[Extratx]

My esprit is drinking oil at an alarming rate, and I am having a little confusion as to where it could be going. Motor has about 2000 miles on it since I rebuilt it, 60k miles on the car. Did new rings, re-lined the cylinders, and the head was rebuilt.

I took a couple hundred mile trip, didn't drink a drop.

I do a 70 mile round trip to work and sometimes it will drink half a liter of oil. Other times it won't drink nearly as much. I have poured 3-4 liters into it in the past 2000 miles.

Not dripping out the bottom, not burning it as 1/2 liter in 100 miles would be a mosquito fogger. I don't see any smoke at all. My only though would be that it is going out the turbo bearings into the exhaust, but I would think the turbo would be hot enough to burn the oil and smoke pretty good. Granted it is drinking it on the highway, between 70-80 mph, little to no boost, so maybe the exhaust is cool enough not to burn it. I have tried running it as hard as I can on the road to heat up the exhaust, still no smoke.

Only time I have ever seen smoke was taking a hard left turn, top of second gear, full throttle, hit the fuel cut, and it let out a huge, road fogging cloud of white smoke.

Turbo has never been rebuilt as far as I know, but builds boost just fine and works fine. It has just a very small amount of deflection in the shaft.

Any thoughts?

 

[Extratx]

I have pulled the plugs, none have oil residue on them. I have installed many sets of rings, and did these to the exact method outlined in the paperwork that came with them. Usually an oil control ring issue is noticed on engine braking when there is a large amount of vacuum in the cylinders. It will smoke on decel and then puff hard once you get back on the throttle. I have been watching, and haven't noticed any.

My best guess is the turbo needs a rebuild, but I don't want to send it out for nothing...

I have been running Valvoline racing VR-1 20w-50.

I used to have a BMW M5 that would drink oil when running the recommended 5-40 oil, but when switching to the previous year recommended 10-60 it wouldn't drink a drop. I was thinking about switching this car to the castrol TWS 10-60 and see if that would help, as it seems that is one of the recommended oils.

I should also get a friend to drive my car, and follow, so I can really see if it is puffing smoke, or mount a go-pro back there and watch. Or I could go to a local dyno shop and run it, see what it does.

With this amount of consumption, I would really expect to see a lot of smoke though.

 

[Extratx]

I know this will surprise all owners of British cars, but my garage floor is free of any drips. Engine has been completely re-sealed. Of course, this is temporary, and I expect the leaks to begin any day.

A leak down test will only confirm integrity of the compression rings, and will not identify a problem with the oil scraper ring.

These things don't run valve stem seals, is there much of a problem with oil traveling down the valve stems?

 

[Extratx]

Didn't know that about stem seals on a turbo. Head was rebuilt at a reputable shop, so I assume the valves are not loose in the guides.

I have checked the intake between the turbo and the intake manifold already and it is clean. I need to pull the exhaust and see if it is leaking out of the exhaust side of the turbine. There should be some burned oil residue on the turbine wheel I would think if the bearing is leaking there. It has certainly been a mystery to me, especially when it goes for a few hundred miles without losing a drop, then right back to losing oil.

 

[Extratx]

Well I think it was a combination of issues. My red pcv valve was not valving, it was wide open. Not only this, but it was mounted below the crankcase vent level, so any oil that made its way up the pipe ran into it via gravity. Then the small hose off the valve going to the metered side of the intake was off the bottom of the valve, so any oil that ran into the valve would get sucked into the intake. This was also an air leak.

Finally the dipstick tube was not completely seated. Figured it was, obviously, as I put it there the first time, but after grabbing it and rotating and pushing in it seated about another liter into the engine. So I have been running the car a liter over filled.

God news is my air filter works as the intake track is clean, and evenly coated with a very thin and tacky layer of oil. If it was sucking dirt it would be stuck everywhere in the intake.

Hopefully I can make it through the week without needing to fill with oil. I just put 4 new tires in the car so it should be a fun week with my sticky new tires.