Lost 1/2 qt oil in 300 miles of hwy driving.

91Beater · Post by **91Beater** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 4:30 pm

190,000 miles. EJ22
Had about 2,000 miles on the oil and lost 1/2 quart during it. I checked the oil before I left on this trip. It was half way between L and H. This is a reasonable amount of oil consumption for an engine with 200K miles.

Drove about 300 miles on the highway at steady 65-75 with the RPM around 3,000. Now the oil is down to low.
Which means it lost about 1/2 a quart in 300 miles. WTF?

SILINC3R · Post by **SILINC3R** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:42 pm

Are you running synthetic, is there blue smoke, does it leak?

wtdash · Post by **wtdash** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:33 pm

Hi,
Fill it back up to Full and check it again after your next tank of fuel. I'm betting it'll be fine - make sure you check it parked in the same level place each time for consistent results.....I let it sit for 30 minutes, too.

If not, try a new PCV for a few bucks and see.

Td

91Beater · Post by **91Beater** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:42 am

It only does it after a long highway driving.... PCV valve has been replaced a few months ago.

FundamentalyConfused · Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:07 am

Are you able to crawl underneath it to see if the rear main is leaking?

jp233 · Post by **jp233** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:50 am

I've pulled one motor at 187K and another at around 200K and neither showed signs of the rear main seal leaking..... however, both were leaking a lot from the oil separator plate (the original plastic POS). That thing was/is junk. The metal ones are the way to go.

Beater, check for obvious leaks.... valve covers, cam seals, rear end of motor, oil pan. Might not be consumption at all.

91Beater · Post by **91Beater** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:38 am

The only leak I had was when Jiffy Lube didn't install the plug right. I made them fix that, then I cleaned the area with engine cleaner. I don't see any oil in that area.

No drips on the ground where I park. The engine had a lot of oil everywhere from misc fluids and when CV spewed out its guts, but I never cleaned it since I bought it.

I don't want to cause ignition problems by getting the engine wet unnecessarily. It already happened once.

jp, would those cause oil to hold fine for 2,000 miles in regular day to day driving, but lose 1/2 qt in 350 miles of sustained freeway driving?

jp233 · Post by **jp233** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:17 am

I don't use a pressure washer (water) to clean engines, unless they are out of the car. Sometimes I'll use a little washer thing on my air compressor, to clean the inside of the hood and the firewall, strut towers, etc (all the painted surfaces), but I always cover the coils, plug wires, alternator, and all major engine harness connectors with plastic bags.

I normally clean stuff with brake cleaner on engines, to determine where leaks are coming from. Cam seals and valve covers can leak like hell. The crank seal can too.

Oil leaks can be strange. Sometimes stronger than others. Don't think about the type of driving, just try to find a leak and clean the block as best you can, to see if it is leaking out of somewhere. If you can determine NO place that it is leaking, then you can assume consumption. These motors do leak.... every motor leaks... I had a cam seal leaking so bad, it would go through quarts at a time. But never really leaked on the ground. It would puddle on those plastic rain guards in the front, and the rest was soaking the exhaust and the drivers side suspension/steering/chassis. The underside of the car had an inch of old oil caked on it.... but it never really made puddles in the driveway.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:29 am

Could have an exhaust valve on its way out. Happened to me. Car used an assload of oil for a few days to about a week, no smoke, no leaks. Get on the highway, accelerate up to 85, and I hear an odd exhaust note off the guardrail. 15 miles later, the car starts running kind of rough and I think an ignition lead popped loose. Nope.

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:04 am

You never said whether you were running synthetic oil or not.

The only time my old Legacy ever used oil was when I was running a synthetic blend... had my friend drive the car away from me and get on it, and there was a big puff of blue smoke on the 1-2 shift. Switched back to dino oil and never had the problem again.

+1 on the separator plate and not the rear main. My rear main was bone dry at 183k miles.

Two other forgotten oil seals are the O-rings that go on the camshaft retainer on the front of the driver's cylinder head, behind the sprocket, and the corresponding plate on the back of the passenger's cylinder head.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

91Beater · Post by **91Beater** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:02 am

Running conventional oil. I don't remember what it was. Whatever it was Jiffy Lube put in there... and a quart of 10W-40 I just added after I found it was a quart low.

jp233 · Post by **jp233** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:12 pm

Yeah, definitely the o-ring behind the driver's side cam wheel is a leaker. Also on the back plate on the passenger cylinder head. I just changed those out from the motor in my 94, which had 187K on it. It was leaking pretty good from the passenger side, and leaking bad from the oil separater plate.

After all the work I did, I plum forgot to change the o-ring behind the driver's cam wheel....... D'OH !!!! Oh well, I'm not pulling it apart now and it doesn't leak that bad, but it does leak. Will have to be at the next timing belt.

And OBTW, that #2 cylinder (driver's head, front) also has an exhaust valve that leaks a little bit.... noticeable oil past the exhaust valve when looking from the manifold side. But it still pulled 166 psi and I left it alone. All the rest of the cylinders were 180-182 psi, though.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:13 pm

Mine ran like it was on meth until about 10 miles after the exhaust note started sounding funny. If it ends up being that, might as well do HGs at the same time.

Post by **Legacy777** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 4:43 pm

Check all the points mentioned for oil leaks, but if there are no oil leaks, you're just burning oil at sustained highway driving.

What brand of oil are you using? Have you consistantly used this brand of oil in the past?

91Beater · Post by **91Beater** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:31 am

After I topped off with a quart, I got the level to full when I checked it a few hours later. Then... after I put another 500 miles or so of everyday driving, its higher than F by about half inch. Fuel dilution?

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:44 pm

These cars can be kind of finicky about the oil level. Sometimes they may read lower and then read higher. I've found that I noticed it more with certain brands of oil. I use Mobil dino oil now and don't really notice it much any more.

Are you parking on a flat surface every time you check the oil level?

What brand & weight oil are you using?

91Beater · Post by **91Beater** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:15 pm

yes, always check on flat... 10W-30. don't know the brand the shop put in. It's dyno though.
I check it when its sat for a while too, so I'm not reading the splash back in the dip stick tube.

Post by **Legacy777** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:34 pm

Not sure what to say.....I have experienced what you described regarding the levels being off when checking, but don't know why it happens...

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