ill keep it short.

car recently started having weird issues like power loss at higher rpms so ive been trying to get to the bottom of it.

turns out it was a low oil level.

no oil is in my coolant system
no leaks found (cardboard under car for a week)
and a VERY VERY small amount of smoke from the tailpipe during WOT (reported by others, i havent seen it)
compression check is within 3 psi on every cylinder
plugs are fine
wires are fine
leakdown test showed no leakage at all

any ideas on how to pin-point the problem?

sometimes the level will be super low and the oil light has never come on. i experience hesitation occasionally when the car isnt fully warmed up.
when changing the oil, the amount that came out was very high. its almost like the oil is hiding somewhere.

 

you need to monitor how much oil it burns.....a quart every 1,000 miles is very common for some cars

 

It's definitely more than a quart. I'm below the minimum in 2 weeks

 

If you're not actually losing the oil (as indicated by a large amount obtained at an oil change) then it may be as simple as your stick not giving you a proper reading. If a full amount or more comes out during a change, then it should read so while the engine is off. Of course, this wouldn't attribute to your power loss.

Check and see if you get a different reading just after shutoff and then again a couple hours later.

 

good idea. ive always been accustomed to this car giving me a higher reading while idle and a lower reading with the engine off (normal because of the pump running) but i get very scared when i see the level extremely low after its been sitting a whole night

 

Yep....very common. I've been dealing with that for the better part of 50000 miles. Very little smoke, no leaks that I see, no oil in the coolant, clean plugs. My VQ engine just has oil consumption issues. As long as I monitor it I am fine.

How many miles do you have on your car?

 

Oil loss is not a cause of low rpm, but may be a symptom of engine damage or worn parts. As others have mentioned, check the car after it's sat for a couple of hours.

What type of car is it? How many miles? When you take your foot rapidly off the throttle, will it puff a little blue smoke?




Terry

 

i got a vid of me giving it some throttle as well as pictures of the soot that comes out of the tail pipe.

videos



i think i found what looks to be a leak on my rear valve cover. i need opinions on that one. could be a stain.

pictures of the aftermath

 

That's odd.

What are we looking at in the last two pics? (Can't see vid at work)

 

everything is clickable for the sake of bandwidth constraints

 

the last two pictures are the soot that shot out of the tailpipes during the videos. first pic is my iphone case covered in it and the 2nd is a water jug.

in the videos, the soot seems to be a mixture of water and gunk from the muffler tip. but you never know

 

the car is a 99 tl with a 2001 cl-s engine. the engine should have about 130k on it by now.

i dont see smoke when i let off the gas, but it could be so small that i cant see it in the rearview. nobody i know can drive a stick so i have no way of telling.

 

Seems like you might be burning a bit. The oil usage for you is probably a combination of burning and leaking.

Do you get a very strong smell of gasoline when you drain the oil during an oil change?

 

Pull the inspection cover off by the clutch and see if oil is in there. Your rear main may be leaking. (very common on they type-s motors) The stuff coming out of your tail pipe kinda looks like moisture and carbon mix. What is your AF, are you running rich since the swap? What does the inside of your intake look like? Do you have lots of oil in there (like some 2gs do) Oil may be sucked into the intake and going into the cyls and being burned that way since you say that all cyls test out the same

 

Rear main seal was replaced along with the other crank seal by the timing belt. I do have a good bit of oil in the intake.
My A/F is good since the type-s ecu install and the power loss is gone. But the oil is still disappearing.

 

 

How's the intake look? Normal?
I got some codes about the 02 sensors overheating but I think that's because of not having my high flow cat installed.

 

do you guys think an ester based cleaner would help?

 

Looks like a bunch of oil where the gasket sits. Is there oily residue in the intake by the TB?

 

Redline 5w-30 first and then go from there.

Were those videos of a cold engine? That's a lot of water even for cold. If it's hot, something is wrong. Water is just about always from a rich mixture. I don't know how the cats deal with oil, whether it's converted to water just like gasoline of if the majority escapes as smoke.

Some oil in the intake is a normal function of PCV. You will see an increase with a rich mixture because the fuel dilution will raise the effective NOACK of the oil.

If the rings are actually worn and you have more blowby than normal, it will greatly increase the oil in the intake.

You said the leakdown results were good as well as compression. It could just be a stuck oil control ring or two. What do the plugs look like?

 

some oil by the TB but most of it was in the pockets and around the gasket.
would the fact that i have the front breather PCV port unplugged from the intake pipe? its just open ventilated

the engine was cold. sitting for about 18-20 hrs. the pcv is functioning and ive cleaned it.

I dont have a cat at all so its not being converted.

i will pull the plugs and update.

(i also found a redline dealer locally )

 

hey man. why did u ask about the oil near the TB?

 

You say you dont have a cat. Do you have it tuned with any thing? If not even with the type-s ecu odds are you are running rich. I know i am.

I was wondering if you had it there due to the intake sucking in a lot of oil. Mine does.

 

ok. got a cel today...FINALLY!!!

1st. -1454 is an evap code. i have a leak
2nd. -p0136/p0138 -2nd 02 sensor is low voltage/high voltage (this is caused by no cat)

3rd.........p0135- primary 02 sensor heater circuit failure. im thinking this is causing me to run really rich and possibly cause a lot of blow-by and excess heat...

amirite?

new 02 sensor ordered and 5 quarts of redline ordered

 

When you figure out where your oil went, come figure mine out.

 

I might take u up on that lol. I was in Philly two weeks ago

 

Are you sure the O2 sensor is bad?

 

how can I be sure, Morpheus?

 

The o2 sensor "codes" may be caused by the rear one because of no cat. You should do a oil analysis and see what is in the oil. Id be willing to bet if you put a wideband on your car you af would be really really rich. I can often smell mine its so rich and my tail pipes get black fast.

 

spare one or volt meter.

 

good new.
put the redline oil in the day i recieved it and not a single drop of oil is missing today. will continue to update on the progress

 

You still may want to get a wideband and see what your AF is, if its out of whack get something to simply tune the AF and spend some time adjusting it. As soon as the new motor goes in i will be doing that myself. I know im super rich with no cat.

 

i never knew anyone to check their oil while the car was running. As others have suggested, try another oil. Are you using synthetic or conventional? I don't know if that would make a difference.

I can't see the videos at work, but what color is the exhaust smoke when you start up cold in the morning. Can you tell what it smells like?

 

Did you get a sample and have it sent for analysis? It might be nice to know what contaminants were in it. It would also tell you if extra fuel is in it.

 

I have, but they were women that didn't know about cars.

 

isn't that the truth

 

Awesome. Hopefully it stays that way.

The only thing I would worry about is the Redline is covering up a rich condition that's causing fuel dilution and early evaporation.

Or in other words it may start using again but take longer with Redline.

 

screw u arses. I only did it with the car on to see if it made a difference.

I'm going to test my 02 sensors when I get a break this weekend

 

Thats what i was thinking and was wondering if he got a oil analysis or knew what his AF was.

 

no analysis. im going to make sure the 02's are working this afternoon. only way to check my a/f is on a dyno and im not paying 100 bucks for someone to tell me my car is fucking up. i already know.