hey all,
2004 sunfire with 225XXX on the clock. always ran full synthetic in her changed oil every 10K now ever 8K. anyways I noticed that it started to use a fair bit of oil by the time i hit the 8K mark and thats why I started to change it at 8K.
well 2K ago was when I last did my oil change, checked it tonight as it started to make its funny tickey hissy noise when it gets low on oil (sounded like the timing chain wasn't getting enough oil) and sure enough there was barely a drop on the dip stick.
I don't think I am burning oil as I dont see any blue smoke coming out of the exhaust (there is a lot of black soot on the exhaust tip though) and i checked my coolant and there was no oil in it, so its not a head gasket problem and after doing a search on here I checked out the pcv system and the valve cover tip is open, there is no clogs in the line to the intake resonator and I cant see any sludge on the under side of the valve cover or around the top of the head.
im picking up a compression tester tomorrow so check for sure that its not my rings and that im not burning any oil.
anyone have any in site as to where my damn oil is going??? (and yes my drain plug is tight and there are no visible leaks....)
Our cars do like to go through oil.
All mine go through on average a qt per oil change.
Philly D wrote:Our cars do like to go through oil.
All mine go through on average a qt per oil change.
Same here. Engine still feels pretty healthy so I suppose its normal, as most l61 guys report.
"In Oldskool we trust"
I know a bit of oil is normaly but im going through 3.5-4 quarts of oil in 2000km. that doesn't seem right to me.
Thought id mention this.. My car was going through more oil than normal until I got my pcv system sorted out. Since I ran it how its supposed to be run its used a lot less.
"In Oldskool we trust"
Compression test may not tell you a lot. You can have perfect compression rings and toasted oil rings. But you can also have toasted compression rings or a busted ring land that'll cause consumption. I chased MASSIVE oil consumption on my Civic for awhile so I've got some advice for things that may help.
Generally if youre burning oil itll come from one of three places: bad oil control rings, bad valve stem seals and a faulty PCV system.
Rings will burn oil under load. Either theyll gum up from carbon/sludge and not expand properly into the walls. Promoting oil consumption. Or they'll actually burn up from blow-by gas generally from the first part I described. In Hondas you can burn them up from massively overheating the engine. The oil rings are pretty fragile and sensitive to heat. You can try an overnight piston soak with something like Seafoam (more gentle) or B12 Chemtool (aggressive) or Kerosene (old school and hardcore). Generally though bad rings is something that doesnt JUST happen all of the sudden.
Valve stem seals or valve guides will burn when you first start the car in the morning because the oil leaks down in to the CC overnight. Theyll also burn under heavy vacuum like compression braking. Not much you can do for them besides replacing them.
Clogged PCV can cause a lot of weird engine issues. I suggest a new PCV valve if you havent already (if Ecos even have one). Cheap and worth trying. A clogged one will gum up your rings and ruin them eventually. Excess crankcase pressure forces oil past the rings.
Best place to start is cleaning the engine bay up and laying a piece of cardboard under the car at night to verify youre not leaking anything. Is your bumper sooty too? My Civic was silver and the bumper would be gunmetal colored in about 2 weeks. Have someone follow you to see if they see blue smoke under certain conditions. My car would never smoke at idle but according to my friends it did under any load on the road.
Sorry for the novel. Good luck and report back!
thanks for the reply,
for the pcv system, that was the first thing i checked and no clogs or excessive oil in the intake resonator, and im pretty sure that the eco's don't have a pcv valve from what i have read. (someone please correct me if im wrong)
my bumper is a little sooty, it has little black specs over the back bumper and theres a ton of soot in the exhaust tip, which is telling me i am burning oil, which i pretty much confirmed tonight buy pulling the plugs and putting a camera in and looking at the top of the pistions. very black from carbon build up and it looked like there was a tiny bit of oil on the top of the #1 piston, so we know wheres it going...... now we just have to figure out how its getting in there. Im gonna change my oil and run some zmax in it, try cleaning any crap in the rings out, if that doesnt work then i will be trying a few caps full of atf in the combustion chambers and let it sit then run it good to try and clean it up, also gonna do a leak down test too.
It could still be valve seals if there's oil on top of the piston while its not running. Did it ever sit for an extended period of time?
"In Oldskool we trust"
What did the plugs look like?
Black on the bumper is usually not burnt oil but running rich.....
Do you do a fair bit of stop and go traffic?
yellowcav - no the car never sits its my daily driver, ithink the most its ever sat is for 2 days and that was once 2 or 3 years ago
brian - other then being worn they looked perfectly normal for a used spark plug
Philly D - no it sees 98% highway (100-120kmph)
here is a pic of the old spark plugs
and this is a pic of the #1 cylinder from a camera my buddy has, its not the greatest quality but shows a lot of carbon build up and a tiny bit of oil
I went back through the posts...
Something isnt right. You shouldnt be using that much oil in that little km.
Id look at doing a leakdown test. Compression test wont tell you much.
For one those plugs are far far beyond gone. Try some Mopar combustion chamber conditioner. Gets very very good reviews.
oh i know its a lot of oil in a short period of time, i havent bothered with a compression test as no parts shop in my area seem to rent tools anymore. i am gonna try and get my hands on a leak down tester as that was going to be my next avenue. just gotta find one now.
im assuming this combustion chamber cleaner can be bought at a dodge dealer?
once i do the leak down test and determine the casue then i will look at getting it. not much point in getting it if im still gonna be having carbon build up.
Check the oil pressure sensor the will leak
see ya!
I know my PCV has excessive pressure and i get tons of fuel/oil in my catch can. It was a lot. It is actually less oil and seems to be more of a fuel substance. Im also s/c'd though. On an n/a ecotec i cant imagine getting any excessive pressure to where youd need a catch can though. but you might want to check your intake box depending on how yours is set up. i know the factory boxes had that line running from the PCV to the intake. the excess/over flow would catch down in the bottom of the intake. when i removed my factory intake years ago, it had all kinds of crud built up on the bottom. even with no leaks, after some really hard runs ill hear that ticking noise, and it goes away shortly. my dipstick always seems really low or out of oil, but then when i drain it its mostly all there. so could also be a bad reading on the dipstick for some reason. drain the oil and see how much you really have (drain it, then fill it back up into empty oil cans after you pour the new oil back in).
it cant just disappear. its either being burnt up, leaking out, or getting pushed up through the PCV excessivly. that is a lot of oil to be missing in that short of time.
04 Cav. 2dr. 5spd. My DD. 'Nuff said.
novarace - thanks never thought of that
blu04dd - i have already checked my pcv system, had the intake resonator right of the TB checked all inside and no excessive amounts of oil at all, just the typical thin film. when i did my oil change at 400 kms ago, i did pour it into a old 5L oil jug and only had 3.5L in the jug, so i went through 1.5L in just over 1000KM as i had to top it up to the full mark twice since the last oil change (before the one i just did 400KM ago)
as for the ticking sound, it doesn't go away once i starts till i top it back up with oil again.
Oh and the fuel pressure regulator can leak and vacuum line will suck fuel into the intake manifold leading to 2 cylinders running fat sending gas past the rings into the oil clogging the oil control rings causing oil burning. Poll the vac line to the fpr and smell it if it smells like gas there you go the fpr is
see ya!
thanks nova racer, gonna check the oil pressure sensor and fpr tomorrow, i will post up findings.
You ever figure this problem out??
