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No trace of blue smoke from the exhaust on cold starts, at least not yet. But usually I get them almost every morning so I guess it’s a good sign. It doesn’t have that strong burning oil smell in the morning as well. Haven’t tried any additives yet except BG EPR. Will hold on putting anymore additives into the engine until I get a green light from my warranty for a replacement engine.
Forgot to share, here’s a video of the blue smoke from exhaust when first starting it up in the AM
I wrote a reply previously about the valve stem seals. I highly recommend talking to your mechanic buddy about whether or not those are the problem.
Sorry, yes I did, my mechanic and couple other shops do also believe it’s the valve stem seals. But the cost to replace (labor) is half of what the car is worth. I’ve also been told there’s been instances with these cars where they replaced the seals but the oil consumption still occurred, so there’s something else that might be causing it to lose oil
It's the oil feed for the CAM timing. That fitting is called a Banjo fitting and relies on the crush washers on both sides to make a seal. It sees engine Oil Pressure.
You could loosen and retorque but I am not sure what the spec is. There is one on the other head too buried beside the alternator.
Valve stem seals leak the worst when decelerating. So a clue is this - at highway speed on a downhill slope, shift down without adding throttle and allow the RPM to climb to 5k or so and stay there for about 6 seconds or more. Now closely watch mirrors for blue smoke when you apply the throttle.
In short high intake manifold vacuum pulls oil through the seals and stems. If the intake were pulled you'd see the back of the valve loaded to the hilt with deposits and buildup.
It's the oil feed for the CAM timing. That fitting is called a Banjo fitting and relies on the crush washers on both sides to make a seal. It sees engine Oil Pressure.
You could loosen and retorque but I am not sure what the spec is. There is one on the other head too buried beside the alternator.
Valve stem seals leak the worst when decelerating. So a clue is this - at highway speed on a downhill slope, shift down without adding throttle and allow the RPM to climb to 5k or so and stay there for about 6 seconds or more. Now closely watch mirrors for blue smoke when you apply the throttle.
In short high intake manifold vacuum pulls oil through the seals and stems. If the intake were pulled you'd see the back of the valve loaded to the hilt with deposits and buildup.
Yup, that’s exactly when I see the blue smoke. In fact, now I see why the oil burns so fast. I live in the hills, and the freeway to my house is a long downhill slope and immediately when you exit you go up a long hill. That’s when I saw the blue smoke when I had my friend drive the car. As soon as accelerate to go up, puff of smoke comes out. I’m certain it’s the stem seals. It sucks cuz I just checked the oil and it hasn’t even been 1000 miles since the oil changed and the level is almost near the half mark.
I might definitely try taking the manifold out today if I can. Is it a hard job to do?
Yup, that’s exactly when I see the blue smoke. In fact, now I see why the oil burns so fast. I live in the hills, and the freeway to my house is a long downhill slope and immediately when you exit you go up a long hill. That’s when I saw the blue smoke when I had my friend drive the car. As soon as accelerate to go up, puff of smoke comes out. I’m certain it’s the stem seals. It sucks cuz I just checked the oil and it hasn’t even been 1000 miles since the oil changed and the level is almost near the half mark.
I might definitely try taking the manifold out today if I can. Is it a hard job to do?
Your best choice is to do a leak down test.
You have an air compressor? If so, do the test yourself.
If it passes the leak down test, throw some seals at it.
But honestly Blowby past the rings atomizes the oil so much that it's the fumes in the crankcase that are forced into the intake to be burned that consume most of the oil. Not the seals.
That said if my last point is true it would likely fail a basic compression test with low ###s.
I've had the car for more than a year now. I put in 38K miles since I got her (currently at 135K). The car still burns oil sadly. I've experimented with different oil brands including high-mileage, as well as different oil additives that treat oil consumption. Nothing helped. As others have said, no oil additive will fix leaking valve seals. So I've accepted my fate at this point and have decided to live with it. Right now, I'm running Penz 5w30 High Mileage Full Synthetic. It's the only oil I've tested that significantly reduced my oil consumption. I changed my oil 800 miles ago and the dipstick still showing it's near the full mark. So far, no major issues with the car. The only thing that needed to be replaced is the battery and all 4 shocks.
The reason for this update is I want to share with you the OBD2 scan report of my car. I have no idea how to read it perhaps some folks here might spot something here that needs to be addressed soon if not later. The results here were taken when I arrived home after taking the car out for some pulls in the mountains.
Monitor Status Report Powertrain Diagnostic Data 1 Powertrain Diagnostic Data 2 On-Board Monitoring 1 On-Board Monitoring 2
01-13-19, 02:28 PM
