Low oil light came on this morning after about 1,000 miles since the oil change. Checked it when I got to work and it was 2 quarts low! I was in shock to say the least. I typically lose about 1 quart every oil change which is 3,000 miles. My question is now want? What do I need to check and is the bottom end shot? Car has it sits has 126,000 miles on it with 26,000 of those being heads/cam and your typical bolt-ons. Any advice would be great, but my plans as of now are find a 6.0 and do a 408. Only thing with that is my Patriot stage II 5.3's on the top end will be useless. Thanks in advance fellas!

 

mine did that and the valve seals were junk

 

Checking those this weekend as well. That was my first thought. Any idea where the lost oil would be though?

 

Went out the tailpipe!

 

figured as much

So valve stem seals are the first point to check I suppose....

 

Mine did that after a cam swap when i didnt change the valve stem seals.

 

Valve seals were changed at cam swap and again at head swap by the shop. Is there anything visual that you know they are bad or what?

 

Is it blowing blue smoke? if yes, then either valve seals , cracked ring etc. is the engine any louder, knocks etc? check your plugs while ur at it..

 

No smoke and no noises that I have noticed. Motor is always loud anyway with the cam so it would be hard to tell if it was something small. I plan to pull all the plugs just to check those and see if they are covered in oil or anything.

 

Well the oil has to be going somewhere..no leaks then i take it?

 

maybe through the pcv? seems like a lot of oil though.

 

Mine did that, it was valve seals. Wasn't smoking either.

 

26,000 miles since you did the head/cam. Oil changes every 3,000 miles. This is the first time you've noticed a two quart loss? This happened since the most recent oil change? No smoke or noise? No oil in the coolant?

I'd check for an oil leak while running.

 

Yup. You may even be able to see if the undercarriage has evidence of this just while it's parked.

 

Measure crankcase pressure through your dipstick tube if you know someone with an appropriate gauge. Over about 2 kpa under load is generally bad.

 

None visible

 

Very first time it's ever been this low shy of when I'm changing it lol. Happened within last oil change yes. No smoke seen and no noises present that are out of the norm. I have not checked the coolant yet

 

Thought the same but 2 quarts would be insane! I will be checking it as well since nothing is ruled out at this point

 

Found this upon inspection of the coolant this morning.

 

Did you check right when you got to work, aka after you have been driving the car or did you wait a few hours after turning it off to check the oil level? Was it on level ground?