2002 Regal "blowing out" oil

[devilboy]

I recently purchases a 2002 Buick Regal (February 2005). It has 31,000 miles on it. I'm running it with 10W-30 as instructed in the manual.

I notice that at about 2200-2500 miles I'm down about a quart of oil. I brought it to a service station that I've been using for a while with no problems. They said it is not leaking or burning oil but it is "blowing it out". The reason he gave was that they do something in newer cars to get higher gas mileage. He also said a quart of oil every 2500 miles or so isn't bad. I thought any loss in oil was a bad thing?

Does anyone out there with a 2002 Regal have a similar problem?

TIA,
Paul

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by devilboy

I recently purchases a 2002 Buick Regal (February 2005). It has 31,000 miles on it. I'm running it with 10W-30 as instructed in the manual.

I notice that at about 2200-2500 miles I'm down about a quart of oil. I brought it to a service station that I've been using for a while with no problems. They said it is not leaking or burning oil but it is "blowing it out". The reason he gave was that they do something in newer cars to get higher gas mileage. He also said a quart of oil every 2500 miles or so isn't bad. I thought any loss in oil was a bad thing?

Does anyone out there with a 2002 Regal have a similar problem?

TIA,
Paul

I've got a '99 Regal LS and '01 GS. Neither one of them consume that much oil. I change the oil every 3K miles and the level is always near the top. The question is where is it blowing it out to?

[GTP Dad]

This is one of the questions that man may never properly answer, Where does the oil go? Each engine is unique in that some engines burn oil in varying amounts and others do not. As Bob said his engine never burns or leaks oil between oil changes. Others will use slight amounts of oil between oil changes regardless of mileage. At one time Ford felt it was acceptable for an engine to burn one quart every 800 miles or so. GM on the other hand felt that one quart per 2500 miles was acceptable. Now a lot has happened since those days with engine construction and materials but the fact still exists that some engines just burn oil.

Based on the fact that you are losing a quart every 2500 miles, look at the engine itself both on top and underneath to see if the engine is leaking any oil. Valve cover gaskets are often the culprit although things like oil sending units, oil pan gaskets and etc can also leak. If you find a leak you can correct it. If not then you may have to live with this problem.

[BNaylor]

On the flip side it could be worse. Have a friend with a PT cruiser and he uses 1 qt. every 1K miles. Chrysler says that is normal. He's down to his last year in payments and plans to get rid of it.

If this Regal was bought used, maybe thats why the original owner got rid of it.

Using a quart of oil every 2500 miles would sure bug the hell out of me. Knowing me I'd probably be doing a compression test, checking the PCV system, pulling the heads and maybe getting the valve guides knurled along with new seals, and replacing the head and intake gaskets just to be sure. I could live with a quart every 6K miles. Buts thats just me.

And like GTP Dad (Lynn) said it may never be resolved.

[devilboy]

Is it possible that it's blowing the oil out throught the exhaust without burning it? Would a PCV issue cause this? Is this something I can test? I'm not looking forward to checking and adding oil in the middle of winter.

I've been taking my car to the same service station for years and have had no problems. They couldn't find a leak and said it wasn't burning the oil. I'm trusting that they did a thorough analysis but I'm thinking about getting a second opinion.

Paul

[BNaylor]

I really don't think its blowing out the exhaust. Any oil will be burned off if its getting into the combustion chamber/cylinders.

On the PCV do you have a GS or LS? On some 3800 Series II engines especially with supercharger and higher boost you have to run a vent breather on the valve cover. You could check the PCV valve or replace it just for general principle.

If there are no visible oil leaks on the outside of the engine or blue smoke coming out the exhaust, its probably still consuming the oil internally.

Have you ever had the intake manifold gaskets changed out on your Regal? A defective lower intake manifold gasket (LIM) could be one reason for high oil consumption. Mine were replaced under warranty for free due to a GM Technical Service Bulletin being out. However, this was done because I had a good dealer (Cadillac/Buick) and not because I was using too much oil.

[devilboy]

I have an LS. It doesn't have a super charger.

