Excessive oil use?

I would wack a piece of clean cardboard under ya car over night and see if there are any leaks, if not, then get a compression test done. good chance at 370k ya heads would be well and truely rooted, unless they have already been done.

 

You don't say how many Ks for the 750ml top up...however if it is around 1000km then you probably wouldn't see much smoke. I'd imagine you are using thicker oil - like 40/70 as 20/50 is not designed for high mileage motors. Remember that a motor overhaul will cost thousands of $$$$ and 750ml of oil only costs a few dollars.

 

The early 95 ecotecs were knows to have very bad oil consumption problems, my 95 VS Acclaim goes through 2L of oil per 10K, which is alot but I guess I just have to learn to deal with it.

 

Hi Scooter,

We had a problem with excessive oil consumption in our vs acclaim 95. The engine expired at around 230,000 and we since fit a reconditioned engine. In our case, there was some fault in the engine that allowed oil to go into combustion chambers. This was not noticed in due course and dirtied the engine badly. It was still running ok when we changed it, but it emitted a lot of blue smoke when the engine was hot and you pressed hard on accelerator.

So to check that you don't have this problem, start the car and let it idle for some time (15-20 mins or maybe longer) to heat up the engine. Then press accelerator and ask another person to see if there is a blue smoke appearing from the exhaust. If the smoke does appear, it means oil is getting burnt and that is where it is disappearing. You may not see the smoke while driving and it will only usually appear on take off or hard acceleration. If you have this problem, it is probably due to worn piston rings and cylinder heads. It may also be due to worn valve guides. Another indicator of burnt oil is black and dirty deposits on valves in your engine, visible when you open the oil cap (although your engine is old and may have it anyway). The engine oil itself will be very dirty once it has done a couple of 1000k's after the change.

If none of this is the case, then you may be leaking oil from the engine. So check under the car. Another possibility is that your oil is leaking into cooling system. So check your coolant for signs of oil in it.

I also have to say that as engine gets old, it uses more and more oil. So your oil loss is probably due to old and worn engine. VS engines last about 400k, depending how regularly you service your car and how rough you drive it. Although I know VS engines that have gone over 400k and still going. You may need to think about fitting a reconditioned engine to your car. You engine is getting ready to retire.

 

Options.

If there are no external leaks, then the oil will be getting past the piston rings, or down the valve guides, or a combination of both.

There are thicker oils on the market for "worn" engines. I would try that first.

A litre per 1,600 Km might come back to around a litre per 2,500 Km with thicker oil.

One thing with a worn engine is that, as oil gets into the combustion chamber, so more combustion gases are probably getting into your oil. This will effectively reduce the life of your oil, especially if you mainly do short trips.

What may happen in this case is that you don't notice too much usage during the short trips as dilutants are being added. However, when you go for an extended drive the oil level can drop alarmingly as the dilutants boil off at the higher oil temperatures.

For that reason, my advice is to reduce the distance between oil changes with a worn or older engine.

 

if its getting through the stem seals then the smoke will usually be more noticable. do a leak down as said before. is the exhaust pipe end oily? are your plugs oily? is there residue is your cooling system? theres so many things that its best to do a leak down yourself and then depending on the results decide to see a professional or get out the socket set.
by the way maybe its time to accept and get a new engine. 370,000km aint too shabby. best way to fix it apart from a complete reco ,top and bottom ends.

 

Hi Scooter,

Reconditioned engine for VS is $2500 from HM&GEM motors. We paid $3500 all together, which included changing cracked engine mountings, water pump, belt tensioner, alternator, and most of the coolant hoses. It comes with 3 year warranty, but servicing (to keep the warranty) is every 5,000 and is expensive. However, we were quite happy with the result and the car should now last for a while.

 

It'll be your rear main seal, its a chronic problem with all series 1 VS's. Nothing too serious. I had the same problem every so often with my old VS, just don't let it run out of oil or otherwise you'll screw the motor.