P0302 cylinder #2 misfire

[i12drivemyMP5]

If you can see oil buildup around the timing cover then I would suspect cam seal leakage, crank seal leakage or both. Neither of these would be good for your timing belt if they are indeed leaking the amount of oil you are going thru. There's probably a mess inside the timing cover. How many miles on the car? Depending on that, maybe the timing belt/tensioner/water pump/cam seals shoulda been done when it was apart to change the head gasket. The belt is a 100k mile thing, the others are just easy to do while in there so you don't have to go back in there any time soon.
If you're car is actually trying to burn that much oil, the inside of your tailpipe will be very carbony but dry. If it is pushing as much as you are losing then the inside of the tailpipe will most likely be very carbony but not dry, but nasty slimy instead.

 

[localkineguy]

Ooo, okay I'll check my tailpipe. When I had the head off, I asked the guy to check the belts and pump to see if they need to be done. I have 110,000 miles on the clock. The mechanic said that the belts and pump looked like it was already done a little while ago (this mechanic is a coworker of a good friend so I trust him). It might be just time to take it back to him and have him look it over.
When I pulled the plugs out a couple of days ago to have a look, I remember seeing some oil on the threads on cylinder #2 plug...could that have caused a short/misfire? Also, what does oil-on-plugs mean?

 

[ucMP3]

Ooo, okay I'll check my tailpipe. When I had the head off, I asked the guy to check the belts and pump to see if they need to be done. I have 110,000 miles on the clock. The mechanic said that the belts and pump looked like it was already done a little while ago (this mechanic is a coworker of a good friend so I trust him). It might be just time to take it back to him and have him look it over.
When I pulled the plugs out a couple of days ago to have a look, I remember seeing some oil on the threads on cylinder #2 plug...could that have caused a short/misfire? Also, what does oil-on-plugs mean?

Here you go

 

[slavrenz]

damn, this does not sound good from you guys. So I drove a total of ~1,000 miles: 6 hrs each way. I just checked my oil level when I let my car cool and it was pretty dry. I added several quarts (don't know how many because I poured from one of those 5 qt containers) of oil to fill 'er up.
I noticed grease/oil buildup on the drive belt and timing belt areas.
I recently had my head gasket replaced because I was leaking coolant into one of the cylinders...I can't remember if it was #2 or #3. The guy who replaced the gasket for me said that the head was fine and actually...so was the old gasket. He put in a new one and everything seemed dandy after that.
As for the CEL, would a cylinder #2 misfire be caused by low oil?
I don't see drops of oil under my car so it must be coming out of the exhaust...how do I check this?

If you're actually burning that much oil, you're going to see a very noticeable bluish exhaust stream coming out of your tailpipe.

As for the timing belt, even if it got done a while ago, you should replace it if you're going to have it off (like you would to change the head gasket). If it were me, I would pop my valve cover and timing covers to see if you've got a little pool of oil running down the side of your block.

 

[localkineguy]

I don't notice any smoke coming from the tailpipe when I'm driving. But I was listening to Car Talk this weekend and Click and Clack said you wouldn't be able to see smoke coming out of the exhaust if it was burning oil. That being said, I'm going to have a friend follow me on a ~10 mile trip and back so that he can watch the backside of my car.

no sticky stuff on the tailpipe...just black carbon. I'm thinking the oil sink needs to be this leak near the belts...

 

[slavrenz]

I don't notice any smoke coming from the tailpipe when I'm driving. But I was listening to Car Talk this weekend and Click and Clack said you wouldn't be able to see smoke coming out of the exhaust if it was burning oil. That being said, I'm going to have a friend follow me on a ~10 mile trip and back so that he can watch the backside of my car.

no sticky stuff on the tailpipe...just black carbon. I'm thinking the oil sink needs to be this leak near the belts...

If your car is only burning a tiny bit of oil, you might not notice any smoke (maybe a little at startup, but that's it).

With the kind of oil loss you're facing, you'd be seeing blue smoke out of your tailpipe almost constantly.

 

[ucMP3]

If your car is only burning a tiny bit of oil, you might not notice any smoke (maybe a little at startup, but that's it).

With the kind of oil loss you're facing, you'd be seeing blue smoke out of your tailpipe almost constantly.

Or a puddle where you park.

 

[P-Funk!]

^more likely.

 

[slavrenz]

^^agreed

 

[localkineguy]

Here's the update.
Unrelatedly....replaced EGR with Canadian EGR. Also replaced PCV. That was just on the general to-do list.
I drove out 7.1 miles away from home and had a friend follow me. He noticed a lot of white-ish smoke coming from my tailpipe (which I didn't notice from the driver's seat). Then on our way back, another 7.1 miles, he said that there was less smoke. This tells me that there was some buildup of oil in my cylinder while the engine was off and sitting on my driveway.
I did a compression test and noticed the following pressures from left-to-right (passenger-to-driver) in PSI: 190, 120, 150, 180

Again, I just had my head gasket replaced ~ 3,500 miles ago. I pulled the spark plugs and here they are:

<img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8wgWoX2iGaY/TBP4zE4fJaI/AAAAAAAAZsw/vxN-EmkaWt4/s800/P6124230.JPG">
left-to-right = driver-to-passenger side
<img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8wgWoX2iGaY/TBP4zwJd57I/AAAAAAAAZs0/NCEe0JqrJbg/s720/P6124231.JPG">
cylinder#1
<img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8wgWoX2iGaY/TBP40uImTKI/AAAAAAAAZs4/NdUFbe0T5nI/s720/P6124234.JPG">
cylinder #2
<img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8wgWoX2iGaY/TBP402p8ZxI/AAAAAAAAZs8/DWEobU-MTu8/s720/P6124235.JPG">
cylinder#3
<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8wgWoX2iGaY/TBP41ZUR6aI/AAAAAAAAZtA/Mc10Jm3LhBM/s720/P6124236.JPG">
cylinder#4

Again, I'm getting a P0302 cylinder #2 misfire

 

[RABID_MP5]

120 pounds on #2? Almost gotta be the head gasket again.

 

[localkineguy]

Phone consultation with my mechanic: he thinks it's a piston ring. What's the cost of a new used engine?

 

[P-Funk!]

Craigs list in VA had one (last week) for like a $100! See if it is still there!