I had a warranty on it until June. I thought the problem went away and I let it expire.

2000 miles into my first oil change (I bought the car in February) the oil was still full. A few hundred miles later the Low Oil light came on? There are the four holes in the dipstick. The oil was just below the bottom hole. After I put a quart in the oil level was above the top hole. I don't think it was down an entire quart but it was down enough.

Paul

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by devilboy

I have an LS. It doesn't have a super charger.

I had a warranty on it until June. I thought the problem went away and I let it expire.

2000 miles into my first oil change (I bought the car in February) the oil was still full. A few hundred miles later the Low Oil light came on? There are the four holes in the dipstick. The oil was just below the bottom hole. After I put a quart in the oil level was above the top hole. I don't think it was down an entire quart but it was down enough.

Paul

Here's a procedure to replace the PCV valve on a normally aspirated Series II 3800 engine:

http://macgp.clubgp.com/howto/engine/pcv/gt/pcv.html

BTW - Have you checked the cooling system? Check for any possible oil cross contamination.

[devilboy]

I haven't checked the coolant but I will.

I'll replace the PCV valve and see if that fixes it.

Thanks for the suggestions and the link.

Paul

[devilboy]

Originally Posted by bnaylor3400

If there are no visible oil leaks on the outside of the engine or blue smoke coming out the exhaust, its probably still consuming the oil internally.

Have you ever had the intake manifold gaskets changed out on your Regal? A defective lower intake manifold gasket (LIM) could be one reason for high oil consumption. Mine were replaced under warranty for free due to a GM Technical Service Bulletin being out. However, this was done because I had a good dealer (Cadillac/Buick) and not because I was using too much oil.

I haven't had the LIM replaced since I owned the car.

I do notice that when I start the car I get white exhaust smoke and it goes away after the car's been running for a while. This happens even in warm weather. The smoke is very light (not thick). I'm not sure what that is. I will be monitoring that more closely over the next week or so to see exactly when it happens.

If it is consuming the oil internally would I get blue smoke?

I have a two mile commute to work. I think it may not be blowing enough out during the normal work week for me to notice. It may do it more on the weekends when I drive more. It's been a little over 200 miles since my last oil change. I will be checking the oil every few hundred miles and logging my driving habits to try and find a pattern.

In the meantime I'll check the coolant and change the PCV valve.

Paul

[GTP Dad]

You would only get blue smoke if the oil is being burnt in the combustion chambers. There are several ways for this to happen, first bad valve seals will allow oil to seep past them and leak into the chambers while the engine is off and you will see the smoke at start-up. If it is burning a very small amount of oil the cat will take care of it and you may or may not see blue smoke. If you are burning a lot of oil then blue smoke will be present in the exhaust all the time and blue smoke will be easily seen. Burning oil in large quantities can cause other problems like damaged O2 sensors and the cat will eventually burn out.

[BNaylor]

I agree with GTPDad. Using 1 quart every 2500 miles is probably not enough to have it show up in the exhaust and as Lynn said the CAT would vaporize it because it runs around 1200 degrees F.

Blue=oil
Black=fuel
White=Coolant/water

With only 31K miles maybe it may improve with more mileage. The other thing you could do is experiment with different oil viscosities or brands/type of motor oils. Other than that it will probably be cheaper just to put up with the higher consumption rate, if it really is a problem.

[bar fightin man]

wow
blowing out oil?!?!
that sounds bad

make sure it doesn't stop "blowing out oil" without you doing anything about it

[supervisor1886]

blowing is a result of bad oil and compression rings, when the crankcase is pressurized.

But its not the case. With 31k engine, if the owner has run on syntetic oil all the time during breaking and never abused it, the engine might be still breacking in which is sort of confusing.
The amount you burn is pretty normal but a bit high.
Or in another case the engine was somehow damaged (there are stupid people outhere!!!), which basically killed it. Also somebody could have replaced the original engine with an old crapy beater one which was degreased and all.

What kind of oil pressure are you running? try changing to another brand of oil or grade.