Excessive Oil Consumption ???

delling3

Active Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
387
Reaction score
167
Location
Sterling Heights, MI
This may have been covered before, but a search didn't reveal anything.

1996 GT. Basically bone stock motor with 95XXX miles. Been sitting mostly since the around 2009.

I acquired the car a few months ago. One of the first things I did was change the oil with 5W30 - simply based on the age of the oil in the car, and not on mileage. Since then I have put around 1500 miles on the odometer. Car starts, and runs, no issues, has good oil pressure. No excessive smoke or smell of burning oil in the exhaust. No leaks showing up in the driveway. I started the car this afternoon, and the low oil light was on.

Not sure how low the oil is, as it isn't showing on the dipstick. I am guessing could be two quarts low.

So, do these motors use oil as a rule? I had a Cadillac with a Northstar V-8 that used a quart every 750 miles. It was a very low mileage motor. Was told that the piston rings tended to get stuck due to carbon buildup, and the result was a lot of blow-by. Are the 4.6L's the same way? I will make it a point to monitor my oil level more regularly, but curious if I have a problem, or if this is simply a characteristic of the breed? Should I stick with 5W30?
 
OP
OP
delling3

delling3

Active Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
387
Reaction score
167
Location
Sterling Heights, MI
Yeah, thought about a head gasket. Looking at the coolant in the reservoir, it looks pretty good - not foamy or chocolate milk looking, and the coolant level is normal. I know that doesn't rule this out, but would like to eliminate the other stuff first . . .
 
OP
OP
delling3

delling3

Active Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
387
Reaction score
167
Location
Sterling Heights, MI
Well, it seems that the oil pan on this car must be pretty shallow? I just added a quart of oil and the oil level went from not registering on the dipstick to reading in 1/2 way between the L and H marks! For a six-quart oil capacity, I would have expected that the low mark represented a quart low. So, one quart in about 1500 miles . . .
 

g36 monkey

Post Whore
SN95 Supporter
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Messages
14,081
Reaction score
596
Location
Orlando, Fl
That seems like it's using more than normal, however you don't know the condition of the motor. If it sat for 9 years I imagine the seals are doing all that they can just to hold together
 

96blak54

Moderator
Staff
Joined
Feb 21, 2011
Messages
9,982
Reaction score
2,817
Location
In the shop
Assuming no power adder had ever been used, its probably the valve seals. Early 96 didnt get the update valve seals. The pre96 seals didnt hold up well for very long.

Also these engines have 2 cams that spin oil into atomization and gets suspended in the air which in turn gets sucked into the pcv ultimately into the combustion chamber. The answer is a catch can. You can pull the intake tube from the throttle body and check the throttle blades back side. Probably wet from oil.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2017
Messages
111
Reaction score
23
Location
Exeter Ontario
This is just a stab but based on something I had happen with an old flathead V8. It had sat for many years and some of the rings had stuck as well as a valve. I used Risilone in it and ran it for for several short trips, always letting the engine warm up, it just ran better and better, then I changed the oil and the old engine was fine, no excess smoking or missing. Several folks think seals and that is a real possibility
 

Silver95bird

Active Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2016
Messages
491
Reaction score
113
Our 95 4.6 tbird used a quart of oil from day 1, every 800 miles or so. My 97 did too, until I changed the valve stem seals. It's completely normal in a pre-98 4.6.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
77,440
Messages
1,502,195
Members
14,920
Latest member
marktuck99

Members online

Top