jimbo409

I have a 1992 rx with 82000 mikes on it.It has been either leaking or burning oil.I just had the oil changed and drove about 600 miles on a trip and the engine oil light came on I had to put in a few quarts of oil.Does any one know what could be the problem.This car is excellent except for the oil problem.I am thinking of maybe putting in some stop oil leak or something like that.Thanks Jimbo

bob2200

I think you first need to figure out if the engine is burning oil, or it is leaking out. The posting title said "burning oil", but you mention possibly adding stop-leak, which would only help an oil leak. Pulling the valve covers and looking for sludge wouldn't be a bad idea. Also, check the coolant for signs of oil. With that rate of oil consumption, burning oil should be causing smoke out the exhaust pipe, in my opinion.

P.S. There weren't any RX's in 1992!

code58

If you LEAKED that much oil in 600 mi. the whole bottom of the car should be covered with oil. That's probably not likely. The greatest likelyhood is that the engine is sludged and therefore not letting the oil return to the crankcase and is being sucked into the combustion chamber past the valve seals. The very 1st thing you should do is look under the car to see if it's covered with oil. If it isn't, the next thing is to pull the front valve cover to see if it's sludged. You could pull 1 or 2 spark plugs while the top cover is off to see if they're covered with oil. Good Luck!

BTW- oil stop leak isn't going to take care of that problem, don't waste your time. If it is actually a '92 RX, it was probably an experimental one, and then all bets are off! (Smiles)

hypervish

I wish there were RX's in 92, I would have gladly bought one. lol

I agree with the others, you might (most definitely) have sludge, so I'd suggest you stop driving the car right away, as if you really do have sludge, you'll be starving the engine of oil and it'll seize up soon. Pull the front valve cover off as it's the easiest, and see if you see any sludge build-up, it'll be quite obvious if it's there. Take a picture if you wish and show it here.

jmezo

HI,
I had this problem too. I never changed the PCV valve at this mileage and when I pulled it it had sludge on it. With a clogged valve it did burn oil on highway driving like you did but not when city driving. ( not sure why )

I did the AutoRX treatment and it slowly (very slowly) cleaned the engine out. It will take a long time but you dont want to remove the gunk all at once or you will clog up the oil return lines. Its discouraging to see blue smoke belch out of your RX for a few months but that will clean up when your done with the procedure so dont give up.

I never removed the valve cover, no time or experience with doing that but I did use a pipe cleaner as a dip stick to dip into the PCV valve opening to see how deep the sludge was. When I pulled it out I could see about 1/8 inch of oreo cookie black like crud. After 1k mi of the AutoRX treatment I checked it and could see 1/16 of hard sludge at the bottom of the pipe cleaner and 1/16 of brown dissolved sludge. Use dyno oil for this treatment as directed. I had to oil change after 2k mi because too much crap was plugging oil return lines and I would hear valve noise going up hill. PCV valve was wet with gray sludge oil too. When I cleaned it the motor ran fine for a 2-300 miles then I would have to clean it off again. Had to do 2 rinse oil changes because it was just too full of crap. It took about 5k mi before it was all cleaned out.

I think the 0w30 casteroil will do the same thing. Im using it now and its working, no smoke and running very smooth, PCV valve not clogging... I also went with K&N 2009 filter. Its very easy to change because its longer so its easy to see & has a 1 inch nut on the end for a socket wrench instead of oil wrenching a small filter that you cant see.

bob2200

I think he means dino (i.e., non-synthetic)

Castrol Motor Oil?

Iluvlexus

Jmezo: Can you describe your oil consumption before and after the Auto-Rx treatments? Did you notice any performance improvements as well? If this stuff really works it could be a boon for us sludge-prone engine owners.

code58

Yes it works. I think anyone with a sludged engine, oil consumption or a leaking rear main seal is foolish for not giving Auto-RX a solid try of about 5-6K mi. Should be done similar to what Jmezo described. Costs a few coins but probably one of the best bargains out there because it does what it's SUPPOSED to, which in this day and age is unusual. (maybe any day and age!)

autox250

dont forget, those V6s are notorious for sludge build ups... but like you said... they blow it out the rear main, cam seals & valve covers... also there's a revised rear valve cover that improves (slightly) the problem, if you have a push-in pcv valve u have the old cover.. the updated ones are screw ins. There was a service campaign for that years ago...
if you do the Auto-RX dont forget to take out the VVTi solenoid oil screens and clean them up all that loose crap will eventually make it there

richonline

Thanks for the description. May need to do this work shortly.
[QUOTE=jmezo;6376959]HI,
I had this problem too. I never changed the PCV valve at this mileage and when I pulled it it had sludge on it. With a clogged valve it did burn oil on highway driving like you did but not when city driving. ( not sure why )

I did the AutoRX treatment

autox250

it would be because the PCV recirculates during cruise conditions, engine vacuum closes the valve... at highway speed where it should circulate... it can build enough pressure to push thru seals, rear main, cams... also valve stem seals, im sure with enough pressure even the oil ring wont do that good of a job aswell

Iluvlexus

Autox250...How do you access the VVti solenoid oil screens?

thanks

autox250

on the back of the cylinder heads (trans side), locate the oil control valves... right by there there's a 14mm bolt on the back of the head, take it out and inside is the filter screen for the control valve.