Spazz698

So my car is now leaking and/or burning oil. Im putting a quart in every 2 days! what would cause it to go from minor leak that I only needed to put < 1quart in between oil changes to this?

Now I did notice it did start losing (consierably more) oil after my last oil change (this was probably 3-4 weeks ago but my car sat for a good chunk of that time waiting for a part) but its gotten really bad the last week. I havent driven it differently or anything.

I do know the previous owner had been using 15-40 oil (heavy duty truck oil...he used what was around and he drives box trucks for a living) the first oil change I did I used 10-30 then that one quart was 10-40 and it was fine. The last one tho I changed jobs (im a mechanic) so I dont know 100% what oil we use (think its 5-20 or 5-30) and Ive been smelling burning oil ever since. The oil isnt contaminated, looks really good esp after almost 1k tho it could also be the fact Ive been having to fill it too...

There's also this vibration issue im trying to win but I cant figure that out either. Started happening around the same time the burning oil smell did. Tho on that Im leaning towards bad motor mount but just not sure cuz theres also a rattle thats getting worse too. I dont wanna be forced to give up on the car as a DD just yet cuz I just put like 400 bucks into the thing (mostly steering/suspension stuff) in the last week. So please tell me there's hope...

oh and the leak I know of for sure is near the starter, I noticed oil all over the tranny last time it was in the air too. Nice clean oil all over my tranny. *sigh*

AM91Camaro_RS

is it leaking more? sounds to me like it might have broken a piston ring and is burning the oil. have you noticed any blue smoke coming out the exhaust?

Spazz698

thats the issue Im having, no smoke any color. It only has a lil bit of white smoke til it's been on for a min or two then its gone, but since its been cold esp in the mornings I figured it was consendation.

AM91Camaro_RS

oh, could be... if its not smoking, i don't know. have you gotten on the throttle hard? i know that my motor has piston/ring problems now but it doesn't really smoke unless i'm "on it".

Spazz698

nah, Ive been babying it since the vibrating started. I can smell the burning oil when Im accelerating usually and it doesnt seem to be just a hint of it either. Doesnt matter how fast Im going, just during acceleration. When I first got it and got a tuneup done yeah I romped the crap out of the car (burnouts thru 3 gears, raced a couple times) but havent done it lately since my work sucks and wants me to basically live there now.

If it helps I know my car was sitting for a yr or two before it got driven daily by me (after new plugs, rotor, cap, etc) has what sounds like piston slap going on too, might be something else. Barely hear it til the rpms are up thats for sure.

me and my dad were talking about this and he mentioned something about using an additive (like STP or stop leak stuff) to see if it seals up whatever's leaking. Think it'll do any more damage?

jsel

try to put somthing under the car to see if there is a large amount of oil under the car? use card board ect! can you do a compression test to each cylinder to see if you have a broken ring or if the valve seal are leaking!

Spazz698

did a compression test on it a while ago and it was sitting where in should have been, dont remember the numbers off hand tho. Cant think of any reason they would change this suddenly with no sign of problems. Still runs and drives fine, just the amt of oil Im going thru is bothering me. There's never a large amount of oil under my car, there's a couple drips but nothing Id ever be concerned about.

jsel

ok the oil have to go some where eather it is burned or lost? it could be your rear main seal since that you said that the starter and the fly wheel has a lot of oil there and it would only leak when your engine is running due to the level of the engine oil when sitting it may not leak.

Naft

thicker oil leaks less.

jsel

yes and no when oil breaks down there may be a little difference but if your leaking a lot then that makes no difference! seals just leak after time but i'll tell you one story! when i ran caster oil my rear main leak but when i ran valvoline oil it stop due to the wax in the oil

Gumby

strange vib and oil leaking????

Shot in the dark, harmonic balancer rubber has cracked and fallen out, making it leak also.

Spazz698

could that happen to make a strange rattling noise (like change in a metal can type noise) *thought* it was my flywheel but tranny's solid so isnt anything related to that. Asking about the noise cuz after it started vibrating the noise started occuring more and more often and it's there damn near most of the time now.

Now where's the harmonic balancer so I can look at it and see if it's something I wanna fix or have someone else do?

jsel

balancer is in the front of the crankshaft he said that the oil is all over the starter and the flywheel area! and if he has a piston that is not up to spec then this could cause the vib that he felt!

jsel

change the oil and cut the filter and see if metal is in the filter!

Spazz698

who's he? I'm female.

I didnt say there was oil all over the starter. I said it was in that area cuz I did happen to see SOME oil on the side of it closest to the motor and down the side of the oil pan. This is the leak I dont necessarily care about cuz it aint bad at all and has been there since I got the car. I did say there was fresh oil all over the tranny tho, that ticks me off. Come to think of it I think there was oil all over the bottom of the block too (on the pan) but not drips, kinda like it was flung there, assuming from speed. looked like there was a bit of oil behind a pulley, but I just got my tie rods done and I figured the numbnut who greased em managed to put some there (he got grease EVERYWHERE)

and dude its not from a piston, then I would have a semi consistant vibration/shake this one isnt. This vibration is more along the lines of a bad motor mount feel, its not within the block, maybe the heads but I doubt it. Like I said it runs and drives the same as it had, if it were a piston issue there'd generally be loss of power or something else important that'd clue one into thinking something's really fu**ed up

Also not entirely sure the leak is coming from the back of the motor cuz if it were my clutch would be slipping and it's not. From the oil getting onto the clutch/flywheel, cuz you know a lubed clutch isnt a good thing

jsel

you said the leak is near the starter good luck

Spazz698

and I also said that was the leak Im not entirely worried about. If you read thru I said there's a couple of them and I dont know where the second one is, that's the one Im worried about.

daves12secV6

iTrader: (3)

check the gasket on ur oil filter?

