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burning 1 quart of oil every 400 miles

Coltsfan

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May 4, 2014
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200
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Tonawanda
As the title states, I'm burning a quart of oil every 400 miles. The only time I see a cloud is when I launch hard, and sometimes (not always) during WOT pulls in second or third. The valve seals are all new, so I think rings or turbo seals; anyone have any ideas?
 

Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
Nobody wants to hazard a guess? It's one of the last things that are really bugging me about this car. I've put around 9000 miles on this thing since October, and synthetic oil is $7.00 a quart. That's $157 worth of oil wasted. It's driving me nuts.
 

Chad989of2000

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Jan 13, 2005
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Livermore, CA
Seems like an awful lot of oil to "burn." Are you sure that it's not leaking somewhere you haven't noticed yet?
 

Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
Yeah it's burning it. I don't get smoke from the engine bay or spots on the ground. I suspect it mostly consumes it at interstate speeds because I'm not leaving a constant smokescreen driving around town. And no this is not an april fools gag, it's a serious problem.
 

Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
Just yesterday I drove to Cleveland and back. Put a quart in before I left, and another when I got back. I can't take it anymore, it needs to be fixed no matter what. I've just been waiting for the weather to break so I can bring my Colt out and fix this, and it's looking like that time is any day now.
 

Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
The more I calculate this, it seems like it definitely burns a lot more at interstate speeds, because I know I average about 5 quarts between 3000 mile oil change intervals, (which would be 7.5 quarts at 400 miles a quart). However at interstate speeds, it certainly goes through a quart every 400 miles.
 
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gvr4144

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Jan 26, 2014
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loveland Colorado
How many miles are on the block/turbo?
 

Coltsfan

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The car had 106000 when I got it, and 114000 now, but all I can tell for sure is that the block is out of a DSM, so who knows.
 

Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
It seems to blow a cloud pretty cosistently if I pull away WOT after sitting at a toll booth or a long light. If I baby it around town, I never see a thing.
 
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Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
All stock and 8psi by the way.
 

turbowop

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Apr 29, 2001
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Yakima, WA
Quoting Coltsfan:
It seems to blow a cloud pretty cosistently if I pull away WOT after sitting at a toll booth or a long light. If I baby it around town, I never see a thing.



I know you said they're new, but that sounds like valve stem seals. Were the guides replaced as well? Is the head new?

For as long as I've been f***ing with these cars, I've yet to see one burn oil due to worn rings. It's always stem seals, turbo, or oil loss due to a bad leak.
 

Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
I freshened up a really good head when I got the car because the head it came with was trashed and in the trunk. The guides were in great shape, and I used the plastic sleeves to install all the valve seals, so I'm extremely confident it's not the head. In fact the guides were in such good condition, I wished I was putting that head on my Colt. I remember the guides having a little slop in them when I built the Colt engine back in 2008, and that one goes through almost no oil, even running 25psi of boost all the time. Besides, in my experience, valve seals would smoke at idle, upon startup, and when you pull away gently after any type of idling. I really think that if I baby the Galant, and keep the speed below 50 mph it might not burn any appreciable amount of oil.

I'm really leaning toward the turbo being the culprit, and I'm just about to pull the trigger on ordering the parts, but figured I would run it past you guys first. I'm suspecting it's blowing past the seal into the turbine housing because I don't have excessive oil in the intake tract.
 

GEDengineering

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Apr 19, 2013
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49
Location
Miami, Fl
Have you looked at doing a leak down test and compression test, this will at least this will give you some indication of were to go with elimination the engine as the source. I would also check to see if you have any oil build up in the compressor side housing of the turbocharger, this can give you some indication of leakage.
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
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Mar 5, 2001
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Michigan
I suggest leak. I had this issue last winter with my car being used for sustained highway speeds (75-80) for 350 mile trips. I was not burning it as the condtion of the block was fairly new (15k miles) and the head had been rebuilt. I think it was blowing out places when under sustained load and pressures. I may have had a nicked head gasket from head installation. I did not solve it as I had a block crack issue that caused me to rebuild the engine again last May.
 

Coltsfan

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Tonawanda
I ordered the rebuild parts for the turbo ($55) and I'm hoping to see evidence of leakage when I pull the cartridge out of the turbine housing.
I'll wash the engine again and see if I can find any significant leak, but I have this thing on a lift at least once a week, and the biggest leak I see evidence of is seepage from my drive shaft yoke. (transfer case recall?) I would expect to see fresh drips hanging all over the bottom of the engine if it were leaking a quart in one day.
 

prove_it

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Jul 3, 2008
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Sioux Falls, SD
If your losing that much oil, you will see evidence in the downpipe or compressor outlet. It will be obvious. I don't recommend rebuilding a 14b with high mileage due to the imbalance once re-assembled no matter how careful you are.

It really really really sounds like valve stem seals, or even the valve guides themselves could be cracked allowing oil to push through. Exhaust guides take a severe beating.
 

Coltsfan

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May 4, 2014
Messages
200
Location
Tonawanda
Oh, well that really sucks to hear. I assumed the wheels were both balanced independently from each other, and that they would remain balanced unless they were chipped or worn. Is that a 14b thing, or are you saying any turbo would need to be rebalanced anytime a wheel is removed from the shaft?

Ps. That head didn't burn any oil when I ran it on a N/A engine. All the valves were straight, but I guess I'll know when I pull the CHRA out of the turbine housing.
 
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gvr4144

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Jan 26, 2014
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loveland Colorado
If the seals are bad it usually will smoke on start up or at idle for a long time. When my Evo 3 went out it wouldnt smoke untill I after boosted and hit the gas again and it would puff the biggest cloud but after that it wouldn't smoke untill I boosted again.
 

prove_it

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Quoting Coltsfan:
Oh, well that really sucks to hear. I assumed the wheels were both balanced independently from each other, and that they would remain balanced unless they were chipped or worn. Is that a 14b thing, or are you saying any turbo would need to be rebalanced anytime a wheel is removed from the shaft?

Ps. That head didn't burn any oil when I ran it on a N/A engine. All the valves were straight, but I guess I'll know when I pull the CHRA out of the turbine housing.



The wheels are balanced at the factory. If they were still new, they can be marked and removed. Gotta remember though, after all those heat cycles, age, wear, the balances change. Any slight shift of the wheels can push the balance above a good level. Make sure you mark the relation of each wheel and be super anal about disassemble and reassembly. It's easy, but even easier to do it wrong. You can have a company balance it for 50-70 bucks, plus the shipping. VSR is the only way to do it. (IMHO)

Don't forget to check the PCV valve and the crank breather system, if plugged it forces oil past the oil control rings and will burn an excessive amount of oil.
 
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