Punto loosing oil at a rapid rate

I've posted a couple of times about this but I thought it was due to a visible leak on the rear crank shaft seal. After getting this fixed, my Punto (90K miles) is still going through oil at a reasonable rate (probably 0.5 - 1l per 500-1000 miles).

No visible sign of an oil leak, other than a little oil around No 1 cylinder. Could be from the cam cover gasket or a slightly seeping head gasket. Coolant levels seem OK.

Car runs well enough and still has the same mpg and performance as 40k miles ago, just sounds a little rougher. More smoke out of the exhaust than my other Punto on start up, especially if left unused for a couple of days.

Any suggestions on how to determine where the fault lies?

Regards,

Tim

Reply to
Tim
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The smoke on startup points to valve stem oil seals.

Reply to
SteveH

It's not normally too bad, but on start up if it's been sitting around for a while I do tend to get more.

I got a reasonable cloud out of it the other day after leaving it on axle stands for about 4-5 days. I wasn't paying attention to it until the car port filled with a grim smelling (and tasting) whitish/greyish smoke. Never had that before or since, but I normally do 35-40 miles a day in it.

Looked in Haynes and valve stem oil seals are covered in Engine overhaul and removal procedures. Only gets 3 spanners for that specific job... but the pre-requisites look fun if you've not done them before. Timing belt off, head off, camshaft and followers removed. Most concerning is the requirement for a specialist tensioning tool for the timing belt. Though I think I've read that you can get away with tensioning so that you can twist the belt to 90 degrees.

Sounds like an interesting job, but I'd have to wait 6-12 months, that is when I was planning on replacing the car and I might have managed to talk the missus into letting me keep it as a toy to play with. Is it likely to cause any long term damage putting another 10K on it and just filling up with cheap oil?

Regards,

Tim

Reply to
Tim

Depends how quickly it clears, if it takes a few mins to clear, it could be that the cat taking care of matters once it's warm...

Reply to
Tony Bond

Another test that could indicate valve stem seals, is to see if it smokes as you accelerate hard after taking your foot off the throttle for a short time. You might see it in the mirror, but someone following you would see it better.

I don't know whether you can get away with it on a Punto engine, but I have replaced valve stem seals without removing the head, by removing the camshaft and plugs, then feeding a length of cord into one cylinder at a time, with the piston at the bottom of it's stroke. Then rotating the engine using the crank pulley nut, until the cord is compressed against the valves. You can then remove the collets and springs to get at and replace the seals.

Most concerning is

It wont do any harm IMO. After all, it's getting almost a constant feed of clean oil all the time it's running. :-) I've run cars like that in the past, using cheap reclaimed oil at less than £5 a gallon. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

According to the engineer that skimmed the head I had off recently, the cat will mask the oil leak, but will gradually degrade until it doesn't work at all. So if you run it long enough you may have to buy a new cat - then again you may already be at that stage already?

Reply to
Andy

Probably that then. Sounds like my Capper was - it was using about the same amount of oil. Could possibly be the signs of worn rings as well if it has a bit of mileage on. Mine didn't always smoke when driving but it also didn't have a CAT which would mask oil burning to some extent.

I just bit the bullet and got a recon engine but then again, I could justify the cost which is a little harder to do with something that's still depreciating and can be replaced with a similar car for less than the cost of a recon motor.

Reply to
Conor

Is this something that would be picked up by looking at the spark plugs or compression testing? Thought I might look at the plugs tomorrow, I'm guessing this is the only place that could burn oil and the plug would turn black.

Regards,

Tim

Reply to
Tim

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