Who is burning my oil??

The 05 has been burning about a quart per 1k. She is stage 2 and I drive her a bit hard, usually loaded with the whole family, camping gears, etc...

 

I have also noticed that when I go into boost, (I think) I see smoke coming out of the tailpipe (noticeable at night when people are behind me with their headlights on).

 

Now, the interesting thing is that the amount of oil in the intercooler and throttle body hose is very minimal and looks just fine. Which leads me to believe I do not have any excessive blow by.

 

BtSsm does not register misfires. She idles fine, etc..., but she still burns oil when I push her.

 

102k on the engine and vf40.

 

Questions:

1. Is it possible to have a cracked ringland and yet no noticeable blow by

2. If no blow by and no cracked ringland, you think turbo seals are shot?

 

Planning to do a cold leakdown test soon. Hopefully #4 is OK...

 

Also, no apparent oil leak (e.g. valve covers are fine).

probably turbo seals, can even be a clogged pcv

Your right foot. Mine eats oil more when I drive it hard. Been like that since 9K when I bought it in 2007. 211K now. Still eats oil on WOT, may be a bit more so.

 

One thing that helped me get rid if blue-ish smoke on WOT several years back was a can of Liqui-Molly(spelling?) CERATEC additive for engine oil.

Probably cracked ringland. My original engine dealer replaced had one nice cracked ringland in cyl #4 IIRC. Car had no issues, no blowby speakof, no visble smoke. Just oil consumption around 1qt/1k miles, later like 1qt/800 miles.

Your right foot. Mine eats oil more when I drive it hard. Been like that since 9K when I bought it in 2007. 211K now. Still eats oil on WOT, may be a bit more so.

 

One thing that helped me get rid if blue-ish smoke on WOT several years back was a can of Liqui-Molly(spelling?) CERATEC additive for engine oil.

 

This. Though mine does also like to eat oil on steady state highway drives. I'm pretty sure my valve seals are tired.

probably turbo seals, can even be a clogged pcv

 

I changed the pcv 30k miles ago.

 

Your right foot. Mine eats oil more when I drive it hard. Been like that since 9K when I bought it in 2007. 211K now. Still eats oil on WOT, may be a bit more so.

 

One thing that helped me get rid if blue-ish smoke on WOT several years back was a can of Liqui-Molly(spelling?) CERATEC additive for engine oil.

 

My right foot is indeed heavier than my left one for some reasons .

 

Probably cracked ringland. My original engine dealer replaced had one nice cracked ringland in cyl #4 IIRC. Car had no issues, no blowby speakof, no visble smoke. Just oil consumption around 1qt/1k miles, later like 1qt/800 miles.

 

sigh. That may be it after all. I don't know. Hopefully, this week I will do my cold leakdown test, inspect the spark plugs and use my cheap borescope to inspect the cylinder walls.

 

I sooo wish the reasons for my oil consumption would be turbo seals though. Then it'd be time for upgrades!

I changed the pcv 30k miles ago.

 

I sooo wish the reasons for my oil consumption would be turbo seals though. Then it'd be time for upgrades!

 

I didn't notice change in oil consumption between PCV changes and going from stock VF40 to BNR16G. On BNR16G for ~140K now.

 

I bought car used from SOA, who knows what they've done to it.

I'd be interested in your findings as I have almost the exact same issue (though mine doesn't have a tune). Last year I had a compression test performed and all came back acceptable.

 

I just picked up my car from the mechanic for a potential cylinder four misfire. It was misfiring back in January and he replaced the coil. I've had a slight issue with it within the past three weeks. He's been unable to reproduce the issue so he cannot diagnosis it. I decided to have the injector replaced so I'll see how it goes in the next few days.

I had a severe oil consumption once on an engine and it was a dead oil ring.

^excessive blow by though?

 

I should have mentioned that this engine has always been burning oil since I got it at 35k. But it is definitely burning more now.

Around 63k, the heads came off in order to refresh them (had a tight valve on cylinder 4). I personally inspected all cylinder walls and they all looked great. But then again, I think it is possible to have a cracked ringland with nice looking walls .

 

So I think I can rule out my valve seals since they only have 40k on them.

Does it burn oil when the oil is fresh or after a couple 1000 miles ?

Does it burn oil when the oil is fresh or after a couple 1000 miles ?

 

I unfortunately need to check my oil level all the time (after about every fill up). So even if the oil is fresh, it will 'drink' it (if I push it).

 

Crazy thing is I did an oil sample analysis a month or so ago and it came out great! Here is it:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=263117&d=1521235184

^excessive blow by though?

