Oil is going somewhere... not leaking.

[Slykin]

Hey guys.. I need some ideas here. My 1994 Mustang GT 5speed is using quite a bit of oil 3-4quarts per 3000miles and I don't know where it's going. I've been parking it over a big piece of cardboard the last couple days and there isn't a drop of oil, or anything for that matter, on the cardboard. From what I can tell, it has no major leaks. I also figured that if it was burning oil that it would be smoking a noticeable amount. But, alas, I haven't noticed any smoking even on W.O.T. with my side exhaust... Any ideas guys? Can it be be burning oil/blow-by without smoking a noticeable amount? Tomorrow i'm going to check the intake to make sure it isn't pooling up oil in there.. but that still wouldn't account for 3-4 quarts of oil. My oil 1994 Vert only used maybe 1quart per 3000miles. Thanks guys!

-Travis

 

[CC'S95GT]

There's only 1 other place it can go. tail pipes!. have someone drive yours and you follow behind.

 

[Drew]

Mine did the same thing except on my original 96 motor, turns out the rings were shot mine used a loooooot of oil, i would have it on full, go do a WOT pull and it would be down on low. rings were shot and it eventually cracked a head

 

[Slykin]

There's only 1 other place it can go. tail pipes!. have someone drive yours and you follow behind.

Are you saying it might be dripping out? As far as I can tell, it's not smoking out of the tailpipes. With the side exhaust I can pretty much watch the exhaust in my mirror while at WOT lol.

Mine did the same thing except on my original 96 motor, turns out the rings were shot mine used a loooooot of oil, i would have it on full, go do a WOT pull and it would be down on low. rings were shot and it eventually cracked a head

That's what it seems mine is doing . It will stay up fairly good, but when I drive it hard for a couple days I'm pretty sure it goes down much faster.

 

[Javi]

It may be time for a rebuild..

car manufacturers claim is fine if an automobile burns 1 quarter of oil every one thousand miles..

 

[Slykin]

It may be time for a rebuild..

car manufacturers claim is fine if an automobile burns 1 quarter of oil every one thousand miles..

That's what i'm kinda starting to figure will be the case. And, while many may see this as a bad thing, I have this whole summer to rebuild it and I see this as an opportunity. Rebuilding an engine is definitely something that I want to have good knowledge of. I just want to make sure that it DOES need a rebuild before I spend the money on it. I'm also slightly worried about the ginormous learning curve of doing it myself for the first time. Hopefully I can find someone to help me out on it if I do end up rebuilding it lol....

 

[driftingmustang]

if its burning that much you should be able smell it. at the very least faintly. I can almost gaurentee it being that my honda went through two quats of oil every 3 thousand miles. you couldnt see it but it had a very faint smell of it. if you jammed the throttle for a second you wouldnt notice it. if you drove it down the road and went full throttle you might notice in your rear view. when i followed my wife on my motorcycle you could see it in the light beam my bike gives off, and distinctly smell it.

advice: have someone follow you at night, preferebly in a vert or bike if you cant find the burning oil any other way, and dont take it easy on the motor when you do. If some how its coming out of the exhaust (leaking) (doubtful) replace exhaust valve stem guides, although that is very unlikely the problem.

 

[driftingmustang]

*dont take it easy on the motor* my bad, post edited

 

[Javi]

That's what i'm kinda starting to figure will be the case. And, while many may see this as a bad thing, I have this whole summer to rebuild it and I see this as an opportunity. Rebuilding an engine is definitely something that I want to have good knowledge of. I just want to make sure that it DOES need a rebuild before I spend the money on it. I'm also slightly worried about the ginormous learning curve of doing it myself for the first time. Hopefully I can find someone to help me out on it if I do end up rebuilding it lol....

You can get a stock block for less than 100 bucks, take your time and do it yourself
buy/borrow/rent an engine stand.. You can do it

 

[driftingmustang]

rebuilds are easy. hardest part imo is putting evrything outside the engine in the right place, ie vacuum tubes etc. lol

 

[KillNThrill24]

I rebuilt the top half (heads and up) of my grand am and hav to admit I found it to be quite fun. No idea why but it was. I had it ripped down to the heads in no time at all. Biggest PITA if you don't already know this, are gonna be the exhaust manifold bolts. Unless you've already replaced them and put antisieze on them. It's a good learning experience and makes you take a little better care of your car since you know the amount of work involved. Not saying you don't I'm just saying in general lol. It did for me and I always toon care of it just kinda drove it hard.

But yes I agree with stated above. You may not be able to tell just by you driving it you really should have somebody follow you and open it up and see what happens. That would be a good indication as to if you are burning oil or not

 

[Slykin]

if its burning that much you should be able smell it. at the very least faintly. I can almost gaurentee it being that my honda went through two quats of oil every 3 thousand miles. you couldnt see it but it had a very faint smell of it. if you jammed the throttle for a second you wouldnt notice it. if you drove it down the road and went full throttle you might notice in your rear view. when i followed my wife on my motorcycle you could see it in the light beam my bike gives off, and distinctly smell it.

advice: have someone follow you at night, preferebly in a vert or bike if you cant find the burning oil any other way, and dont take it easy on the motor when you do. If some how its coming out of the exhaust (leaking) (doubtful) replace exhaust valve stem guides, although that is very unlikely the problem.

