Oil disappearing

[speedblue88]

Another issue I have discovered today during an oil change. I use the Mobil1 extended performance, so I don't usually change it too often, as it's good for 15K miles or whatever. I think the last time I changed it was almost a year ago. I have driven about 12K miles since the last change. Anyhow, I drain the oil, and notice that the amount that came out of my engine is not the usual amount. In fact I measured it and only about 1.5 qts came out. Of course I usually put in about 3.75 qts, so this is rather alarming. What has happened to the oil? I have no noticeable leaks, and I never see any smoke or anything from the engine bay. The car runs fine, and gives no indication that there is any problem. No backfires, no nothing. I did notice a bit of a gap on the engine head, by the gasket, which I'm thinking might have something to do with it, but I don't really see any significant amounts of oil on the engine or anything. What could be causing this? Pics of the engine are below:

 

[Jack Rot]

could just be your motor is burning oil, mine is

 

[SIBalla23]

You have the change your oil more often. Do not believe what the oil company says to let it go for that long. You are burning it up especially when you get higher mileage. Also thats the early signs the valve cover gasket is going. Thats easy to replace. But please change your oil every 3-4,000 miles.

 

[StealthWyvern]

Change your PCV valve(its like 8 bucks if that). and change your damn oil more often then that man! Syn or not your still asking for issues... I take it you dont check your oil that often either by the sounds of it.... Also check your oil presure sensor. My old p5 liked to leak oil out of that thing.


Edit: If you decide to pop off that valve cover be sure to take a picture and show us how gunked that s*** is!

 

[MaxPower]

Burning 1 quart every 6000 miles probably won't lead to any obvious blue smoke coming out of the exhaust. But it could just be a leak.

BTW: You also need to check your car's oil more often--running down to 1.5L is definitely not good for lubrication.

 

[speedblue88]

Yeah, I'm kinda mad at myself for letting it go this long. I let that Mobil extended stuff make me lazy. I used to change it like clockwork every 4-5K when I was driving it a lot (500/week) and had a nice garage to work in. Started thinking about it this past week and thought, Holy Sh1t! Last time I changed it was late Oct 2008. Not good. Good to hear that the valve cover gasket is an easy fix, along w/ the PCV valve. Will get on those pronto. Thanks for the info.....and for giving me a good kick in the a$$. I deserved it.

 

[slavrenz]

You have the change your oil more often. Do not believe what the oil company says to let it go for that long. You are burning it up especially when you get higher mileage. Also thats the early signs the valve cover gasket is going. Thats easy to replace. But please change your oil every 3-4,000 miles.

Your sig says you're an ASE certified technician, so I'm not knocking your expertise, but our manuals say the oil only needs to be changed every 5,000 miles. Doing it sooner than this is just wasteful, IMO, especially if you're using synthetic.

I agree that 12,000 miles is too long, and for god's sake, check your dipstick more than once a year, but changing the oil every 5,000 miles should be good.

Also run some seafoam through your crankcase to clear out some of that sludge you've most likely accumulated.

 

[sethro_GT]

Yeah I follow the manual recommended 5k for "heavy duty" driving, it recommends 7.5k for normal driving. Never seen a car state 3k as most shops preach.

The Mobile1 will last 15k miles but the filter won't. You should change the filter every 5k period. Synthetic oil in older engines that may not have used synthetic will start burning oil as it is more slippery and will leak by more readily on an engine whose wear pattern was made with fossil oil (so I've heard and read). I recommend switching to regular valvoline 5-30. If the oil hasn't been filtered properly that can only make the oil burning worse for the synthetics. Don't use Fram crap, get dealer, bosch, or other decent brand. My 2c anyway. I had rod knock at startup and put some honey in it and its been much better. Perhaps a little honey would do your engine good.

 

[SIBalla23]

Your sig says you're an ASE certified technician, so I'm not knocking your expertise, but our manuals say the oil only needs to be changed every 5,000 miles. Doing it sooner than this is just wasteful, IMO, especially if you're using synthetic.

I agree that 12,000 miles is too long, and for god's sake, check your dipstick more than once a year, but changing the oil every 5,000 miles should be good.

Also run some seafoam through your crankcase to clear out some of that sludge you've most likely accumulated.

Changing the oil sooner then 5,000miles is not wasteful at all. Have you ever changed your oil right at 3,000 miles? Its already black and getting thick. Its to make sure its running its best. And the manufacturers specs are b.s. ford wants it at 4500miles, gm at 7000, chrysler at 5500miles. Every manufacturer has different mileage, but a motor is a motor and 20dollars every 3000 is not wasteful.

 

[HKPRO5]

Changing the oil sooner then 5,000miles is not wasteful at all. Have you ever changed your oil right at 3,000 miles? Its already black and getting thick. Its to make sure its running its best. And the manufacturers specs are b.s. ford wants it at 4500miles, gm at 7000, chrysler at 5500miles. Every manufacturer has different mileage, but a motor is a motor and 20dollars every 3000 is not wasteful.

I change mine every 3000 miles. While im at it I check the coolant levels, tire pressure, brake fluid, PS fluid. I also check my endlinks and brakes just to see whats going on. lol

 

[SIBalla23]

I change mine every 3000 miles. While im at it I check the coolant levels, tire pressure, brake fluid, PS fluid. I also check my endlinks and brakes just to see whats going on. lol

Its good preventive maintentance practice to make sure the car is in good shape and to catch any early signs of problems that could be very costly down the road if waited to do so.

 

[slavrenz]

Changing the oil sooner then 5,000miles is not wasteful at all. Have you ever changed your oil right at 3,000 miles? Its already black and getting thick. Its to make sure its running its best. And the manufacturers specs are b.s. ford wants it at 4500miles, gm at 7000, chrysler at 5500miles. Every manufacturer has different mileage, but a motor is a motor and 20dollars every 3000 is not wasteful.

Alright, well agree to disagree - unless you've neglected your engine, I feel that changing oil every 3,000 miles is overkill. When my oil comes out after 5,000 miles, it is not even totally black, but I take good car of my engine. It is the oil companies who say that our oil needs to be changed every 3,000 miles, and I've got a little more faith in the thousands of engineers who put hundreds of thousands of man-hours into developing the motors for our cars. I do not believe that "a motor is a motor is a motor".

Long story short, there's nothing that either of us is going to say to convince the other otherwise

 

[P-Funk!]

Me? I trust the engineers at different companies which spec their motors to different tolerances and then test the results.

I have changed at 6K miles (for 200K miles) and the engine is clean and the oil still looks good (not black at all!) at 3K miles. I pour seafoam in the crank just before draining once every 30K miles or so....

I believe 'changing the oil at 3K irregardless' is a waste of money.