Bob Shell wrote: >We seem to have some people here who are pretty well informed about >cars. Let me describe the mystery I am trying to solve. I have a >1991 Volvo 940 Turbo wagon that I really love. Has always been a >very comfortable and civilized ride. > >Oil is disappearing from the crankcase at the rate of about a quart a >month. It isn't leaking out anywhere since there is no oil on the >carport where I park it. It doesn't smoke or smell of burning oil >from the exhaust pipe when running, and it runs great. I thought >maybe it was time for a ring job, but I had my mechanic run a >compression check and it's just fine. He suggested maybe the PCV >valve was faulty, so I had him replace that, but it made no >difference. I'm just completely stumped on where this oil is going, >and so are both of the mechanics who do work for me. One suggested >putting in some Lucas oil stabilizer in place of a quart of oil, and >I tried that but it made no difference. It's a nuisance to have to >put in a quart of oil a month. > >Any suggestions?
Did they try using an exhaust gas (emissions tester) analyzer? A quart per month is not going to show up visibly or by smell so they need to find out *exactly* what's coming out of the tailpipe. Next, see if you can find someone to do a leakdown test: Much more revealing than a compression test. Of course, a quart a month could be a leak and you'd probably never notice it, especially if it only happens when the engine's warmed up. Eliminate the possibility of burning with an exhaust gas test and then start looking for leaks. Get it good and hot and then park over some clean newspapers, let it run for a bit more, shut it down for the night and then examine the papers in the morning. Call 1-888-car-talk and ask for advice :) -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
