Burning Oil, from where? Options

[hurley97]

ok, I'm already working on the issue I just want various opinions to work with in case I run out of ideas.



recently my car has been going through oil like crazy. here are some of the facts so far:
- it doesn't seem to be leaking from any gaskets (at idle speed) checked valve cover, sender, and head gaskets
- never see any puddles of oil on the ground after being parked
- no blue smoke out the back. theres a little white smoke, slightly more than there used to be but not that bad at all and could just be from the cold and wet weather. and it smells normal
- oil light comes on about every 2,000 miles or so now. before about 3 or 4 months ago it had never come on before, I would just change it every 3-5k miles regardless
- extra info: started out using 10w-40 then switched to 5w-30 then 5w-30 synth now 10w-30 synth (over the course of about 3 years)


here's whats happened and when in detail:

[07.15.06] 159,400 mi - oil and filter changed, everything normal

[08.20.06] 162,300 mi - oil and filter changed again, like normal

[09.01.06] 163,165 mi - first time I'd ever seen the oil light come on. was low but still clear, 1qt added

[09.16.06] 164,749 mi - oil and filter changed

[10.14.06] 166,853 mi - oil light on again. very low but still clear, 1qt added

[11.02.06] 168,262 mi - oil light on. switch to Mobil 1 full synth 5W-30, changed oil and filter

[11.26.06] 170,000 mi - oil light on. added 1qt Shell 10W-40 synth blend, its all I could get and I had a long drive home

[11.30.06] 170,748 mi - oil and filter changed. switch to 10W-30, still Mobil1 full synth

[12.18.06] 172,370 mi - oil light on. change oil and filter

[01.04.07] 173,800 mi - oil light on. found oil leaking from drain plug, tightened it and put it 3qt Mobil1. ran car for about an hour, no more leaking from plug

[01.07.07] 173,900 mi - still no leak from drain plug. added engine oil tracer dye, will check it in a few days



thats where I am now. throw out any ideas you might have and I'll either try it or tell you I've already tried.

This post has been edited by hurley97: Mar 15, 2007 - 11:25 PM

[jason]

new head is like 200-220 from a company called alabama heads i think, NEW valves, guides, seals everything, haven't put one on my car yet, but stuck one on a friends around here n he barely uses any oil, i use maybe a quart every 500-700 miles about, but under heavy acceleration in the morning off a startup it puffs some out the back, if you want me to get some specifics about a whole new head lemme know, or since you work for a parts store (right?) someone there should be able to get you a hook up if nothing else

[hurley97]

I'll be picking up another head so we can do this out of the car then just swap it in later, that way I can switch out the head gasket and some other things that I should probably change before I continue with my plans

that being said, do you have any more pics/info about replacing the guides?

I'm beginning to understand much more, thanks for bearing with me on this

new head is like 200-220 from a company called alabama heads i think, NEW valves, guides, seals everything, haven't put one on my car yet, but stuck one on a friends around here n he barely uses any oil, i use maybe a quart every 500-700 miles about, but under heavy acceleration in the morning off a startup it puffs some out the back, if you want me to get some specifics about a whole new head lemme know, or since you work for a parts store (right?) someone there should be able to get you a hook up if nothing else

I guess that would be the easiest and most cost effective way to do it, but I kind of want to take it apart for the learning experience... or maybe just because I'm retarded...

This post has been edited by hurley97: Mar 26, 2007 - 4:15 PM