need advice about oil issue

[Andy H]

Hi. I have a 2000 camaro with a 3.8v6 5 speed manual trans. I bought my car brand new 9 years ago. It just now turned over 100,000 miles. I have only used Castrol Syntec 10w30 and ac delco (pf47) oil filters. I always change the oil and filter between 3 and 4 thousand miles. I just noticed the last time I changed the oil that I only got out about 3 and 3/4 quarts instead of 4.5. Also about a month before my last oil change, I had to add a quart of oil. I do not smell any oil burning and I have never seen a drop of oil where i park. The engine is clean top and bottom. My car does smoke a little when first started after sitting for a while. Here is a video clip of me starting my car.
http://users.chartertn.net/andyhawks/camaro.wmv
Could this be worn piston rings? I am wondering what I should do. Should I change to regular oil? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

[97rs4life]

Re: need advice about oil issue

sounds like it is getting past the rings and burning up. Not much you can do unless you feel like rebuilding the engine. Just watch the oil from time to time and add as needed. If consumption gets worse then time to tear into it

[cam98aro]

Re: need advice about oil issue

smoking on startup usually means bad valve guides

go out for a drive and have a friend follow you, and floor your car, and ask him if he sees blue smoke.. smoke under load is a good indicator of worn rings

change your spark plugs (or at least take them out and look at them) if they are not white, then you know you are burning oil.

put your car on jackstands and check underneath, the oil can leak onto the exhaust and burn up

and lastly, try changing your PCV valve, bad ones can cause oil consumption (although im not sure if that is true with the 3.8 since the valve is in the intake)

[Andy H]

Re: need advice about oil issue

thanks for the replies. the pcv valve and spark plugs only have 17,000 miles on them. I will take them out and check them tomorrow. maybe i should get a compression tester and check that.

[dobie]

Re: need advice about oil issue

Using a quart in 3 to 4 thousand miles isn't bad especially for an engine with 100K on it. The smoke when you start up is caused by seepage past the valve stem seals. Again nothing to worry about. Just keep an I on it and if it starts to get worse then I would think about a rebuild. A compression check will tell you if the rings are bad.

[cam98aro]

Re: need advice about oil issue

Using a quart in 3 to 4 thousand miles isn't bad especially for an engine with 100K on it. The smoke when you start up is caused by seepage past the valve stem seals. Again nothing to worry about. Just keep an I on it and if it starts to get worse then I would think about a rebuild. A compression check will tell you if the rings are bad.

leakdown tests are more efficient in telling if rings are bad, since bad head gaskets can cause low compression in cylinders... just a note

edit* but yeah, 1 quart per 3000 miles is an acceptable range.

in the past 1500 miles i have had to put 2 quarts of oil in my car.. but that kinda has to do with a bad oil pan gasket

[Rob Bell]

Re: need advice about oil issue

I would not worry about a quart every 3000 miles. Like was said before, just keep an eye on it. The engine has 100K miles on it, it's gonna use a little oil. It's probably using so little that you won't even see smoke because either there's not enough to produce visible smoke, and/or the cat is just burning the smoke up. When you start seeing smoke and have to add a quart every week, then think about that rebuild. Until then, don't sweat it.

[HeadyFirebird'00]

Re: need advice about oil issue

I would only agree about the quart thing every 1k, because and only because i hear it all the bloody time! i have the same car and 95K ish and i got a leak onto the exhaust and i think she burns some too. i just check it often and monitor the level per milage.

so with that said, i would like to agree about the quart/1k but, my ideals involve no oil burning and perfect p-rings and all that. so i geuss its just normal. nothing lasts forever

[ssms5411]