 

I should have mentioned that this engine has always been burning oil since I got it at 35k. But it is definitely burning more now.

Around 63k, the heads came off in order to refresh them (had a tight valve on cylinder 4). I personally inspected all cylinder walls and they all looked great. But then again, I think it is possible to have a cracked ringland with nice looking walls .

 

So I think I can rule out my valve seals since they only have 40k on them.

 

Some, but not excessively. But it was a Volvo B18 so it was pretty resilient on that part. As long as the piston rings are good then the compression would still be fine.

I did notice the report talks about the possibility of the turbo seals.

 

If this is the turbo that came on the car...I'd be thinking about replacing it at this point. My vf40 lasted 142,000 miles.

I am pretty sure this is the original turbo. But last time the DP was off (4.5k miles ago), the exhaust side looked fine and dry .

how much shaft play did it have. I trusted you did check that ?

 

Basically if you can feel some movement, its time to think about replacing it. There will be a very small amount, IMO most people won't feel any movement on a new turbo.

how much shaft play did it have. I trusted you did check that ?

 

Basically if you can feel some movement, its time to think about replacing it. There will be a very small amount, IMO most people won't feel any movement on a new turbo.

 

Yes I did. Did not notice anything wrong with it.

forgot to add, check for in/out play too.

 

If the PCV is good, if compression test is good and leak down, it must be the turbo seals...?

 

With the vf52 at 21psi, my engine was using oil that's why at 154,000 miles I decided to put the ej257 in because I planned to keep the car for many years.

 

Now that your car is 14 y/o...you need to decide how much you want to spend, oil may be the cheap way out... You can buy a lot of oil for the price of the ej257 or turbo.

Now that your car is 14 y/o...you need to decide how much you want to spend, oil may be the cheap way out... You can buy a lot of oil for the price of the ej257 or turbo.

 

14 years old . I can't believe it....

 

Thing is I have spent quite a lot of time on this car. Changed all suspension bushings with the good stuff, I have the BTS kit on it so it handles great. Just put new tires, new wheels, worked on the trans no too long ago (changed center differential, changed a few trans bearings), installed brand new clutch and flywheel 4k ago, fixed valve clearance 25k ago. So really at this point, I just need to change the block, respray and I have a new car almost .

 

oh, and as I previously mentioned, heads have been worked on 35k ago.

Well, I performed my leakdown test tonight and got 5% in #4 and about the same in #2. I did not do the passenger side. I also tried to inspect the cylinder walls with my cheap borescope. Could not see anything out of the ordinary. Then again, it is a crappy borescope...

 

I have attached pictures of the spark plugs. I looked back at my logs and saw that I changed all spark plugs around 63k. But for some reasons, I swear I changed the spark plug in #2 later on while I was trying to diagnose my valve clearance issue around 73k. The spark plug with shinier threads comes from #2. I can't really see much difference between both spark plugs except the brownish threads on the #4 spark plug. Both plugs did not appear wet at all.

 

So what do you guys think?

BDII had several LGTs and solved his oil burning issues. Can’t remember how but just PM him. Might take a few times as he gets a lot of PMs so just send a couple if you don’t get a reply right away.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/member.php?u=7334

BDII had several LGTs and solved his oil burning issues. Can’t remember how but just PM him. Might take a few times as he gets a lot of PMs so just send a couple if you don’t get a reply right away.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/member.php?u=7334

 

Can't tell if cereal... Or just being raisin bran...

Your tuner likely tuned it a bit rich which is causing the smoke. This is common practice as running a bit rich is much safer for your engine then running lean.

 

Burning oil is par for the course when it comes to turbo cars, but a quart per 1k seems like your going into the land of this is actually becoming a problem.

 

Have you done a visual inspection of your engine to note any sludge build up near any specific seal? Really get on there and check everything, don't forget to get under the car as well. For the most part you are looking to make sure this is not a head gasket or valve seal. It's important to knock those of the potentials list as they are a big deal and at least the head gasket is an extremely common issue with our cars.

Burning oil is par for the course when it comes to turbo cars, but a quart per 1k seems like your going into the land of this is actually becoming a problem.

 

That's actually not true, or at least can't be blanket applied to all turbo cars, my turbo Infiniti wont drink oil even during racing. Subaru's engine design is more prone to oil consumption. I know this because my NA outback eats as much as my LGT.

Is this a legit test for blown turbo seals?

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys5jnQ0Nyco]Blown oil seal new vf40 - YouTube[/ame]