Loosing oil. Leak or being burnt.

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Went for a little drive last night as it was my last chance before my hospital appointments.

My 172 has done around 1,900 miles since it's last service/oil change and it's already on the low side.
Current mileage is 51,334.

It had the cams changed for piper270s around 6000 miles ago, the sealant around the edges of the rocker cover looks as though it may be on it's way out already. The back edge of the rocker cover is a tad bit greasy to say the least and the sealant is perishing by the looks and feel of things. Surely after such little distance covered that's not right?

There is no sign of oil leaking on to my driveway/on to the chassis rails or anything like that, so could it be possible that it's loosing oil from the RC and burning on to the back of the cylinder block/exhaust manifold?

I've had two chaps tell me it stunk of oil whilst they were driving behind the car so starting to worry that it may be something sinister.

I think it may be worth me taking it to a specialist? Possibly?
C+C welcome.

 

[Cub.]

Who did the cams / map for the cams?

 

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Who did the cams / map for the cams?

519 automotive going by the receipts (car wasn't in my ownership at the time of fitment)

 

[Cub.]

I'd speak with @sideways danny1 first and ask about what work was done and his knowledge of the car from time with the previous owner. It may have always eaten oil before you purchased it / before the work.

It is a lot of oil to be losing, and it may be getting burnt outright. Mine had no visible leaks, but burnt oil and spat it out the back when heavy on the throttle. Hence me swapping the engine recently. Mine was caused by a cam package that had poor mapping, but that was completely unrelated to Dan and different cams / map altogether. There are a number of reasons why it may be eating oil, but unfortunately at that rate it's usually a sign of 'illness' somewhere.

Equally take some photos of the 'leak' on the rocker cover and post them in here. They all leak slightly at the rocker cover but yours maybe the cause of more significant oil loss.
@Dan@SJM or @Fred@BTM are probably your closest specialists to Wales. May be worth taking it to one of them for diagnosis.

 

[Dan@SJM]

I can certainly take a look, I'd do a leak down test too, just to save throwing money at a knackered engine by replacing belts and doing the rocker seal to find it doesn't solve it 100%.

 

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I'd speak with @sideways danny1 first and ask about what work was done and his knowledge of the car from time with the previous owner. It may have always eaten oil before you purchased it / before the work.

It is a lot of oil to be losing, and it may be getting burnt outright. Mine had no visible leaks, but burnt oil and spat it out the back when heavy on the throttle. Hence me swapping the engine recently. Mine was caused by a cam package that had poor mapping, but that was completely unrelated to Dan and different cams / map altogether. There are a number of reasons why it may be eating oil, but unfortunately at that rate it's usually a sign of 'illness' somewhere.

Equally take some photos of the 'leak' on the rocker cover and post them in here. They all leak slightly at the rocker cover but yours maybe the cause of more significant oil loss.
@Dan@SJM or @Fred@BTM are probably your closest specialists to Wales. May be worth taking it to one of them for diagnosis.

It's certainly loosing oil that's for sure. I don't think the amount of oil from the RC compares to the amount lost by a long shot, will try and snap up a few pictures tomorrow though - getting a little dark now. I honestly suspect it's being burnt and as you say "spat out the back" more than anything.

I can certainly take a look, I'd do a leak down test too, just to save throwing money at a knackered engine by replacing belts and doing the rocker seal to find it doesn't solve it 100%.

If you could Dan that would be grand! Would you mind if I give you a call in a moment to discuss details?

 

[Dan@SJM]

Yeh feel free, (needs to be before 715 though as I'm heading out)

 

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@sideways danny1 Sorry for the tag Danny but is there any way we could have a little chat about this car before the work was done?

"This was a strong car before, having a 2.5 inch exhaust, matched inlets remap, and a KTR induction kit fitted, all of which help with the gains from these cams" is what's said about the car on the 519 facebook page. I'm wondering if you could tell me if it's a custom or generic map? And whether there were any signs of oil being burnt or leaking before the work was carried out?