Engine flush

[Steve1986]

My car is making large quantities of oil disappear and I'm trying to find out why/avoid taking it to a garage.

No large visible external leaks, no oil in the inlet manifold, and no smoke from exhaust, so I'm thinking oil control rings on the pistons may be to blame. Although God knows why because I change my oil regularly and don't do moon mileage

Has anyone had any success with products designed to free up stuck rings? Either stuff you pour into the oil before changing, or the stuff you pour directly into the combustion chamber and leave for a day before changing the oil.

 

[YorkshireKyle]

Drop a litre out, stick a litre of diesel in and then leave it idling with the diesel in for 10 mins before you do your next oil change

Don't drive it with the derv in the oil though!

 

[Steve1986]

The thought of pouring diesel into my oil makes my teeth itch I'm guessing the engine flush stuff should work though

 

[YorkshireKyle]

Engine flush is just the exact same as diesel

All it does it thin down your oil. Diesel is just cheaper

 

[Steve1986]

Engine flush is just the exact same as diesel

All it does it thin down your oil. Diesel is just cheaper

It's only cheaper until I rebuild my engine

 

[R3k1355]

0.5-1.0L of ATF in with the oil, drive as normal for 500-1000 miles. The ATF has very strong cleaning agents in that will help dissolve dirt.

 

[R3k1355]

If you have time you can also add WD40 and/or ATF directly down the bores.
Move all cylinders to 1/2 way down the bore, fill all up with WD40 and leave it. When empty refill with ATF, alternate between the two.

As the oil weeps past the oil control ring it'll soften the deposits gumming the ring up, detergents in the ATF will help shift it.

You need to leave this in for at least a week, preferably much longer. Obviously you cannot run the car with the sump full of WD40 and ATF.

 

[Brigsy]

Highly unlikely you will be able to fix the issue with a flush. Stick 10/50 in it to buy some more time, and budget for a new engine or rebuild

 

[R3k1355]

Highly unlikely you will be able to fix the issue with a flush. Stick 10/50 in it to buy some more time, and budget for a new engine or rebuild

Also if the oil control rings were bad you'd have smoke out the exhaust and black plugs

 

[Steve1986]

Hmm any ideas what else it could be then? There's some oil on the back of the cam cover but it doesn't look particularly fresh, or anywhere near the quantities that I've been losing. I've gone through about 3 litres in the last 1500 miles

It only happens when driving at motorway speeds for extended periods, it doesn't use a drop during normal town driving. Is it possible it's being burned completely and cleaned up by the cat before it can cause smoke out of the exhaust?

 

[JamesBryan]

Not going to do your new cat any good if it's burnt 3L in 1500 miles.

That leak looks like the rocker cover, usual on these.

 

[R3k1355]

Pull the plugs, if it's put 3L through the engine in such short distance they'll be black as owt

 

[Steve1986]

Just stuck my finger behind the butterfly in the throttle body. This seems excessively dirty, or is it normal?

 

[Waitey]

Look how long that c**t is

 

[Steve1986]

Look how long that c**t is

Great for mining nose gold

 

[Steve1986]

Plugs from right to left

 

[TheBandit]

Sealing the rocker bolts with silicone and resealing the breather plate stopped a lot of oil leaking down the back of my engine/manifold. It would only happen when at higher revs for longer periods as your describing BUT that barely registered on the dipstick... nowhere close to 3L in 1500 miles

 

[MAXRUNDOWN]

Get a leak down test done, none of the engine rebuild in a bottle things work.

If you've lost 3L in that many miles through a leak your under tray and engine would be covered, that cam cover leak definitely doesn't look bad enough to see a significant drop in level.

It is hard to see if your own car is a bit smokey from the drivers seat, maybe have someone else follow you driving for a little bit to see if it's chuffing a bit, or rig a GoPro on the back bumper if you've got one, the plugs don't look bad but I'd be more inclined to say it's burning it rather than leaking if the motor is fairly dry

 

[Brigsy]

3ltrs per 1500 miles is rings, worn bores etc.

