Burning oil ?

[Micv]

Hello,

I've only had my MX-3 for a couple of weeks, but I've noticed that it uses about 1 L of oil every 2000 km. There is no visible signs of any leaks. I've searched this forum and found that oil burning is a quite common problem for the k-series V6. But should I be worried about 1L every 2000km ? I noticed that one of the sparkplug holes were soaked in oil, due to the leaky gasket problem I presume. Could this have something to do with the comsumption or is it actually burning all that oil ?

[lakersfan1]

If you don't see any wierd color smoke coming from your exhaust, that may well be your only leak. Install new gaskets and see how that goes. If the rear one is leaking it will be more time consuming as you'll have to remove the intake manifold and put new gaskets on that as well, but the front should be a piece of cake.

[hgallegos915]

My k8 engine is about 3 - 6 months old...not sure. and the oil level was full for 2 - 3 weeks straight..then..all of the sudden, after one hard drive..it had half oil the next day. Iw as like wtf...no white smoke...i am runnign a bvit rich but.. bleh?? I guess its normal? By driving hard I do mean driving hard.. well driving hard for me is going 90 on the freeway. :p maybe its normal for some of you but well..is this normal?? There are no leaks whatsoever..already took it to get checked with a uv light or something like that.

[93-Spec-Edn]

Its normal on a k8 when it gets older. My previous v6 was a 95 with 100,000km and it would od the same. Its just the way the cars r designed. Honda vtec engines r the same. R u using 5w30 or 10w30 oil and is it synthetic?

[EddieWelsh]

so its normal for a k8 to burn a little bit of oil, Mine has 180,404 miles and i dont see any signs of leaks. The engine runs smooth, and there arent any unusual noises.

[Micv]

Can 1l of oil escape trough the valve cover gasket every 2000 km ? There is only oil in 1 or maybe 2 of the sparkplug wells.

[mightym0use5]

When I had my 1.8L I had a similar problem. My oil just kinda disappeared and I didn't really notice any leaks and it didn't smoke, but it went somewhere. -that was one more reason to get a swap. What I did is put STP smoke treatment every oil change and it helped. It did not cure the problem but I went longer miles without having to put a whole quart in. You can also try a thicker oil like 10w40 in the summer. And I definitely suggest new gasket b/c oil on your spark plug is not good.

[hgallegos915]

I used 10w 40 opil, its super hot in here in texas. Thats what the so called specialist at autozone told me to use. What spark plug is the one that gets full of oil?

[lakersfan1]

Originally posted by Ayaz:
Its normal on a k8 when it gets older.

I guess mine's not normal then. Not a drop is lost between changes.....103K miles and counting.

[93-Spec-Edn]

Originally posted by lakersfan1:

Originally posted by Ayaz:
Its normal on a k8 when it gets older.

I guess mine's not normal then. Not a drop is lost between changes.....103K miles and counting.

thats only 160,000km which is not much. Sounds like u have a good engine/ What oil r u using?

Thanks

[koreanmx-er]

i have a k8 that has just hit 106,000 miles and i had been burning oil for about i duno about 20,000 miles and one day i was doing a oil change and there was a oil change kit by quaker state for prety cheap , it was 5 courts of dino 10w30 and a quart of slick 50 oil treatment, i had used that about 5,000miles ago and i havent burned any oil since , i was very skeptical when i bought it i was like hey what the helll, mine as well try it , it cant hurt and now i dont burn any oil so i guess it works?

[DontPanic]

I am burning 1L of 10W30 every fill up. I have only had the car for a couple of months now. What is the usual reason why these cars burn oil?

[jimishadow]

bad valve seals can cause oil use

[Tunes67]

bad valve seals can cause oil use

Agree 100%. Valve seals and bad rings.

and a quart of slick 50 oil treatment

According to a machinist I know This stuff is bad news.. here is why. Slick 50 contains a teflon additive.. the teflon bonds to your rings & cylinder walls. This fills up little gaps and scratches in your rings & cylinders.. which is why you stopped buring oil (can also do the same in valve guides) The down side is that the teflon isnt permanent and at somewhere between 30k and 50k miles it starts flaking off in microscopic particals which then actually cause more damage to your rings and cylinder walls than you had to begin with. Now if you keep using the stuff.. adding it at least once a year.. it lessens the effect because it helps renew the bonded particals. This same machinist has seen engines with other additives in them and hasnt said anything good about any of them.. and he has been rebuilding engines for 45+ years. I tried a additive once to the oil in my Nova.. Duralube. Supposedly it doesnt have anything that bonds to the engine parts.. so I figured it was safe to add. I put over 100k miles on that engine afterwards with duralube added to every third oil change in increments of 3k miles. Oil pressure was as good the day I sold that car as it was the day I first fired that engine after building it. However.. I never did get the chance to rip that engine back down.. so I cant tell you if the Duralube actually did anything or if it was just my anal oil change routine (which goes a LONG way to keeping your engine in great condition by itself) that kept that engine kicking for as long as it did. Just for the record, that engine had 173k on it when I sold it and still pumped 175 PSI in every cylinder (+ or - 5 PSI variance)

Tunes67

[solo_ryder]

I add oil to m car alll the time, it doesnt smoke at all only really on startup abit, but I am guessing valve seals. But hey, its not to big of a deal oil isnt to much $$