It's quite possible that it smells... but I'm running an O/R X and I have a terrible sense of smell, so I probably wouldn't really notice driving it.

That's a good idea.. i'll definitely try that. Thanks for the responses!

You can get a stock block for less than 100 bucks, take your time and do it yourself
buy/borrow/rent an engine stand.. You can do it

I should have all the tools. My dad's employees are currently rebuilding a 350HP Caterpillar Diesel(Semi-Truck) engine in our "shop". I also have ALL summer to do it, and I shouldn't need my car seeing as I'm still at home with extra vehicles if have to drive. Thanks for the encouragement!

I rebuilt the top half (heads and up) of my grand am and hav to admit I found it to be quite fun. No idea why but it was. I had it ripped down to the heads in no time at all. Biggest PITA if you don't already know this, are gonna be the exhaust manifold bolts. Unless you've already replaced them and put antisieze on them. It's a good learning experience and makes you take a little better care of your car since you know the amount of work involved. Not saying you don't I'm just saying in general lol. It did for me and I always toon care of it just kinda drove it hard.

But yes I agree with stated above. You may not be able to tell just by you driving it you really should have somebody follow you and open it up and see what happens. That would be a good indication as to if you are burning oil or not

Exhaust Manifold bolts is fine.. my biggest problem with them right now is that they fall out too easy lol. It has BBK headers on it.

I do understand what you're saying about treating my car right, though I already do pride myself on good maintenance. I really would love to get the experience though... I'm majoring in Mechanical Engineering, love cars, and hate spending money for things I can do, so this is definitely something I've been looking for an excuse to do.

 

[RichV]

There are 2 ways oil is getting in, either through valve seals or rings.

If you have a compression tester, pull all the plugs, start with cyl #1. Get the tester installed, run the starter, see what reading you have. Not sure what stockers typicaly read, 120-140psi I would guess. Now remove the tester, put in a teaspoon of motor oil through the plug hole, and run the test again. If your reading is significantly higher, likely the rings are your issue. If not, then time for rebuilt or new heads. Do all 8 and write down the results for with and without the oil.

A leak down test will tell for sure as well, if you have the tools to do that. You need to have both valves of the tested cylinder closed, fill the cylinder with compressed air, and see how long it takes for the pressure to go down. Either way can tell if the rings are shot.

How many miles? How often is the oil changed? These 5.0s are pretty stout motors, they can take a lot o abuse before a rebuild is needed. But in needs to be maintained well.

 

[Slykin]

There are 2 ways oil is getting in, either through valve seals or rings.

If you have a compression tester, pull all the plugs, start with cyl #1. Get the tester installed, run the starter, see what reading you have. Not sure what stockers typicaly read, 120-140psi I would guess. Now remove the tester, put in a teaspoon of motor oil through the plug hole, and run the test again. If your reading is significantly higher, likely the rings are your issue. If not, then time for rebuilt or new heads. Do all 8 and write down the results for with and without the oil.

A leak down test will tell for sure as well, if you have the tools to do that. You need to have both valves of the tested cylinder closed, fill the cylinder with compressed air, and see how long it takes for the pressure to go down. Either way can tell if the rings are shot.

How many miles? How often is the oil changed? These 5.0s are pretty stout motors, they can take a lot o abuse before a rebuild is needed. But in needs to be maintained well.

I don't know if I the tools for the leakdown test, but I have a compression tester on hand and should be able to do that. Thanks for telling me how to go about a compression test... i've been wondering how that works.

It has 150K+ miles on it.. I bought it with a broken odometer/tripmeter. For all I know it could have over 200K. As far as previous maintenance, I have no idea. I doubt it was maintained that great until I got it. I do the oil roughly ever 3k.

 

[RichV]

How does the oil look coming out? If it looks like a bucket of black paint it may be the rings.

 

[Slykin]

How does the oil look coming out? If it looks like a bucket of black paint it may be the rings.

Eh, it's pretty dark, but i'm not sure i'd say pitch black though. I'll keep that in mind next time I look at it.

 

[driftingmustang]

anything new?

 

[Slykin]

anything new?

Not yet, yesterday and today I was visiting my sister and attending her college graduation. I should have some free time tomorrow to run a compression test and have someone drive my car so I can watch for smoke. Thanks for the interest!

 

[driftingmustang]

Not yet, yesterday and today I was visiting my sister and attending her college graduation. I should have some free time tomorrow to run a compression test and have someone drive my car so I can watch for smoke. Thanks for the interest!

just so you know, sometimes a compression test will tell you your rings are shot, sometimes it wont tell you anything. oil soaked carbon build up, yay.

 

[Slykin]

just so you know, sometimes a compression test will tell you your rings are shot, sometimes it wont tell you anything. oil soaked carbon build up, yay.

Yeah, I figured it might not, but it's worth a shot anyways. Any other ways to tell if the rings are shot other than smoke/compression that you know of?