It would need to be pissing out oil to leak the same amount in that mileage.

 

[Steve1986]

Had a breather plate gasket lying around so I changed it just in case. I don't think it will make any difference but it can't hurt
Old one seems fine to my eyes, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be looking for

I've stuck a fresh 5l in the boot for the drive back to Poland on Wednesday/Thursday. That should be more than enough to get me home as long as I stop every few hours to check the levels.

 

[R3k1355]

Plugs from right to left
View attachment 1799436View attachment 1799437View attachment 1799438View attachment 1799439

Too clean to be burning 1L oil per 500 miles

 

[Steve1986]

>me looking at every component in my engine bay right now

 

[JamesBryan]

Reading the dipstick correctly aren't you?

 

[R3k1355]

Checked the coolant to make sure the oil hasn't gone on holiday there?

 

[RustyMojo]

3l of oil in 1500 miles? Are you sure? It’d be smoking its tits off or everything would be drenched on the underside. The plugs don’t look horrific to me.

 

[Steve1986]

3l of oil in 1500 miles? Are you sure? It’d be smoking its tits off or everything would be drenched on the underside. The plugs don’t look horrific to me.

I checked the levels before I left Poland to get the ferry in Holland, stopped for a piss about an hour and a half away from the port and the oil light flashed at me when I started the car. Checked the dipstick and it was bone dry. I had half a 5l bottle in the boot and it took all of it before the oil was up to the max level on the stick. Since then it's dropped to the halfway point on the stick, so roughly another 0.5l

Current mileage for my trip is about 1600 miles.

As I mentioned it only burns it at motorway speeds, all the little journeys have been fine, but the level has dropped after each long journey I've done.

 

[RustyMojo]

Got to be rings then hasn’t it? But I’m sure it’d be smoking it’s tits off with that level of consumption

 

[R3k1355]

Have you popped the oil cap off when it's been running, see if there's lots of blow by?

Could also yank one of the lambda sensors out, see if that's oil/soot contaminated.

 

[Brigsy]

I guess higher crusing rpms are burning more oil.

From my vauxhall days, this kind of consumption was possible without smoke. It will have a haze behind it on full throttle

 

[Steve1986]

I guess higher crusing rpms are burning more oil.

From my vauxhall days, this kind of consumption was possible without smoke. It will have a haze behind it on full throttle

I'll try and get my mum's fella to drive behind me and see if he can spot anything on/off throttle. I've had a peer out and I've had passengers check for me, but if it's only a light haze then it'd be easier to spot from behind

 

[R3k1355]

Trusting your diagnostics on someone who puts an M badge on a boggo Beemer.

Nice

 

[JamesBryan]

Wipe your finger around the inside of the exhaust tip.

Should be some oil residue.

 

[Brigsy]

I'll try and get my mum's fella to drive behind me and see if he can spot anything on/off throttle. I've had a peer out and I've had passengers check for me, but if it's only a light haze then it'd be easier to spot from behind

Wouldnt bother mate you know its drinking oil, accept rebuild or new engine time

 

[Touring_Rob]

I guess higher crusing rpms are burning more oil.

From my vauxhall days, this kind of consumption was possible without smoke. It will have a haze behind it on full throttle

The cat does a surprisingly good job hiding the smoke!

 

[Brigsy]

The cat does a surprisingly good job hiding the smoke!

Indeed.

To be fair ive had a few oil burners, and only bad one was the blue dci which smoked like f**k from cold, but fine when warm. Consumption was 4ltrs per thousand or less from memory the rings werent stuck, the oil control rings had lost their spring when removed.

 

[Steve1986]

Trusting your diagnostics on someone who puts an M badge on a boggo Beemer.

Nice

That was my stepmum's fella, and in fairness it wasn't him who put it on

 

[Martin_172]

My 197 was using about 1.5l per 1000 miles, my mate was behind me once and we had a blast down a motorway slip road he commented on it being smokey but I had never noticed anything from in the car even in headlights behind.

Luckily for me the oil level sensor failed and I ran it dry and fucked it