'95 Oil Consumption with Good Compression

warmblood58 · Post by **warmblood58** » 30 Apr 2017, 21:01

My '95 T-5r was changed to Mobil One by me after purchase and I have no previous records of what oil, dino or synthetic that might have been used prior to Mobile One. Top end was done about 40,000 miles ago (bottom end has 210,000) and oil consumption is about a quart in 500 miles. I did a compression test cold and each cylinder was surprisingly consistent at 195 each with no deviation between cylinders (a first for me). My question is, I have put about 1,200 miles on engine with Mobil one 10/40 and am about ready to bolt and go back to dino with the hopes that the oil consumption issue will go away. Should I continue with synthetic and ride this out or should I return to dino and possibly see a reduction in oil consumption? No doubt the dino has cleaned out internals somewhat. I noted no excess turbo spool play and my belief is that PCV system was cleaned when valve job occurred (or should have). Any areas for me to check that might be contributing to oil consumption. Car passed smog easily and has plenty of power . . . help!

Post by **tryingbe** » 30 Apr 2017, 21:12

Do a glove test.

warmblood58 · Post by **warmblood58** » 30 Apr 2017, 22:20

glove test?

Post by **scot850** » 30 Apr 2017, 22:36

Put a rubber/latex glove over the oil filler hole with the cap removed. Start the engine and see if the glove inflates or gets sucked in. If you rev the engine and it expands then in both cases you have crankcase back pressure which would indicate a blocked PCV system.

If the glove only gets sucked in or does not inflate all is good. Slight inflating when rev'd is normally ok too.

Neil.

Post by **cn90** » 30 Apr 2017, 22:43

At 210K, the turbo can leak internally...Open the Turbo Intake pipe and you will see some oil...

warmblood58 · Post by **warmblood58** » 30 Apr 2017, 22:46

Thanks for the clarification - turbo intake was pretty clean, oily film but little to no oil

Post by **rspi** » 01 May 2017, 20:44

I use about 1 quart every 500 - 700 miles when driving around town. On the highway 1 quart every 2,000 miles if I keep it under 75 mph.

After you check the PCV, I'd have someone drive behind me and look for smoke.

On another note, I had a valve stem failure in about 6,000 miles with 2 different head rebuilds. Horrible Victor Reins seals.

I'm at 342,000 with 10W-40 full synthetic (turbo car). The engine has NEVER been cracked and the turbo was replaced with a used one at 290,000 (replacement had 135,000).

Post by **erikv11** » 01 May 2017, 20:56

rspi beat me to it - top suspect is the valve stem seals, who did the top end, and do you know what seals they used? Volvo only on those.

The turbo will have oil inside it no matter what (consuming oil or not), that by itself tells you nothing.

You probably know this but your compression gauge is off, 195 is way too high. Factory spec is 185, acceptable range 155-185. Expect it to be around 170. But you saw even across the cylinders, that's great.

How long have you been on 10w-40, did you just switch or it's been a while? Also are you sure it's going out the tail pipe, no leaks underneath?

warmblood58 · Post by **warmblood58** » 01 May 2017, 21:07

Thanks guys - my memory may be off on compression values - but I do remember they were level. I have only about 500 - 600 miles on Mobile One. No tell tale leaks and my understanding is the dealership did top end which may be good news regarding valve stem seals. I will be doing valve stem seals shortly on my little Mitsubishi Mighty Max soon - might just be the year for valve stem seals. My understanding is the it can take a while for engine to adjust to synthetic? True? I have no experience with this. I drove freeway miles at 70 plus to the Davis Volvo meet the other day and added half a quart - about 140 miles - oil level appeared to not have dropped which I would think would be the case for so little miles, either way a benchmark for comparison. I will do the glove test tomorrow, my hope is that the PVC system is partially clogged but I would think this would have been done when the car had its top end done 40,000 miles ago, right? You never know these days, I am often surprised at what does not get done when the pros are working, unfortunately no paperwork on this. Thanks for the help!

Post by **erikv11** » 01 May 2017, 21:32

You will hear a lot of different, even contradicting, opinions about switching to synthetic, and many of them will be from folks who are certain they are right.

I'm not saying I know the answer but ... in your shoes I think I would ride out the synthetic to a longer interval, like a couple thousand miles, see if the consumption rate goes down. Assuming PCV is in good shape, definitely check that.