Nocturnall

I wonder if you would be able to see oil spraying from the balancer if you reved up the motor while it was in park. Pop the hood and rev it while watching the balancer...and where you place your hands. Could be something to try and see if there is oil coming from there... Do you have tools, jacks, jack stands, haynes manual any of that stuff? I wonder if a dyno shop would get pissed if you brought your car in to me dynoed and you sprayed oil all over the floor... I dunno just throwing some ideas out there.

Dale

iTrader: (12)

I did a quick read, but I'm going to say rear main seal, or that "cap" that goes on the back of the camshaft hole.

Also another is.. Did you mess with the timing? These things leak oil like a sib if that gasket around the distrib doesnt seal. Then it would run down the side/back of the engine.

Another is valve cover gaskets.

since you said you noticed this after an oil change, and also started to notice a vibration. I would say that the engine was use to the thick oil, it got thinner oil and is now leaking in places the thicker oil wouldnt. Also, the thicker oil could have cause pre-mature wear on the engine and now some bearings are worn out causing the vibration.

Gumby

"the thicker oil could have cause pre-mature wear on the engine and now some bearings are worn out causing the vibration."

Soory man but thats a lame excuess
15-40 is not gonna kill an engine. Thats not even thick.

"I do know the previous owner had been using 15-40 oil"


20w50 7 years + near 230K miles = lame excuess

Now to thin of oil, yea. dealer book says 10-30 or 10-40

15-40 is not gonna damage an engine

I know your smarter then that but I can't believe you are sayign it.

daves12secV6

iTrader: (3)

lmao @ thicker oil wearing out an engine ive run stright 50 and 20-40-50 in all my cars depending on how cold it is out and the engines with thicker oil always last longer

Dale

iTrader: (12)

I've seen engines wear out from 2 thick of oil. To run thick oil, it needs to be ran hard n hot to make it worth it. No thick oil is needed to troll around.


We are to run 10-30 in these engines. Although many of us run 10-40.

My old s10, the previous owner ran 20-50 in it I could tell a rev defference between 20-50 and 10-40. And no, the oil wasnt old, nasty and needed to be changed. However, he also used the truck for strickly racing.

Xophertony

i would investigate rear main seal and distributer cap shaft seal. try changing to 50W and see if it goes away. if it does... run 50W from now on. problem solved

Spazz698

Ok so I got bored at work today, put my car up in the air and found the leak near the starter. Its coming from a sensor Im guessing is the oil pressure sensor/sending unit (its closer to the top of the motor, probably a hell of a lot easier to get to from the top but I was under the car) everything's fairly clean, then that sensor (which is what Im gonna refer to it til I get the chance to find out what it is exactly) is covered in oil then a nice big trail straight down. Oh and the burning oil...it IS dripping right onto my exhaust so my motor's not burning it, the one good thing I learned today. Now if I get around to getting all the oil off my exhaust I'll be happy. Oh and I can smell the burning oil cuz of this: the rubber cover thing for the shifter (if you take the boot and all off) is ripped off so, there's a gap...I can feel air coming out from that area, of course I'm gonna smell oil burning off the exhaust <2 feet from there.

I put stp engine stop leak crap in it, I swear that ****'s just gear oil, thick as hell but the leak did slow way, way down. My shop uses 5-20 I found out, Ive NEVER in my life ran anything that thin in any of my cars. It just doesnt get cold enough here. So the camaro will be back to 10-40/15-40 (I forget what I bought)

Still cant tell if there was another leak, from the looks of it that leak above the starter got bad enough to where it was flinging oil every which way, but not in the bellhousing (yay)

Also looked up by the pulleys, I was right the dip**** did get grease there so it wasnt oil. I need to pressure wash my motor so I can monitor the damn thing.

Oh and I still dont know whats causing the vibrations, but then again I didnt look at the motor mounts while it was in the air. Im hoping that was it

Dale

iTrader: (12)

oil pressure sensor is on the left side of the motor.

For a 2.8, the sensors on the starter side are..
knock
fans
egr


None of them go into oil.

5-20 oil Yea, get some thicker oil in that car.

Gumby

Put a plastic bag over the dizzy before washing

The STP probably made the 5-20 into 10-30
Its very thick like that to make old nasty oil kinda like new again. Makes it thicker and add new addtives.

The oil will burn off your exhaust pretty quick once it stop getting re-oiled.

Unless your gonna buy a new shifter boot, use the handymans secret weapon.

ducttape

Mine is sealed like that

I covered / taped over the hole with the boot and cover out. Then put the cover back on and taped over it. exhaust fumes are really bad for ya and the poison can build up over time in your system where you wont notice it.

Walmart sells full syn 15-40 for pretty cheap ina jug.
Which is just exon mobile. Same with their regular oil in jugs cheap. Its super flow oil. Which is owned by exon.

If anyone knows oil, its exon.