TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

Title says enough about the problem, there are just too many variables for me to figure out what's wrong. The car is a 1996 Trans AM, it was stock until about 86,000 miles. I installed Pacesetter LT Headers, Pacesetter ORY, CSR EWP. There was about a three week time span between the exhaust parts and the EWP conversion. After the EWP conversion my operating temperature went from it's normal 180-190 to a constant 200-210 under any load, in any weather condition, at any time.

Is it possible that since this car had 86,000 miles of 180 constants that now when it runs up that high it's expanding and allowing oil to make it up past the rings and into the combustion chamber??

If so, I would assume to stop the burning of the oil all I would have to do is put a lower temp thermostat and tune accordingly.

The only reason I think it's temperature related is because there are zero oil leaks on the vehicle, no puddles when it's been run and no puddles when it sits even for days. I pulled a plug, its burning a nice sandy brown. It doesn't smoke under WOT except for a light dark blue smoke between shifts. It doesn't have cats but its burning very clean at the exhaust tips, it's just carbon it's not damp or oily it's very dry and burnt well.

If you guys have any other theories, I'm really trying not to accept the fact that the car has a failing cylinder just from changing these few parts over.

Ponch95

iTrader: (5)

With the EWP your temp SHOULD never go up like that...maybe you have a bad pump....both me and my brother went to the CSR pumps and my temp never rises past 160-180.

On another note with those high temps you may be right about the burning oil.

TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

The EWP conversion went smooth, the pump works great when I open the radiator cap I can watch it circulating coolant real well. I did leave the stock thermostat in the vehicle though. Is it possible that the stock thermostat isn't opening but since the pump is so efficient it's not overheating?

TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

I ordered a 160 T-Stat just for good measure. I'll install it and see if that affects the rate that it burns oil or if lower operating temperatures stops the leak. If you guys have any other ideas or imput please let me know.

Ponch95

iTrader: (5)

With stock PCM the 160" thermostat is not much good! (sad but true ) I beleive you have to get a tune for it to work)

fergymoto

iTrader: (129)

He has a tune.

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

Does it include fans turning on earlier? I'd assume the tuner would have left them if he had a stock T-Stat.

TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

The tune already has re-adjusted fan turn-on times. Fergymoto is someone I know personally so we can get together and adjust accordingly for the 160 t-stat. I'm more interested in seeing if this will improve it's oil consumption by lowering the operating temperatures. (Plus improve horsepower of course, I already know that's going to be a by-product)

firehawk238

iTrader: (1)

if you are continuously revving the engine upward of 6k rpms you will find that it blows a puff of white smoke out the tailpipes. the reason for this is that the breather tube coming from your valve cover runs right into your throttle body and any oil that gets tossed up into that tube will immediately be sucked into the combustion chambers and burned. this is oil consumption no matter how small the amount. so if you race a lot expect that you will lose some oil.

karl

Mattsz28

iTrader: (1)

2 quarts in 3k miles would be excessive consumption in my eyes. Wouldnt a motor running warmer expand more? Wouldnt that make seals tighter?

Just my 2 cents anyways...

firehawk238

iTrader: (1)

like i stated above, it is just by design that they consume some oil under repeated high revs for extended periods of time. however if he is not racing this car much, then id say that he is using an extremely excessive amount of oil, but in 3000 miles i used abou a half quart but did do a lot of street racing on the highway with high revs for long periods of time. hard to shake off an LT4 hawk on the highway. lol but my car with normal day to day driving consumes no oil and leaks no oil, its just by the design when i revv it a lot.

karl

TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

I don't really race the car, the majority of the time I'm stuck in traffic (uphill usually with a nice clutch) and just sitting. When I do get moving I like to get on it every now and then but the only time it gets over 6k is when I'm racing seriously which is seldom.

I thought 2 quarts in 3000 miles was excessive too that's why I became concerned. I found something interesting out yesterday though, I checked the oil and it was a quart low at 545 miles since an oil change. I changed nothing on the car, didn't move it, didn't start it, went back two or three hours later and the oil was perfect on the dip-stick with none missing. Why would I get varied readings?

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

Gremlins. Do you wipe the dipstick, re-insert it and then pull it out? Also do you check it a few times to get an average? And most importantly, on a flat surface?

TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

Flat surface, check
Multiple readings, check

Only checked twice, had the same problem before. When this originated my low oil light came on while commuting home, so I grabbed some oil and it took two quarts to bring it back to level. The only thing that confused me was when I shut the car off at the place where I got the oil the low oil light went out for good, never came back on.

I'm wondering why I'm getting varied readings. Is it possible oil can reside in the heads and give me false levels?

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

2 times technically isn't enough to get an average 3 is minimum. Also, if you push in quick and pull out it may (but shouldn't) get a lower reading.

TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

I'm going to take a few checks tomorrow. Now when you said multiple readings I assumed you meant throughout the day. If you mean per session, I took two readings verifying it was low. Then four verifying it didn't burn any. I like to be sure when I take a reading that it is what it is. If that clears anything up, I misunderstood you.

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

Meh, no biggie

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Do you see oil out the exhaust at cold startup? Have you recently taken the intake manfild off? If so, did you buy new gaskets?

bobdec

2 quarts in 3K miles, thats about 1 quart a month or more. You should see puddles in your parking spot, or pretty visible dripping on the undercarriage if you have a leak. Your OP said blue puffs of smoke between shifts, that's really not normal under daily driving. Maybe your high temps caused a head gasket to go. Has your temp ever red lined ? Is the new WP correct for your car, on the open road with a working cooling system and air dam the temp should drop to around 180* with a stock t-stat, lower with a 160*. In traffic w/stock fan settings 200-210* is pretty good.

TDavanzo

iTrader: (3)

No puddles no dripping. Blue puffs of smoke between shifts is shifting at 6,300 rpms. Under normal driving it doesn't crackle or backfire or anything. It actually runs pretty smooth. I was wondering if I had a cylinder misfiring due to oil and if you put the car in sixth gear at around 1,000 rpms you can't feel any shutters or anything. The motor is running smooth. Temperature on the vehicle has never red-lined. The WP is correct for the car and hooked up to specs properly. Air dam is still in place, thermostat is stock 185. The car ran at 185 under normal conditions with the vehicle moving. The only thing that changed was the water-pump. I'm wondering if possible some gasket sealer didn't make it's way up and cause the thermostat to not work properly.