To Buy Or Not To Buy

[Jakey]

So please assist me with this list:
-Possible Causes for Burning Oil-
*Shitty valve seals
*Blown turbo
*Bad rings

I should mention that the car burns oil at the rate of approximately one quart per 300 miles.

[MustGoFaster]

For that much oil to be burned that quick I would think it would be the turbo. Are there any leaks maybe? It is smoking blue out the exhaust right?

[Jakey]

Originally posted by MustGoFaster@Aug 19 2004, 07:39 PM
For that much oil to be burned that quick I would think it would be the turbo.  Are there any leaks maybe?  It is smoking blue out the exhaust right?
From what I've seen, the exhaust is "blue free." I drove the car and there was definitely not a cloud behind me and I have also seen the car being driven with no sign of a cloud behind it.

I should add that I have not examined the engine bay very carefully to see if there are any obvious leaks which is something that I know I really need to do.

[john]

Whoa, that is a lot of oil. One quart per tank of gas. I think you have the most likely causes down. Could be something like a seal on the front case or something... I would definitly do a compression test now. See where you are at. The numbers will be low if the valve seals are leaking or if the rings are shot. Feel the turbo next time you see it. See if it smokes after reving it. Rev the car at the throttle body to ~2500 rpm and check for smoke at the turbo.

[Alpine TSi]

When my 14B died, it would blow blue smoke out the exhaust only when I was over 10 pounds of boost, then enough smoke comes out blind anyone behind me.

The valve seals were also bad, but when they were the only thing the was burning oil it was only letting out blue smoke when I started it up and when I sat at an intersection for awhile and then left.

[john]

Yeah, I have seen the same senario as above. The turbo may blow out a puff of blue smoke by the exhaust manifold.

Sit the car at idle for a few minutes then move it and have a friend check for smoke out the exhaust. That would be valve seals. My car had that problem a while ago but still had good compression.

[Jakey]

Well when I expressed my concern about the oil burning problem here is what the owner said:

thats fine.  i understand.

for the record, it does NOT always burn that much.  i didnt monitor it enough to
verify that amount and it certainly doesnt do it all the time.  second, it DOES
blow lots of white smoke when it is burning oil.  i dont remember that happening
when you drove it, but when it does burn, its noriceable.  i dont think there is
an external leak (of notice) as there isnt any real residue underneath. 

just let me know.  its still for sale:)

[john]

Sounds like a blown HG to me if it is coolant and oil. A compression or leakdown test can tell you how the engine is. If that turns out fine, I would suspect the turbo.

[JET]

It's cheap, just buy it. It's not a life changing purchase. You can part it out for more than $900 if the car sucks. You are pretty damn indecisive Jakey, I remember the 50+ PM's I got about my $750 car. JoeM got a ton about the laser too. Just do it!

[Jakey]

Well I made my first DSM investment tonight. I'll try to get pictures up within a few days. It definitely needs some work but once I get the oil burning issue figured out I think it'll make a damn good beater.