Ok so I've lost 1 quart of oil in the last 2 thousand miles. I've also lost coolant but I'm not sure how much. I have also noticed a gradual loss in power which I had been contributing to my cat being bad. Anybody got ideas on what I should be looking at? I think I know part of the answer but I need to hear it from someone else.

 

well, the most common causes of oil loss is either leaking out on the ground (visible), excessive burning through rings or valves (typically shows as smoky exhaust), or sucking it through the plenum gasket (most common). if your '01 has never had the plenum fixed, this is a likely cause.

coolant can disappear through water pump seal (avg life ~ 75-100k mi), leaking hoses, overflow tanks, heater cores, radiators. a small leak onto a hot surface will often evaporate fast enough that it may not be visible. then there's the dreaded head gasket or cracked head, which is often detectable by a compression test or leak down test.

you might have one big problem (head), or you might have 2 smaller problems (water pump, plenum). take your time and investigate it.

1 qt in 2000 miles is a lot. but my old chevy would leak that much every month. i used to just ignore and say oil is cheap. now i just ignore it and cringe over how expensiive the oil puddle is.

 

I havn't noticed anything on the ground (one of the nice things about snow) and I havn't had excessive smoke from the exhaust. I thought it might be the plenum, I just wanted a little more input. I think I'm going to pick up a plenum kit from Hughes. I've actually been looking for an excuse to do a compression test so this looks like a good reason. Do you have a ballpark on how much a compression test should cost? I'll call my mechanic on monday but I'd like to get an idea of a price.Do the heads have to be completely removed to check for cracks?

LOL I switched to synthetic so oil isn't all that cheap!

 

you can do the comp test yourself... all you need is the gauge and it's not that expensive (you can get help here if you need it).

If you do the plenum gasket & install the kit... I strongly suggest getting the felpro gasket. mopar ones suck and every other one that I've used/and heard of did not last long when compared to the felpro one.

edit: oh yeah and there is a diy writeup linked in the DIY thread at the top of this forum...

 

its expensive to pay other people to do work. unless you are already paying him to do something else, i'd guess a minimum of 1 hour, at anywhere from $25-100 per hour, depending on how expensive the shop is. you might consider buying an inexpensive compression tester and doing it yourself.
everybody is going to crucify me over the cheap tool/good tool debate, but i don't care...
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check inside plenum for oil puddle at rear. plan this carefully and consider your water pump, as you have to remove a lot of the same crap to get at either.

 

when you do check the plenum, make sure you look in all the corners too (need a mirror). the last time I did one the oil was pooled up in one corner of the manifold and you could not see it by looking straight down thru the top of the intake

 

if your loosing coolent, another place to check is the tranny...the factroy tranny cooler is built into the end of the rad, if something goes internally itll push coolent into the tranny side