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All of a sudden burning MORE OIL than usual! Whats going on?

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Old 10-11-2009, 04:11 PM
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Default All of a sudden burning MORE OIL than usual! Whats going on?

All of a sudden I am burning more oil than usual! I burned one half of a quart in 2200 miles! Has me a little stumped. Not burning oil by looking at the pipes. No oil found on the throttle side of the pcv. Dropped the oil and went on a road trip with steady throttle (nothing over 3k rpm). Same oil consumption. Pulled one of the AC delco plug with only 7k miles on them and just found the ceramic to be a reddish color (no oil or heavy carbon deposits). One mechanic said sometimes oil gets splashed up in the baffles of the valve cover and gets sucked into the pvc system. He told me to run a bead of RTV gasget maker on the baffles to prevent this. Have not done this yet.

What do you guys think?

This car made about 12 runs at the track as far as I know after 60k miles on it. Lots of highway miles and some FUN miles also.

I have owned the car since 93K miles and put 10W30 Mobil 1 in, and I was told that it has had Mobil 1 since the factory (not sure of what weights were used before I owned it).
02 T/A WS6, M6, dyno tuned, LS1, EGR delete, no cats, SLP LM2, SLP Headers, SLP Lid, 113k miles,
Old 10-12-2009, 10:08 AM
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Sounds normal. There is a TSB on this and GM says its normal to burn 1 qt. every 3-5K.
Old 10-13-2009, 12:31 AM
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you good, man. I dynoed mine the other day which was less than a week after an oil change and after dyno runs I had to put in like almost a qrt. That was after some spirited runs as well.

I think hard driving does it.
Old 10-15-2009, 11:41 AM
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Thanks guys for the re-assurance. I just though it was strange to start burning oil that quickly. Has anyone heard of the RTV trick inside the valve cover baffles? That was a suggestion from a previous GM mechanic.
Old 10-15-2009, 11:46 AM
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Originally Posted by wildbird02
Has anyone heard of the RTV trick inside the valve cover baffles?
I wouldn't put RTV anywhere it had a chance of getting into the oil stream. At some point, some of it WILL come unstuck and go where you don't want it.
Old 10-15-2009, 10:28 PM
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if you check your car when hot it is going to read alot lower.(at least on mine) I realized this when I saw it was low, so I added half a quart after only 1000 miles... I checked it in the morning cold, and I was almost a half a quart over. I beleive there is a windage tray in the oil pan that will hold oil for a while... it takes mine a couple hours for all the oil to reach the bottom to get an acurate reading on the dipstick.
Old 10-15-2009, 11:20 PM
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Originally Posted by fleetmgr
I wouldn't put RTV anywhere it had a chance of getting into the oil stream. At some point, some of it WILL come unstuck and go where you don't want it.
VERY true. I would much rather burn some oil and keep an eye on it.
Old 10-15-2009, 11:21 PM
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Originally Posted by 98pontiac
if you check your car when hot it is going to read alot lower.(at least on mine) I realized this when I saw it was low, so I added half a quart after only 1000 miles... I checked it in the morning cold, and I was almost a half a quart over. I beleive there is a windage tray in the oil pan that will hold oil for a while... it takes mine a couple hours for all the oil to reach the bottom to get an acurate reading on the dipstick.
Good thinking, but I have been checking after it sits over night to ensure all oil has drained down.
Old 10-22-2009, 08:47 AM
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pcv valve gone bad ?
Old 10-22-2009, 10:31 AM
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What is the best way to check that? I pulled the hose off the throttle side while the motor was running and it started to idle rough. I put my finger over the hose and it idled smooth. Some people say the pcv is bad if you find oil on the throttle side, and that side4 was dry.
Old 10-22-2009, 02:33 PM
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if you pull the pcv valve itself out of the tube and shake it, it should rattle if its not clogged. no rattle, its clogged.

id also suggest investing in a catch can to stop the oil flowing into your intake manifold.
Old 10-31-2009, 02:15 AM
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Originally Posted by 98pontiac
if you check your car when hot it is going to read alot lower.(at least on mine) I realized this when I saw it was low, so I added half a quart after only 1000 miles... I checked it in the morning cold, and I was almost a half a quart over. I beleive there is a windage tray in the oil pan that will hold oil for a while... it takes mine a couple hours for all the oil to reach the bottom to get an acurate reading on the dipstick.
Does this behavior vary with the type of oil/filter used? I recently noticed that my oil level is about one diamond width higher on the dipstick hatch shortly after running the engine than after sitting for a long time with the oil completely cooled. And yes, the car was level both times I checked.
Old 10-31-2009, 12:21 PM
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Originally Posted by wildbird02
All of a sudden I am burning more oil than usual! I burned one half of a quart in 2200 miles! Has me a little stumped. Not burning oil by looking at the pipes. No oil found on the throttle side of the pcv. Dropped the oil and went on a road trip with steady throttle (nothing over 3k rpm). Same oil consumption. Pulled one of the AC delco plug with only 7k miles on them and just found the ceramic to be a reddish color (no oil or heavy carbon deposits). One mechanic said sometimes oil gets splashed up in the baffles of the valve cover and gets sucked into the pvc system. He told me to run a bead of RTV gasget maker on the baffles to prevent this. Have not done this yet.

What do you guys think?

This car made about 12 runs at the track as far as I know after 60k miles on it. Lots of highway miles and some FUN miles also.

I have owned the car since 93K miles and put 10W30 Mobil 1 in, and I was told that it has had Mobil 1 since the factory (not sure of what weights were used before I owned it).
02 T/A WS6, M6, dyno tuned, LS1, EGR delete, no cats, SLP LM2, SLP Headers, SLP Lid, 113k miles,
I hate to be the party pooper in this thread....but there's nothing NORMAL about "all of a sudden" burning more oil than your last oil change interval. 1/2 quart isn't that much in 2200 miles, but it is if it didn't used to do that. At a 3,000 mile oil change, when my eninge was stock, I would refill 4 1/2 of the new quart bottles with my old oil after I drained it. 1/2 quart remians in the engine/pan I'm sure and I figure I burned about 1/2 quart. But if I "all of a sudden" started burning 1 quart, double....I would look for an issue.

PCV valve might be bad.
You just had a valve seal fail or maybe a few of them.
Maybe a ring issue.

Do you make a smoke trail when you stomp the gas pedal from a roll, say from a 50 mph roll?

RTV....ridiculous recommendation, especially from a GM mechanic.

.




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