A burning question...About Oil Burning

[Drake13]

It's just the nature of our ECUs. At high load levels on the motor the ECU makes the air/fuel mixture really rich. Like turbo car rich and you get the black smoke. Without going to a standalone ECU there isn't much that can be done.

Ya i heard about all cons of our little gay ECU's. Thanks for adding another one too it (pissed)

 

[xelderx]

Honestly.. i've NEVER checked my oil level in along time. I just keep getting it changed every 3k miles thinking its fine.. i wonder if it really is low around the 2k mark...

I ran into trouble when I switched to synth oil and started stretching the oil change intervals out to 5,000 miles. That's when motor #1 blew up. My car had about 90,000 on it when that happened.

 

[Drake13]

I ran into trouble when I switched to synth oil and started stretching the oil change intervals out to 5,000 miles. That's when motor #1 blew up. My car had about 90,000 on it when that happened.

I use GTX 10w-30 and mine has about 108k on it right now.. it's running strong.

 

[pasadena_commut]

That is why you see so many N/A guys blowing thier motors. The cars are burning oil and you don't see any signs of it so you don't check it very often....then boom.

I had the impression that most of the blown N/A motors had either sucked in a VICS screw or had been cornered too hard for a sustained period, leading to oil starvation.

Are you saying that the boom point from low oil in normal driving occurs before the oil warning light comes on? I sure hope you're not right. If there is a sudden failure and the car is suddenly leaking a quart a minute the only thing that can protect the motor is that little red light.

 

[TheMAN]

I'm surprised no one mentioned to check the PCV valve

 

[Mazdamia]

To set the record straight: My car did suck in a few screws but since it didn't fall under the recalled VIN range, no engine repair. I did not have the cylinders checked for compression or scoring at the time because I was annoyed enough at Mazda for charging me $400+ for a manifold installation.

I am also sure that there is no external leak. I was just under the car again this weekend replacing an E-brake cable.

I have a header and so only one cat right now so that doesn't explain the lack of smoke. The rest of the exhaust is stock. If I remember correctly, synthetic oil isn't as smokey when it burns. I do get smoke starting recently (it's colder now)when I start the car in the morning but I can't see it anymore after approx. 1min driving. It'll smoke if I engine brake down a hill for example and then use the gas. I also get ther specks of black all over the rear hatch from the burning.

Should I just start saving for a new motor or not worry about it as long as I keep the oil level up? I usually check it every other tank (and have to add).

 

[xelderx]

I had the impression that most of the blown N/A motors had either sucked in a VICS screw or had been cornered too hard for a sustained period, leading to oil starvation.

Are you saying that the boom point from low oil in normal driving occurs before the oil warning light comes on? I sure hope you're not right. If there is a sudden failure and the car is suddenly leaking a quart a minute the only thing that can protect the motor is that little red light.

Hard conering with 4 qts of oil is "Ok", but being just a qt low could cause problems. Most of the N/A guys that have blown would have been fine if they had full oil, but they didn't know they were low until it was too late.

The warning light is sufficient if you are just puttereing around since the motor won't be stressed when it does warn of low pressure. If you are driving hard though it's usually already too late.

 

[xelderx]

I'm surprised no one mentioned to check the PCV valve

That is also a cause, but I've never had a bad PCV on any of my motors that still burnt oil. That was something I was hoping it was for a cheap easy fix.