Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest banner

Where is my oil going

1K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  booblinker 
#1 ·
1996 escort 1.9 loses a quart ever ~150 miles. I don't see any leaks(qt a week should leave a decent puddle), and It doesn't smoke. No oil in the coolant either.
 
#2 · (Edited)
believe it or not, I had a similar problem with my 88 Cavalier.

2 quarts a tank. Never smoked or leaked.

It had to do with the PCV valve. The valve was good but because my grandfather only put 21,000 on it (very early in it's lifetime, it sat for pretty much 6 years before I got it). There was a little rubber o-ring that went around it, either dry-rotted off, fell off naturally, or was removed by one of the crooked shop guys from the place he always too kit to even though we kept telling him they were taking him for a ride.

Check and see how oily the throttle body is.

After we got that new o-ring, never lost a drop.
 
#10 ·
1. I had a Chevy with this very problem.

2. There's no reason it would be in the airfilter housing because it's way upstream of any passage leading to any oil source.

Did you check the throttle body? or the line from the pcv valve to the intake?
 
#12 ·
GM has a point,

lock yourself in the garage with the doors all closed and sealed tight. Start the car up and let it run for a long time, make sure you don't leave, all the while breathing in as deep as you can to see if you can detect any burn oil in the air. :teehee:

j/k i have nothing useful to add
 
#16 ·
the smoke comes mainly from how the oil enters the combustion chamber...if it comes from the valve stem seals, then it basically drips in, so it doesn't all burn there, some burns while in the exhaust...if the oil gets into the system earlier (in the airstream, such as through the PCV) then it is atomized more, so it may very well burn all of it in the combustion chamber, as if it were fuel
 
#18 ·
If its worth anything I worked on a escort the other day at the shop and it kept going low on oil and there was a TSB for it. The TSB said that in colder weather the pcv valve can freeze, building excessive crankcase pressure, pushing out the dipstick and pumping out some oil with it. Dont know if thats the case with yours.
 
#19 ·
I have to agree with Yotabill. they are known for sucking oil at the valve seals. secondly any engine will under the right conditions. also the rings will let some by. I suggest that you either change oil brands or carry lots with you.

as an example I used to drive a `76 pontiac Aster( same as Vega) it had a 140 alluminum engine. it ate a couple cylinders and was using oil. I used to raid the oil barrels at my buddy station and carried around 7-10 gallons with me at any given time. to say the least it smoked. I managed to make the whole U of M football stadium dispear one day while tring to keep it running at the light out front. after the cops pulled me over a couple of time I went to the store and bought a bunch of stick on letters. in 4" letters it said "Experimental" front and rear. the cops never bothered me again. I told them it ran on waste oil.
 
#20 ·
It only has like 2000 miles on a rebuilt head. I just checked it a little better yesterday, and there is no visible leaks, except a little around the pcv valve.
 
#21 ·
my step daughters saturn 96 sc2 1.9 dohc burns a quart every 1500 miles. its somewhat normal for these cars/motors.


shes some what absent minded and i had to put 3 quarts in it the other day lmao.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top