A co-worker of mine has an automatic '89 Accord and she wants me to take a look at it today for her. She says she has to add a quart of oil every 2 weeks or so, but there is no clouds of smoke coming from her car. She is also hearing chatter coming from her engine bay, and experiencing power reduction when driving uphill. Im thinking piston rings - any other input? ASAP would be nice....im going to check it in a few hours. Thanks...

 

Check for leaks first before assuming that it is burning oil.

Regards,

Oz

 

Probably oil leaking past rings, causing octane lowering, causing detonation(pinging uphill). I would do a compression test, followed by a leak down test WHEN you find the cylinders that are leaking. Also check the plugs cause they are probably shot by now.

 

The clattering could be the result of very loose valves in the guides, thus causing the oil loss. Under load, it's possible that the valves are so loose, they're not seating properly. As a result, under compression, it is possible that some of the gases under compression are leaking into/out of the combustion chamber.

 

If your not seeing any smoke, it's probably because of the cat. It will finish buring up the oil that is passing through it. Leaving you to wonder where all that oil is going... hehehe

As long as there are no puddles, like mentioned above. However, it would be leaving quite a mess behind, where ever it was parked, for any amount of time...

 

So where is all the oil going if there are no puddles under the car and there are no clouds of smoke? Its getting burned up in the cat?