Hey guys, for the past few months Ive been losing alot of oil. I really don't think its leaking because Ive never seen a drop anywhere I parked. My next guess was that my rings were shot due to having the wrong dipstick in the car since new (when being ~1.5qts low it read I was @ the top dot).

Today @ries did a compression and leakdown test, the results are as follows:
1) 230 2) 219 3) 222 4) 235
There was also no blow by.

There were tiny black dots on my rear bumper that I was told were oil, however Ive never seen smoke come out of the tail pipe. I was told that the cat might conceal the smoke though.

Right now Im just baffled where the hell my oil is going - if you tell me gnomes steal it at night I'd believe you.

Someone told me it might be valve seals, but wouldnt the leakdown show that? Any input here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Pete


Modified by piotrush at 11:11 PM 8/4/2005

 

You might have a main seal leak...just in case you don't know...it is where you engine hooks to your tranny...don't even think of fixing it unless you have some time. If this is the problem then you have to take the engine out and seperate the tranny and put a new seal in. Parts are cheap but takes awhile. You might want to try to put a bottle of "engine honey" in the oil. It helps slow the leak some. You usually won't see the leak unless the car is running...even then you might not see it because your engine isn't really moving...once you start to drive it will leak.

 

Rack it up you'll find the leak

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cb7-R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rack it up you'll find the leak</TD></TR></TABLE>

there is no leak. his car doesnt smoke and it drinks oil more then a dehydrated robot


in response to keeper,

i am seeing where you are going. when i had my saturn it would only leak rad fluid when it got hot and the rad expanded....

i know what we can check to tell that one

 

do oil spots appear under ur car when u park it overnight or something?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eMpAtHy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do oil spots appear under ur car when u park it overnight or something?</TD></TR></TABLE>

none. we have had it outside, in the garage, on concrete, asphalt etc etc and see no signs of drippage.

 

How many miles on the head? Valve guides/seals could be worn (and no, this would not affect compression/leakdown). An easy way to see this is to pull the EX manifold off after the car has been sitting a few days. If the valves are wet, then the seals/guides are leaking into the exhaust port. Could check the breather and PCV too. Coolant only has coolant in it, right? I can't think of where else you could be loosing oil where you couldn't see it. Good luck.

 

If you car is like mine the black soot like stuff is called "Particulate Matter" and some cars have it especially the Preludes. It's just a byproduct of the combustion process.

 

mine leaked past the valve head cover at the back of the engine. it would leak out and then burn off on the hot engine block, so no smoke out the rear.

changed the gasket, quick and easy and now i don't burn oil.

 

Flyrod- 86k on the valve train. Only things done to the engine/tranny are timing belt, water pump, clutch and flywheel which were all done in one shot @ 63k by the same person. PCV is only about a month old. Thanks for the heads up on the exhaust port and coolant.

knight - ill look into that too.

 

the fact that your lude burns oil is something that we all have to deal with.. they burn oil... i have a 92 with a h22a4 swap that i have been driving for about 5 months now... the h22 is from a 97 that had 103k on it.. the motor never really "smokes" but the black dots you seak of ARE OIL!!!! if i run high revs and pull vtec alot the rear bumper is covered.. baby the car and nothing... its due to the material the cylinders are made of.. just keep an eye on the oil level andjoin the rest of the prelude crowd thats in denial that "WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY CAR IS SMOKING????" its a fact of life deal with it!!

 

Ive been burning 1-1.5qts between oil changes since I got the car so I know its normal, but 5 qts is excessive.

 

A few things to address first:

-Our cars burn about a quart every 1000 miles. It happens.

-Our cars run rich. You will get the back bumper a bit dirty.

That aside, I would say it's a combo of rings and valve stem seals. The rings can leak some oil and still have great compression/leakdown numbers. The seals are kinda prone to leaking around 100k miles, so I've seen.

Check the PCV valve and make sure it's workin as well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudeyKrus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A few things to address first:

-Our cars burn about a quart every 1000 miles. It happens.

-Our cars run rich. You will get the back bumper a bit dirty.

That aside, I would say it's a combo of rings and valve stem seals. The rings can leak some oil and still have great compression/leakdown numbers. The seals are kinda prone to leaking around 100k miles, so I've seen.

Check the PCV valve and make sure it's workin as well.</TD></TR></TABLE>


we changed the PCV valve with a known good about a month ago and its still doing the same thing.

going through 1.5 quarts in a day is stupid. we calculated it out that at this rate he will spend more money on oil in the next year then he would spend to have the engine pulled, honed, and have Type S pistons put in.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Shakes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


we changed the PCV valve with a known good about a month ago and its still doing the same thing.

going through 1.5 quarts in a day is stupid. we calculated it out that at this rate he will spend more money on oil in the next year then he would spend to have the engine pulled, honed, and have Type S pistons put in. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Haha, damn! 1.5 a day?!!?

If you're not blowing massive black clouds of smoke out the exhaust, then I would be searching the back of the block for a stream of oil coming out and burning up!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudeyKrus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Haha, damn! 1.5 a day?!!?

If you're not blowing massive black clouds of smoke out the exhaust, then I would be searching the back of the block for a stream of oil coming out and burning up!</TD></TR></TABLE>
you would be able to smell that when you get out of the car though