leaks, no noticeable smoke on start up , followed many times no smoke
UNTIL if he really got on it and at higher RPMs it would smoke
Of course he drives like me , trying out the rev limiter as often as possible
so he was losing some oil
Tom, we all know that you try to get the speedometer to outrun the tach needle every chance you get.
Not the only one LOL:icon_razz:
Tanji
Member
Sorry for the very late reply. I have been doing some testing and whatnot, so I have been a little busy. Okay so two weeks ago I was taking a thorough look around the engine compartment and noticed that the crankcase circulation hose(or breather hose as some people like to call it) was cracked where the the three hoses meet at a T pattern. Sure enough as I tried to inspect it, it broke off. So I bought a new one and put it in last Monday or Tuesday, I can't recall.
I also did a oil and filter change Thursday since it was due for it and noticed the engine was running very smooth. So far I haven't noticed any lost oil yet but if it continues to leak then I will take it to a shop for diagnosis and see what is causing it.
One more thing. A coolant flush wouldn't affect this in anyway right? I had my coolant flushed around the time I posted about this but the problem was occuring even before it. I need to do another flush within a couple of weeks as recommended by the shop because there were a lot of buildup removed and they put in a conditioner so it can thoroughly clean the system out.
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I also did a oil and filter change Thursday since it was due for it and noticed the engine was running very smooth. So far I haven't noticed any lost oil yet but if it continues to leak then I will take it to a shop for diagnosis and see what is causing it.
One more thing. A coolant flush wouldn't affect this in anyway right? I had my coolant flushed around the time I posted about this but the problem was occuring even before it. I need to do another flush within a couple of weeks as recommended by the shop because there were a lot of buildup removed and they put in a conditioner so it can thoroughly clean the system out.
It shouldn't... unless there was something already wrong with your head gaskets, and the cleaning and pressure blew it out.. but then you'd have oil/coolant milkshake and there'd be no mistaking it. So no, I'm going to say based off of the information you have provided, no, not related.
Good luck.
Also, good that you replaced that broken crankcase vent hose... very important to proper operation that it be whole and in working order.
