no puddle under the car no drips.
no white smoke, compression is good
coolant is clean and so is oil
i dont see any leaks from headgasket anywhere or spark plug seals
the only oil i see is around the valve cover because i took it off few times to paint it. and its squeezing through on the corner very slowly.

but its going somewhere, i dont know where else to check

 

and you are losing how much?

 

pretty noticeable. i can definitely tell its going somewhere but dont see where.

 

im using a 2001 ls valve cover that has the pcv valve on top instead of obd1 behind the intake manifold. i just covered that opening, not sure if it would affect anything.

 

Check your plugs maby. if it's not under the car it must be burning...

 

how many miles on the car?

From everything your listing as good, Compression, no mix between coolant and oil, no leaks.

Valve stem seals would be a good guess. If your not familiar as to what a valve stem seal is, its a seal that goes around the stem of the valve underneath the valve spring. The cylinder head is full of oil, and that means there is oil around this seal. Over time the seals become hard and brittle and cause a leak around the valve stem. Oil trickles down the backside of the valve into the cylinder and gets burned. Just because it doesn't smoke doesn't mean that its not leaking.

BTW, if its oil burning smoke your looking for it would not be white.

Burning smoke colors references.

White smoke - Coolant
Bluish Smoke - Oil
Black smoke - Fuel

According to Honda, an engine that burns 1qt per 1000 miles is acceptable, I think that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. If your leaking near that amount you have a problem.

 

Do you notice any oil burning smell? It sounds like it has to do with your work on the valve cover...though that seems unlikely if youre losing such a noticeable amount of oil. Hmm, maybe the gas meter is broken? Now that would be an easy solution...

 

If it was the valve seals you would be able to see a lil smoke on startup.

I honestly think you should hook the pcv valve back up to the black box in back of the block. Then plug the hole in the valve cover. I bet thats the problem. Try it and see how it works out.

 

thats how it is. the hole is plugged
and i did see a smoke on startup. not much only when i back into it lol
i thought it was from cold temps

 

Oh my bad i misread lol. Than that shouldnt do anything.

And if you live in a cold area ya its gonna be hard to tell. So rite when u start your car when the engine is completely cold, go to the exhaust and see if you smell burnin oil.

Do you ever have any black residue on the rear end of the car?

 

if its enough to see when u back up ur valve seals or probably bad,unless its cold as hell

 

how many miles on the motor and check and make sure ur exaust isnt burning the oil off from the valve cover even though u said it wasnt leaking much(smell burt oil after it gets around 100 degrees)

 

Thats not always true....

 

Well a majority of the time.

 

When you have a bad valve stem seal, you will see a puff of smoke on startup, and it will have a slight smoke when you are off the gas. This is because the pressure inside the cylinder is high when you're on the throttle (keeping it from leaking down into the cylinder). When you let off the gas, the cylinder is under vacuum, and it will suck the oil down through the valve guide past the valve stem seal. It will be a blue color. Your spark plug may have oil residue on it. Check your plugs.

If your valve cover gasket were leaking, you would notice. If the internal gasket rings sealing the spark plug holes was leaking, you would see oil on the spark plug wires when you pulled one. If the outer gasket were leaking, you would see oil on the block where it meets the head, and crankcase pressure would force more of it out. You can spray some soapy water around it, temporarily obstruct the PCV, and then gas it for a few moments. If it is leaking it might bubble up.

 

probably using marvel mystery oil... it's a mystery where it goes

 

so i shouldnt let off the throttle then. good point
i will keep that cylinder pressure up at all times

yea that sounds like the only cause that i can think of.
the valve seals+ valve cover gasket would probably add to a chunk of oil missing.

 

lulz

 

You should probably fix it soon. All of that oil might lead to carbon deposits, leading to increased compression and hot spots, leading to detonation. Carbon deposits on the cylinder wall could lead to other physical problems with the piston, rings or cylinder wall itself.

If you have your PCV plugged like was pointed out, that is a problem. Your whole problem could be extending from this. Every cylinder will have blowby, even if it's in perfect shape. The inside of the crankcase will build pressure, and if there's nowhere for it to escape, it will find a place (ie a gasket or seal). Your whole problem could be a seal or gasket.

Valve stem seals are an easy fix (assuming that IS your problem) if you're competent enough to do the work. Getting it done at a shop will cost you an arm and a leg. Good luck with that.

 

Guys, the OP said he plugged the PCV hole in the valve cover, since it's an OBD2 valve cover. He's still using the stock OBD1 PCV system, i.e. the black box on the rear of the block with the PCV valve in it. OBD2 cars had the PCV in the valve cover with no black box.

Another vote here for valve stem seals. My old Camry did the same thing, as it was a notorious problem for the 3S-FE 2.0L engines in those old cars. Oil would leak down past the valve stem seals when the car sat for several hours (like overnight) and then get burned when the car was fired up in the morning. As the engine warmed up the seals would expand a bit and stop any more leaking while the engine was hot.

 

yah that sounds more like it. i ve only seen the smoke twice and it was in the morning when it was hella cold outside.