ok, I'm already working on the issue I just want various opinions to work with in case I run out of ideas.



recently my car has been going through oil like crazy. here are some of the facts so far:
- it doesn't seem to be leaking from any gaskets (at idle speed) checked valve cover, sender, and head gaskets
- never see any puddles of oil on the ground after being parked
- no blue smoke out the back. theres a little white smoke, slightly more than there used to be but not that bad at all and could just be from the cold and wet weather. and it smells normal
- oil light comes on about every 2,000 miles or so now. before about 3 or 4 months ago it had never come on before, I would just change it every 3-5k miles regardless
- extra info: started out using 10w-40 then switched to 5w-30 then 5w-30 synth now 10w-30 synth (over the course of about 3 years)


here's whats happened and when in detail:

[07.15.06] 159,400 mi - oil and filter changed, everything normal

[08.20.06] 162,300 mi - oil and filter changed again, like normal

[09.01.06] 163,165 mi - first time I'd ever seen the oil light come on. was low but still clear, 1qt added

[09.16.06] 164,749 mi - oil and filter changed

[10.14.06] 166,853 mi - oil light on again. very low but still clear, 1qt added

[11.02.06] 168,262 mi - oil light on. switch to Mobil 1 full synth 5W-30, changed oil and filter

[11.26.06] 170,000 mi - oil light on. added 1qt Shell 10W-40 synth blend, its all I could get and I had a long drive home

[11.30.06] 170,748 mi - oil and filter changed. switch to 10W-30, still Mobil1 full synth

[12.18.06] 172,370 mi - oil light on. change oil and filter

[01.04.07] 173,800 mi - oil light on. found oil leaking from drain plug, tightened it and put it 3qt Mobil1. ran car for about an hour, no more leaking from plug

[01.07.07] 173,900 mi - still no leak from drain plug. added engine oil tracer dye, will check it in a few days



thats where I am now. throw out any ideas you might have and I'll either try it or tell you I've already tried.

This post has been edited by hurley97: Mar 15, 2007 - 11:25 PM

Our cars really are twins. I am losing/using about that much also.
No signs of where it is going. My car has less than 90K on it
so don't feel to bad.

damn. my car feels old now. I got it with about 126,300 miles so its been fine for almost 40,000 miles. but that is weird thats its happening around the same point in time. maybe its just aged parts rather than worn?


other than this the car runs incredibly smooth for the amount of miles it has. if I can't figure out why its doing this I'm going to have to switch back to regular oil and just keep putting more in when it needs it. I'm not going to spend more on synth if its just going to eat it every 2,000 miles ....

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jan 8, 2007 - 12:42 AM

I just switched back to castrol gtx 5w-30 from mobile1 5w-30.
I was using this before and didn't seem to have as much loss.
I haven't driven enough yet to really tell since I switched back.

my car is at 142xxx miles and it also burns/leaks oil. it runs great, but somehow loses alot of oil n i have to constantly top it off.

quick off topic question: how much oil does the st take? i put about 4qts in when i change the oil, maybe even more. i just try to get it to the full mark onthe dipstick. Also, i thought that the cross hatched part of the dipstick is supposed to be 1qt, but on mine, it is definitely more than that.

This post has been edited by hashmaster52: Jan 8, 2007 - 1:46 AM

My sons car (147K) is curently burning oil at the rate of 1 qt. for every two hundred fifty miles, it smokes on start up, and while at highway speeds, I changed out the valve stem seals hoping that would cut down comsuption, no such luck, My next step is to replace the motor with another used engine with less miles that isn't supposed to be using any oil. Keeping fingers crossed on that one. My guess is that the previous owner overheated it and burned up the rings in it.

next oil change run 1/2 qt ATF through the engine for 100 miles and then change the oil again. i suspect that you're loosing it through valve seals, which can be accelerated if you do alot of high rpm driving.

>
haha. same here, used to use Castrol GTX and never had a problem.

>
yes, the ST takes 4qts. I think technically its something like 3.9 but I always drain it and put in 4.


>
I'm hoping the problem can be solved without getting a new engine.


>
I will try that. that was also a thought since I have been doing a lot more highway driving lately

I wish my car would get that much life on oil. My car was getting around 400 miles on a full tank of oil and then a couple weeks ago it was getting like 133. As I type this it is in the shop having an engine put into it. So be greatful that it gets that much. For last couple of weeks it would putting oil all of the passenger's side of the car and the rear.

I was trying to make it last til Summer so I could do a V6 swap, but I don't have the time or the money to do it right now so I'm having the same type engine put in it. Atleast I should have a brand new car basicly after it is done. They are putting in a refurbished engine with 0 miles on it in my car .

i too have switched back from mobil 1 to castrol gtx

Wear...worn out rings. My 7afe with 190k uses alot also...it just disappears! Just go to walmart and buy a 7$ 5qt jug of supertech or something cheap and use it to top off every few weeks.

what kind of milages are you guys at? im at 123K miles and i use about 1/3 qt every 3-4k miles.

