tizbad2k

As the title says I am burning a lot of oil. The car is an 00 AP1 with 128k miles. I use castrol syntec 10w-30 and have recently noticed that I am burning a lot of oil. I need to add 1/2 qt every weekend to keep the level at the normal value.

I did a compression test today and got 230 230 220 220 (counting from firewall towards the bumper). The plugs appear to be in generallly good shape with nice "moca" coulered counter electrode but appear to be blackish (oil) at the base of the threads.

Any ideas on possible/common places where oil might be leaking from? (i think ive eliminated the bottom end at this point) I dont think its the head gasket because the coolant is clean and although I sometimes see blueish smoke when taking off from a red light, I have never seen or smelled white smoke.

thanks

zeroptzero

have you changed your pcv valve within the last 2 years ?. Barring an oil leak that you can't see, your oil control rings may be stuck due to deposits. Try running a High Mileage oil 10w30, or swap to a 5w40 weight (Castrol has one)and monitor things to see if consumption drops. I'd recommend some oil additives to help clean ring deposits - Auto-Rx, Seafoam, Riselone, MMO, Lucas UCL, see if things change.

3r1k

Your problem is 10w-30.

With such high km engine, generally people then to use 40 instead of 30 because it is thinner after 100000 miles/km.

Give it a go.

tizbad2k

[QUOTE=JFUSION,Jun 6 2010, 07:46 PM] have you changed your pcv valve within the last 2 years ?.

zeroptzero

yeah worn valveguides will cause leakage issues too, you would think that you'd see some blue smoke on start up or on deceleration (high vacuum) with such high consumption levels. Try the heavier weight oil, there's no harm running ring cleaning additives, but if it doesn't improve you may need some valve work.

I can't remember if a leakdown test will reveal worn valveguides, you may want to ask the person that did your compression test, it would be pain to remove the head if the guides aren't worn.

tizbad2k

[QUOTE=JFUSION,Jun 6 2010, 08:40 PM] yeah worn valveguides will cause leakage issues too, you would think that you'd see some blue smoke on start up or on deceleration (high vacuum) with such high consumption levels.

dammitjim

This thread is meaningless unless we know how many miles per week you drive.

jyeung528

how many miles per 1/2 quart.

sounds normal to me.

tizbad2k

I drive roughly 300 miles per week.

jyeung528

that's not normal.

do a leakdown and see what you find.

make sure to get locations of the leak, not just the percentage number.