ekblackcoupe

just trying to see why it is that my engine burns oil intermittently. any ideas? replaced rear main and oil pan set. no leaks, just burns it. sometimes. 160k miles

XMELT310X

maybe head gasket may not be good mines had the same problem replaces that and stopped but i did it at 199,999 miles lol

Crazy_SI_T

is it while accelerating at higher rpm's? like over 3k. my civic wagovan does it and i know its the rings... but still runs like a champ for 213k miles.

ekblackcoupe

But wouldn't there be signs of oil in the coolant if it were the head gasket?
And no its just under normal daily driving. I try not to beat her up too bad cuz its my only car. But its very intermittent. Like it goes a cpl weeks without any loss, i check it periodically, then out of no where, its down almosst two quarts. I was thinking I might be running the wrong weight of oil and the mottor is just being tempermental. 5-30 castrol syntec ... any other ideas? Oil isn't cheap anymore lol

Former User

Are you saying that your engine is free of any exterior oil? Perfectly clean?

ekblackcoupe

As far as I can see, yes

Former User

^Not a definitive answer. Either there is oil on the engine exterior or not. Which one.

If you let somebody drive your car and follow behind, do you see any blue smoke coming from the exhaust pipe.

ekblackcoupe

Okay there is no oil leaks anywhere. That was a sarcastic reply. No oil outside anywhere. And no blue smoke.

Former User

If you have absolutely no engine oil leaks, then the only other possibility is that you are burning oil in the cylinders. This would point to worn piston rings if you are not seeing blue smoke. Oil does not just mystically vanish.

By the way, to say that the engine "suddenly" drops almost 2 quarts, you would need to check the oil level daily on level ground an hour or so after the engine has been turned off.

ekblackcoupe

well turns out you guys were right....not to blow dust off this or anything. but my valve cover bolt (passenger side closest to the firewall) broke off, and was slightly leaking oil out of the valve cover gasket and the bolt grommet. fixed now, no issues any more!