>
when I first got the car it had about 126k and when I'd forget and change it after 5 or 6k miles it would still be over half full

try using an oil additive such as lucas or napa brand.

im just comming up to 200,000km....

im using ~2 liters between oil changes.... it burns on start up and the rear main seal is leaking more and more every month.

rebuild time.

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naa, if it was leaking that bad thru the seals, it would be smoking pretty much non-stop for her to loose that much oil.
steff, have D climb under and have a look where the tranny meets the engine.
if your sure the upper stuff youve checked isnt leaking, its gotta be going somewhere..
a little bit of smoke on cold start will be valve seals, but i really dont thing its that, if it were, the car would be smoking like crazy with the amount of oil your loosing.
have D gimme a call when your up, maybe we can swing by moms and jack it up and get a good look.

>


I just hit 150k miles and I burn 1 qt. every 3-4 tanks of gas (800-1100 miles or so). I notice blue smoke when I first start the car... and it smells really bad. But driving after it warms up = no smoke and no smell. I remember reading somewhere that there is some kind of value gasket that needs to be changed every 65k miles to stop this.

What would it take to change it? If I gota tear apart the engine, I might as well do some mods as well. Until then is the Costco 8pk of Castrol GTX 10w40 for me.

>
I put it up on the lift at work and checked the underside too. theres slight seepage that all looks pretty normal but nothing where it would be losing oil that rapidly. I don't think it smokes bad at all, cause like you said it would be smoking much worse at the rate I'm losing oil, but if you want we can still take a look at it this weekend and see what you think. I'll be up there from sat to mon

ps. I have not seen you guys in so long!
and I have to pick up that engine harness for Corey. I hope you remember cause neither me or D will

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jan 9, 2007 - 10:50 PM

are your underplastics installed?

>
all but the long one in the very front.



I brought it back into the shop at work today. it wasn't busy so instead of having someone else check it like last time I had someone rev it while I checked the back myself. theres white smoke and it smells like its burning oil I'm going to switch back to regular oil and dump some ATF in it and see if that improves it at all. maybe do a compression test. I don't know what else to do

I still think its not enough smoke for the amount of oil its burning. I'd try the valve seals only if Manny wants to help me but if its the piston rings I'm not even going to mess with it, I'll just keep putting oil in when it needs it for a few years until I have the money to do a swap of some sort.


ps. this makes me very sad

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jan 10, 2007 - 11:44 PM

[qoute]I'll just keep putting oil in when it needs it for a few years [/qoute]

I have been doing this for the last 50k miles and nothing has changed...car still runs the same as it did when i bought it with 140k and I still get great gas mileage. haha... its indestructable! Also when it warms up use some thicker oil and it will slow it down some. I also notice the harder i drive the car the more oil it uses.

This post has been edited by bufferdan: Jan 11, 2007 - 10:24 AM

Incase we're counting here, mine does the same thing as well. GT with 177,000 miles on it. Gets great mpg, never smokes, and runs fine.

the car still runs great. even one of the mechanics I work with that looked at it for me didn't believe my mileage was that high, said it looks and runs incredible other than the oil burning.

the thing is, its always burned a little oil. it used to go through a little less than 3 qts every 7k miles or so. that I can deal with. its just recently that its gotten much worse and I'm afraid it'll only go downhill from here

did a compression test today. all four cylinders read at 225. Dustin says it may have read high if the engine was cold, I can't really remember if it was. good part is that its consistent and if it was cold and read high then the proper reading is probably about normal (as opposed to being cold and reading normal which would mean the accurate reading would be low) ... hoping I'm assuming correctly

AND now the CEL is on.
(I don't know if it makes a difference but I just installed the GT-4 rear strut bar today so I drove the car around the parking lot kind of hard, parked it for about an hour, and next time I got in and started it the CEL was on)

It's not funny, I just have had mine come on a couple times.
Both times after driving on rough roads(paved). I had it reset once
and it was the #2 oxygen sensor. I didn't do any thing the second time and it
went off by itself. When in doubt, blow the carbon out.

my car burns oil and blows blue smoke when you first start it up in the morning then goes away. I hope it doesn't effect the performace of the car

Is it hard to do valve seals? The kit is like $30 some isnt it??

>
our cars must have bonded in the factory or something. its like that thing where when twins are separated at birth but they still encounter similar problems at similar times...
I'm going to check it today, if its the O2 sensor I'm going to laugh



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I'm not absolutely sure cause I've never done it before but I'm pretty sure its not as hard as piston rings. but nothing is too too hard with these small engines.

>
the seals themselfs are cheap, its all the work involved to get the old ones out, and the new ones in that makes it a "no-fun" job.
you basicly have to dissasemble the top half of the head to get the seals out (t-belt, cams, buckets, valve keepers, ect,ect..)
then actually have the tools to get the seals in and out properly.
turns it into a 800$ toyota job.