Where did the oil go?

[Victor Charlie]

This is for everyone's amusement at my stupidity, so don't waste your time reading further unless you have a sense of humor. My oil is disappearing, about as much oil per gallon of gas as a chainsaw uses, but it's not coming out the tail pipe, just take that as a given. It's not dripping anywhere, clean as a whistle underneath. and the coolant looks reasonably clean, though I used a water pump lubricant additive that I plan to flush out eventually. The temp gauge is steady in the normal place and I'm not having to add coolant. So where is the oil going? I've added 3 gallons of oil total in 3-4 months.

I got an old JDM engine for a turbo swap. I rebuilt the whole engine, put the car together, and I'm happily driving it around. The only problem in operation is MPG of just 19, which I attributed to the NA trans and gearbox.

I'll post what I think is the stupid answer later, though I can't be sure I'm right. Or I'll answer any questions. If I'm going to display my incompetence I might as well wait and see if I get an audience.

 

[jetjock]

Well, at least I'm amused by your use of a "water pump lubricant"...

 

[Victor Charlie]

Ok, but trivial. If I'm right this is something much stupider.

 

[92nsx]

Pull your plugs out and let us know if there pitch black, other wise Im guessing your turbo has a leaking seal in it some where, and it is burning it there. How dose you intercooler piping look, full of oil or oil film? Your exhaust smoking pretty good? But to use 3 gallons or 12 qts, that is a shit load of oil.

 

[Radioactive]

Well since you suggest a stupid answer: did you forget to tighten the oil filter all the way or the drain plug?

 

[supramk3speed]

He says its not coming out of the exhaust, and there are no leaks underneath. Can you just tell us so i understand WTF you are talking about? If you are burning that much oil you would definately notice it coming out the exhaust.

 

[Me[kk]A]

^im so sitting in for this thread..

either its staying somewhere in your line or its burning off..

no oil burning smell of any kind?

 

[lewis15498]

I'm gonna go with either its pooling in the intercooler or it wasn't actually consuming oil, the dipstick just wasn't reading for whatever reason or he used the N/A dipstick which is different iirc and kept putting oil in when he didnt really need it.

 

[Victor Charlie]

Okay here's all the cards: as someone noted, I am not burning the oil. Nothing smokes anywhere. I should start a forest fire by now if I was burning that much oil. No oil is leaking, so not an oil filter. No oil in the accordion tube or AFM, but I can't say I checked the intercooler. Still that much oil would affect performance and clog the intercooler, and the car runs really great.

The oil is actually going into the coolant system and overflowing out the overflow drain as I'm driving. Since the water is heavier, it stays behind, and the coolant doesn't look bad. Since it is new oil it is mostly clear, and not evident until you remove the radiator cap. Since I didn't wait quit long enough, I had a slight bath, but it was definitely very oily on top of the green coolant. the "water pump lubricant" may also lower surface tension and prevent a lot of visible separation between the aqueous and lipophilic layers of fluid.

I really don't think I blew my head gasket, BTDT, doesn't fit, But I will do a compression test when it warms up here.

I think when I was working on the head I did a mod with an extra coolant drill hole near the back of the engine, after seeing pics and diagrams on one of the forums, maybe here. It's been two years since I did the head, so I'm not sure what went wrong, but I drilled aluminum, not iron, so it was to the head. If this created a passage form a pressurized oil passage to the coolant system, would that explain it? That's what i'm afraid I did. can't tell until spring, though.

 

[WhtMa71]

Damn! I was going to say you had BHG and it was leaking into the coolant system.. But I figured that'd count as a leak because if the coolant was filling up with oil, something would have to leak somewhere...

 

[GrimJack]

Beats my theory of the oil stealing neighbor's kid...

 

[3p141592654]

Zip tie a can under the overflow pipe and verify your theory.

 

[Victor Charlie]

Zip tie a can under the overflow pipe and verify your theory.

you got it. I'll do that.

 

[92nsx]

Sorry I can not believe that you not leaking or burning oil if you use 12 qts., every 3 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im with GremJack, someone is then stealing the oil out of your engine. Time for security cameras

 

[Victor Charlie]

I sealed a plastic bag over the coolant overflow tube with some rubber bands and drove 50 miles. No oil or gas came out in that time, but there is clearly a layer of oil on top of the fluid in the overflow reservoir. Also, it is rising slowly. Since I lost coolant yesterday opening the system, it should take up to 4 days of normal driving to fill up what I guess is 1/2 quart of fluid lost. When the level rises a bit more, i will have the oil flowing out of that overflow pipe, but I'll leave the bag on to quantify the loss rate.

I would have thought a blown head gasket leading to a leak into the coolant system would lead to more rapid expelling of fluid or gas from the coolant system, but I've only worked on two cars with BHG's.

 

[Victor Charlie]

Sorry I can not believe that you not leaking or burning oil if you use 12 qts., every 3 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im with GremJack, someone is then stealing the oil out of your engine. Time for security cameras

I'm really sure I'm not leaking any significant amount of oil on to the ground when I'm parked.
I'm really sure I'm not burning any significant amount of oil.
I'm really sure I'm putting in a quart of oil about every 500miles.
I'm leaking oil somewhere for sure, just a question of where.

 

[DigityD'87]

I'm really sure I'm not leaking any significant amount of oil on to the ground when I'm parked.
I'm really sure I'm not burning any significant amount of oil.
I'm really sure I'm putting in a quart of oil about every 500miles.
I'm leaking oil somewhere for sure, just a question of where.

I'm really sure you shouldn't be driving it until its fixed lol.

Edit: Now that I think about it, when my PCV line was plugged up I was losing oil in a similar fashion. Spewed right out the back of my cam seals down on top of the tranny.... but only while driving. You might make sure your crankcase is venting properly.

 

[Victor Charlie]

I'm really sure you shouldn't be driving it until its fixed lol.

Edit: Now that I think about it, when my PCV line was plugged up I was losing oil in a similar fashion. Spewed right out the back of my cam seals down on top of the tranny.... but only while driving. You might make sure your crankcase is venting properly.

Great thought, I will look at that. I hope its okay to drive it. I've got clean oil in the sump and oil pressure, and something in the coolant system that is keeping the car cool enough.

 

[Victor Charlie]

Just to complete the thread. I collected overflow from the coolant system. There is a gradual overflow of liquid over a week as expected, but it is a water based brown-green liquid with an oily feel, not separated oil. I need to check the solubility of oil in antifreeze. I'll have to wait to spring to tear it down and have more info.

 

[toyotanos]

This sounds like my sister's Rav4, as far as the oil consumption goes. She wasn't noticing any smoke or anything on startup or driving, but it went through 1 quart every week/4-500 miles. New pcv didn't help, so I figured it was the rings since there was zero oil leaks. Tore it down and found both compression rings were worn and the oil control ring was seized in the groove. This was the same for all 4 cylinders. Put it back together with new rings and had no more oil loss! Actually, it picked up so much torque the clutch started slipping!

But as for the coolant, pics might help to determine if oil's contaminating it. I would also double-check that mod you might have done to the head, just to make sure it's not causing trouble.