heavy smoking

Sorry Mat: Reread this message and try to respond with a straight face!

What color is the smoke? Black? Greyish-blue? White?

I dunno Ray...I think he's just Blowing smoke!

ok guys, very funny!!! the smoke is black when using 20w50, and greyish with 10w30. i forgot to mention that the engine is burning about 2 quarts a week.

Sorry, Mat, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it! :)

Two quarts a week?!?!?! Have you got a leak somewhere?!?! Other than the rings, of course. Also, have you had it emissions tested? Your hydrocarbons must be through the roof!

Passed last emissions, smoke wasn't that bad. May be 2 quarts could be extreme. It's clear that the engine oil is gettng into the combustion chamber, but I am not really sure how to prevent it.

How many miles on this car???? Only 5 years old and smoking already? Have you ever run it out of oil (or taken it to Jiffy Lube?) Also, is there oil in the antifreeze? Man, this doesn't seem likely unless there was some kind of drastic failure, either a part or Operator...sorry. Did you buy it new?

If oil is getting into the CC, there are basically two ways: It's blowing by the rings, or it's seeping from the Overhead cam area. Scratch that, make it three: there is also a possibility there is oil seeping pas the valve cover gasket and being sucked into the intake valves. Is there any raw oil in the exhaust pipe?

If it's the third one, you might luck out and just need a valve cover gasket, or at worst, a new valve cover.

200k, bought new , and yes have taken it to J.Lube on accasions. yes there is some oil on the exhaust pipe. no oil the antifreeze, ran ou tof oil may be twice. yeah could have been the operator, was driven pretty hard from the get go. 3 possibilities? how do i rules some out?

ooooh....200K

Drive it until it drops. Don't bother. Check the oil every 3-4 days and keep it topped up. Do the regular oil changes (stop going to Jiffy Lube!).

Play taps for it in 6 months-3 years and go buy another one.

And DON'T take the new one to Jiffy Lube!

Realistically, the only thing I would do with this car is check the valve cover and the valve cover gasket, and try to discover if oil is getting into one of the intake or exhaust valves (you'll know when you take the valve cover off!)

Do what you can up there. Anything else requires tearing the engine down, and unless the thing is PRIMO!!, don't bother. Or try to find a wreck that got nailed in the rear end and see what you can get the engine for.

Roger that!!! Thanks

time for a new engine!

LOL gawd, I was thinking the same thing! I'm thinking like Hachi! This is never good.

Natalie

LOL! You're MINE, now!

Check for oil in the intake/throttle area - you may have blocked breathers forcing oil into the intake. Black smokes doesnt sound oily - im guessing you're just colour blind :-) Even when my turbo started throwing oil in the intake and out of the exhaust simultaniously to the point where it filled the drive on startup i wasnt losing THAT much oil!

J

Not necessarily... Go get it properly diagnosed before you start planning the funeral for the car.

There are only so many things that can go wrong, that even if two or three are problems together you can still get them fixed and stop the leak - or at least cut down the oil loss a lot.

The oil can get out internally - through the valve stem seals or up the rings. Either one requires 'internal intervention', but the valve guide seals do not mean an total engine teardown. Just have to remove the rocker covers, get the rockers or buckets out of the way, hold the valve closed with compressed air, and remove the spring retainer and valve spring to get to the stem seals. A PITA all-day job for a Pro, but quite doable.

Do a compression test and a cylinder leakdown first - it might have a bad valve or two, and you can tear down the heads on the bench and do the stem seals at the same time. A head gasket leak from an oil passage is a long-shot cause.

Or it can get out externally, through a bad seal or gasket, or two. That would be where the oil on the exhaust manifold is coming from. External gaskets are easily fixable, buried gaskets like timing cover take a bit more work to get to, seals like the Front Main or Rear Main you have to dig down to, but it may be worth the effort.

Look at it this way - you just got done paying for the car, and you've been driving the wheels off since Day One. Fix this car now, keep driving it, and guess what? No more payments. And the insurance is less, too.

You can save your money for a couple more years, when you go to buy the next new car the big down payment you can make drives the monthly payments that much lower.

-->--

As usual, Bruce speaks sense.

Cut that out! Remember where you are!

But, some of these are quite expensive repairs. I have pulled two engines out of wrecks, and gone long and hard with them! And, it cost less than some of the repairs you have suggested!