Hey all...been a while since i've posted.

Anyways- my girl has been burning oil a little bit, aka blue smoke coming out of the exhaust. Not a clue where to start checking. When i have some time, i'd love to find out what's causing this.

So, what are the possible culprits for this? Obviously oil is getting into one or more of the pistons. But how?

Thanks guys =)

-mike

 

I'd run a compression check first ... Low compression , bad rings , bad rings lets oil blow by ... that gets burnt

 

that sounds like a good idea - those guages are only like 30 bucks or so at an autoparts store right? i think i've got the right thing in mind.

get engine up to running temperature, shut down, pull all spark plugs out, use the guage on each cylinder, right?

one question - i realize there's no quick way to get to the spark plugs in the back [i've got the 2.5l v6]. if it's a LITTLE cooler than op temperature, will it matter much? atleast i read somewhere to use a warmed engine.

one last thing - what # of psi should i expect? or rather, what number should i compare each cylinder to? do the numbers vary? sorry for the questions.

 

okay. checked compression and all cylinders were normal - about 190-200 psi was the peak for each of them.

one thing i noticed though, on about 3-4 of the cylinders that i pulled the spark plugs out of, had quite a bit of oil on them. the valve stems looked fine, didn't see any oil on those. it was just a considerable 'coating' if you will.

out of the ones that DIDN'T have oil on them, they were a bit fouled. (i believe this is the right term, the bit of metal that hooks over the electrode looked like it was coated in white - or something. going to replace those anyway)

what should i look into next?

 

Next order of buissiness will be a leakdown test .. Likely you have bad valve seals causing the oil to leak down the valve shafts ,since the compression was good ...

 

one thing i forgot to point out, or rather stress, that the back 3valve guides[the tubes the spark plugs are in, and theones under the intake mani] were covered in oil...the inside i mean. each one i pulled out, my socket was covered in motor oil. so i cleaned them out anyways, but i was puzzled as to how that much oil could end up coating the inside of that tube.

any ideas?

 

Ok thats a valve cover gasket issue ... under the valve cover there are "O- rings" around each spark tube ... you need to get the gasket set and replace those and the gasket ...

 

well....that's the most constructive post ever. i don't think there are any seals/rings around those guides. i guess i'm gonna go pick up a set for my car then.


EDITTTT

one huge problem.

i just remembered...i don't thinki can get that back cover off without taking out the engine itself...or maybe there's a tool or something i can use to get around that big piece of metal above one of the bolts...i'm guessing that's a place for an engine hook or something for hoisting.

this is wherei neeed silver =P

 

Unfortunately that won't fix the burning oil ... I doubt it's getting thru the sparkplugs ...

 

agh you're probably right.

poo.