Re: need advice about oil issue

I wouldn't think it would be normal to burn that much oil and can't be good for the engine. I would look into rebuilding the engine if mine was burning that much oil. I burn zero oil and have never had to add oil except for when my oil level sensor was leaking and running down the frame to the rear. Now it holds the oil fine. Mine was rebuilt at 122,000 miles with new pistons and total seal piston rings so it is holding up fine, I have a 166,xxx miles on it now and have had 10 PSI ran on it for 2 years and about 2 years of a 125 shot of nitrous ran on it. I would guess 15+10lb bottles of nitrous. I also just switch from 10W30 RP to 20W50 RP and before the RP I ws using Mobile Clean 5000 I think it was. I also use a magnetic drain plug and a magnet on the oil filter wrap with duct tape so it doesn't fall off on bumps. So far so good.Also the little leak I had from the oil level sensor I had to add about 1/4 of oil to it every month and I change it at alittle over 5000 miles or 6 months(usually 6 months since I don't drive much anymore), So for me with that small leak I was adding about a 1qt. of oil before my oil change. So if you have a small leak like that or any other leaks they will add up. But I would keep a eye on the oil , and you should have a low oil light but don't wait for that to turn on or you might be rebuilding sooner than you think.

[Andy H]

Re: need advice about oil issue

uh oh. please tell me this is not oil in my radiator. I just went outside and took the cap off of the radiator and this is what i saw.
http://users.chartertn.net/andyhawks/radiator.jpg

i just flushed my radiator about 15k miles ago.

[97RSRPV]

Re: need advice about oil issue

Hey andy, sure looks like milk shake to me man... blown head gasket most likely. :[

[ssms5411]

Re: need advice about oil issue

You flushed it 15,000 miles ago and it looks like that, its not looking to good for you. Did your car ever heat up to like 260 temp wise?
It could be a lower intake as well, which a single head gasket would be better then yoou don't have to mess with the lower intake. Good luck with your car.

[cam98aro]

Re: need advice about oil issue

I wouldn't think it would be normal to burn that much oil and can't be good for the engine. I would look into rebuilding the engine if mine was burning that much oil. I burn zero oil and have never had to add oil except for when my oil level sensor was leaking and running down the frame to the rear. Now it holds the oil fine. Mine was rebuilt at 122,000 miles with new pistons and total seal piston rings so it is holding up fine, I have a 166,xxx miles on it now and have had 10 PSI ran on it for 2 years and about 2 years of a 125 shot of nitrous ran on it. I would guess 15+10lb bottles of nitrous. I also just switch from 10W30 RP to 20W50 RP and before the RP I ws using Mobile Clean 5000 I think it was. I also use a magnetic drain plug and a magnet on the oil filter wrap with duct tape so it doesn't fall off on bumps. So far so good.Also the little leak I had from the oil level sensor I had to add about 1/4 of oil to it every month and I change it at alittle over 5000 miles or 6 months(usually 6 months since I don't drive much anymore), So for me with that small leak I was adding about a 1qt. of oil before my oil change. So if you have a small leak like that or any other leaks they will add up. But I would keep a eye on the oil , and you should have a low oil light but don't wait for that to turn on or you might be rebuilding sooner than you think.

its not going to consume much oil with only 40k miles on a fresh rebuild

1 quart per 3000 miles is what the factory rates oil consumption to be tolerable

and yes, that does look like oil is getting into your coolant, i would not drive the car, you dont want the coolant getting into your crankcase and messing the bearings up

[Andy H]

Re: need advice about oil issue

yeah i flushed it a year ago. My car has never got up above 210. it usually stays around 190 after its warmed up. Today, I did a compression test. Here's the results:
1. 185
2. 185
3. 185
4. 190
5. 182
6. 195
My spark plugs looked good, they were dry and clean. Is there any way to take a sample of the antifreeze and test it to see if it is oil or just brown sludge that is common with dexcool? My oil looks great so I don't think any coolant is getting into the oil.

[ssms5411]

Re: need advice about oil issue

Flush all the dexacool crap out and put some green antifreeze in and see how it runs. Thats why dexacool sucks. Hope its just the antifreeze.