99 Intrigue burning oil

[mikerfalls]

Hey guys! First off I want to thank you all for sharing your knowledge in this forum. I just bought my 99 intrigue in December with 107,000 miles on it. I fell in love with this car from day one. Its good looking, zippy, and resonably priced.

I brought my baby in for an oil change last week and I was mortified to find out that there was barely any oil left in the engine after 2500 miles! There are no leaks of any kind that I can tell as I always park my car in the garage at home, and no burning smell either. So now I have brought her in to the dealer to have it looked at but fear that it may be the rings not sealing or something.

If it is the rings is this something I can live with? Will it shorten the life of my engine even if I keep the oil level up? I have the 3.5 shortstar engine and love this car otherwise, is this going to end my love affair?

Thanks for your help,
Mike

[mikerfalls]

UPDATE: Mechanic looked at it and was not sure what to tell me. He noticed the PCV valve hose had a lot of oil in it and so changed out the valve. Now I just have to watch it and see if my oil level still drops. He said if it still burns oil I am looking at an entire engine relacement! Yikes! Is this guy just trying to scare me or what?

[illinoiswronski]

For the sake of the engine, keep a close eye on the oil level.

There are only two things that can happen to the oil in the engine, either it leaks out through a hole somewhere or it gets burned in the engine. Start by climbing all over and under the engine with a light looking for leaks. As you say you park in a garage then it is unlikely you have a leak as it would leave spots.

If it is not leaking out then it is being burned in the engine. I suggest that you track how many miles you drive against how much oil you burn. If it burns a lot of oil it should look and smell like a weed wacker going down the road.

[ssheely]

hey, my 1999 intrique uses 1 quart of oil every 700 miles.
it does not leak a drop. it burns it. everyone i ask says it's normal
for that engine to use oil. oil is cheap so don't worry about it,
just check it often and keep it full.

[mikerfalls]

Originally Posted by illinoiswronski

If it burns a lot of oil it should look and smell like a weed wacker going down the road.

See thats just it, I don't see or smell anything coming out of the tail pipe. There is a little blackness inside the pipe but isn't that pretty normal? No big poofs of black or blue smoke, and certainly no oil burning smell.

Since having the PCV valve replaced and driving 200 miles or so I have not noticed any oil level dropping.

I'm hoping maybe my problem is resolved. Fingers crossed.

[Ruley73]

Feel underneath the rear valve cover by the fire wall on the serpentine belt side. I'm willing to bet that you'll all find a leak there. It is not visible because the firewall is so close to the engine, but it can be felt. My girlfriend's car does the same thing. No oil ever ends up under her car either, it doesn't smell, and no blue or black smoke comes out the tailpipe either. It's weird but that's just how it is. Every Intrigue 3.5L I've come across has leaked in the same place. I also noticed that a drop or two of oil also was in the spark plug chambers on her car when I changed the plugs @ 86k miles too. A bad PCV valve will also cause excessive oil consumption.

[IntrigueGL]

Oil Consumption. That has been a real issue for me. I have a 1998 Intrigue GL. At 72K the engine was replaced due to oil consumption.

Now getting the engine replaced was a large feet. I had to deal with GM for about two months and the dealer before an adjuster come out to look at the paper work. You would think that by taking care of the car it would take car of you. I fault GM for faulty workmanship.

Once the engine was taken apart it was found that the cylinders were out of spec. A new engine was then put into the car.

With the new engine came a 50K warranty. At 50,964 the oil light came on and discovered that I was 1 3/4 quarts low. I am fighting the oil consumption issue again. The car has 126K miles and is driven about 400 miles per week.

Now this Intrigue has an internal oil filter. I have been told that this is why there is an oil consumption issue. I don't know if that is fact or not. Does anyone know?

If anyone knows who I can talk with on this issue please let me know.

I will check back often to see if there are any responses.

[Burnout524]

What engine does it have? I know that my 3.8L engine has a regular oil filter that is unscrewed when it needs to be replaced.

[IntrigueGL]

Burnout524,

My 99 Intrigue has the 3.5L engine.

[Ruley73]

The fact that the 3.5L engine uses an internal cartridge type oil filter doesn't explain why it burns oil. The type of filter a car has surely won't affect oil consumption at all. I had my girlfriend's car ('99 Intrigue GL 3.5L DOHC V6) looked at and her oil consumption was caused by a bad balance shaft seal. It was covered by her warranty but the bill came to about $700 for removing & replacing the balance shaft seal, valve cover gaskets, and spark plug tube seals. Now it doesn't burn one drop of oil no matter how hard we drive it. It has been over 5K miles since the fix.

Before the fix, it took roughly 1 qt. every 1000 miles depending on how hard we drove it. The car didn't smell at all, emit any blue or black smoke whatsoever, and the leaks were almost invisible until you looked closely. Oil was visible under the upper intake (the composite/plastic part) but on top of the lower intake on the passenger's side. It also had some oil in the spark plug chambers.

[IntrigueGL]

Ruley73,

That would be good to know if what you had experience is the same case that I have with my Intrigue. However, since the original engine was replaced due to the valves being the wrong size I almost expect the same issue here.

I will however take your suggestion to the dealer and see what they find.

I would be happy to know that this is somthing that can be fixed and not have to look at dumping the car due to the engine.

Almost all posts I have see on the Intrigue everybody loves them. This is a great car except for all of the enigne problems I have had.

Thanks for your post. I will let you know what I find out.

[ttbit]

My wife's Intrigue uses over 2 quarts of oil at 3000 miles also. It has done that for as long as I can remember. I just keep up on the oil as it doesn't seem to burn it, and I haven't found the leak yet.

Other than engine oil consumption, electrical problems, sensor failures, wheel bearings, road noise, and having the steering shaft replaced, not a bad car.

[IntrigueGL]

ttbit,

Them maybe if the dealer can not do anything for me, free of charge, then I will continue to put oil in the car.

Thanks for all of the feed back. This has been a great experience in this forum.

IntrigueGL

[jettblaster]

Originally Posted by mikerfalls

UPDATE: Mechanic looked at it and was not sure what to tell me. He noticed the PCV valve hose had a lot of oil in it and so changed out the valve. Now I just have to watch it and see if my oil level still drops. He said if it still burns oil I am looking at an entire engine relacement! Yikes! Is this guy just trying to scare me or what?

I was doing about 2 quarts every 3000. Same as every one else, no burning and no sign of leaks. My mechanic pulled off the intake plenum which is connected directly to the cylinder intake. The small gaskets there were leaking oil right above the valves. The oil was leaking onto the V of the engine where there is another cover with a gasket there. I think that was the balance shaft cover. None of this can be seen without removing the intake plenum. Fixed that at a cost of about $300 (mostly labor) and now I am only using about 1 quart per 3000 miles. No idea where that quart goes!

[jmlangeveld]

Some engine designs are more prone to burning oil than others--especially once they get older.

A simple thing you can try is switching to a thicker oil. I would try topping off the oil with 10w40 or 5w40 (some of those Deisel/Gas oils like Shell Rotella or Delo work great and you can find them at Walmart). Also, some people have had success with high mileage oils, which can recondition seals and burn off less easily--Castrol GTX high mileage is a good one.

Just because the engine is using oil does not necessarily mean it is going to die anytime soon.