Losing oil, and lots of it !!

[Lud]

Yes NSX2B and sjs are thinking on the same track as me..

FIRST diagnose the oil consumption problem. Are you positive it is consuming and not leaking?? Start there, then follow the rest of the advice if it is not leaking. I am assuming you are going to do this NOW and not keep driving the car around.

THEN, depending on what needs to be done to correct the oil consumption, schedule the maintenance together with that repair work.

For example if the consumption is from blow-by, part of the maintenance is automatically going to be done as part of the engine repair work. And if they drop the engine out of the car to work on it, the additional time to do the belts is trivial. Etc.

Regarding scheduled maintenance - you shouldn't skip it, but this type of oil consumption problem was caused by a specific situation such as ignoring oil changes, overheating the engine, running too rich, detonation, etc. The other overdue maintenance like valve gap adjustment, filters, brake fluid, plugs, belts, etc. are not related. You will, however, have OTHER problems if you continue to ignore those items.

[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 09 October 2002).]

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by Lud:
Yes NSX2B and sjs are thinking on the same track as me..

So am I. Get it all done - the repair work as well as the scheduled maintenance - in the order that Lud outlines. First diagnose the problem, then fix it and get the scheduled maintenance done at that time.

 

[BoneZ]

Ok so I'll be the one to step up and ask a general question.

Have you looked for any visable signs of oil leakage? Under the car? Near the valve covers? Near the oil pan?

There was another owner who was having oil issues as well, also after a fresh BBSC install that required some investigating. Fortunatly a check valve and catch can solved the issue but before that his oil was visable underneath and around parts of the engine.

Just something to investigate, it may be visable externally and not an internal issue. Break out yer peepers (pronounced eyes) and a flash light and poke around, your problem may be right in front of you.

-BZ

 

[sjs]

Yes, as I noted above, it may be going out the vent and a catch can would show that, but in such quantity you would still suspect that blow-by is the underlying cause. However, the possibility of a plain old leak is still there, but he initially led us to believe that the garage floor shows no sign of oil, and that it sometimes blows white smoke. But by all means, a better visual inspection should be done before throwing yourself on the mercy of a mechanic to tell you how bad things are.

 

[Attitude Adjuster]

Since there's a paxton Novi on the car(BBSC), could it be that the Novi has a bad seal and is leaking some of the oil into the intake instead of returning the engine oil back to the oil pan? I know that turbos can leak oil into the compressor housing if the return line that drains the oil is clogged/crimped or not efficient. This causes the oil to fill up in the turbo and seap through a gap on the top of the seal ring. Since the Novi has a similar lubrication system as a turbo and has a gravity fed return line, this could be the problem.

Just my 2 cents

------------------
Kenji Ligon
91 Red CTSC NSX

 

[Barn Man]

Sometimes you will see a little bit of whitish looking smoke at initial start-up. This can be the cold engine starting in a rich condition, but as Mark B. said, if it's the valve seals or piston rings, it shouldn't stop smoking. It could however be the valve guides just starting to leak. Get the car up to temp, have someone drive behind you and watch for smoke. Take the car up to 50 or so, and then let off the accelerator. As the car slows down to around 20 or 30, push the accelerator like your trying to maintain 20 or 30 mph. If the car puffs a little smoke on decel, or for a second or two when you get back into the accelerator, your valve guide seals may be letting oil pass by. You can also check this by letting the car idle for about 5 minutes and looking for smoke out the exhaust at idle. Usually this is noticed before the oil consumption though. A leakdown test is in order no matter what though. Like Mark said, make sure you have a tech who knows his stuff working on it.
Good luck, let us know the outcome.
Barn Man....

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I talked it over with a couple of other guys at work and got a couple of ideas to check out also.
The car is going to shop on Thursday. I made a strong point that the tests MUST be done correctly without a doubt because of the importance of the outcome.
I will do a double check of the engine compartment for oil also.
Will do the speed checks.
Car has been sitting since Sunday morning. So maybe the problem will rear its ugly head again for me.


------------------
ALL NSX
92 RED/BLACK 5-SPEED

 

[4AU4LIFE]

Upon further investigation I have noticed some oil residue that apparently came out of the plastic vacuum valve(?). The little black valve connected to the bottom of the elbow going into throttle body. There is a film up and down the body brace and some on the hoses going to the charcoal canister.
Also, the two cranckcase pipes that almost run into the pipe coming off the turbine into the throttle body, are they both supposed to be open. The top one is.
The PCV valve has some oil residue on it also but since the car hasn't run for a few days it may have all dripped off by now.
Is there any type of 'test' I can do on my own to try and further diagnose this?


------------------
ALL NSX
92 RED/BLACK 5-SPEED

 

[Turbo NSX]

92 nsx email me with your number and I will tell you how I found and what I did to fix my oil problems. There is also some info on the private board and different ideas.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

Thank's for the tips Brian. I will try to do a little more looking tonight.


------------------
ALL NSX
92 RED/BLACK 5-SPEED

 

[4AU4LIFE]

If I were losing oil would the oil pressure gauge still be working? I mean when I press the pedal the rpm's go up and so does the oil pressure. That should be good right?

Should I drive the car around here locally and monitor the oil level and pressure to see if there is a change?


------------------
ALL NSX
92 RED/BLACK 5-SPEED

 

[true]

Originally posted by 92NSX:
If I were losing oil would the oil pressure gauge still be working? I mean when I press the pedal the rpm's go up and so does the oil pressure. That should be good right?

Hi, you can't use the pressure gauge as an indictor of how much oil you have. Weather you have 3 or 5 quarts your oil pressure can still be the same.

Should I drive the car around here locally and monitor the oil level and pressure to see if there is a change?

Weren't you gonna get a leakdown and compression test? Why are you preventing that? If you lost 2 quarts of oil out the PCV system, it should be plainly visable. That's a lot of oil to be losing in the engine bay in a few weeks.

[/B][/QUOTE]