burning oil

[marius dirge]

My 93 ford taurus is burning oil. i need to change the manifold gasket i know that already but i was told that if it was burning oil it would come out of the tail pipe. it doesnt come out of my car. it just smoke a little after 10 min of idleing in my driveway. what else could the problem be?

[Willyum]

It's a 12 - 13 year old car, how many miles on it? If if is smoking out the tailpipe it may be worn to the point of oil consumption.

[marius dirge]

no its only smoking from the engine noting from the tailpipe the rest of the car is impecable. i think its just the gasket. its a 93 with 130k miles. but it was very well taken care of. so i dont think it is abuse...just age lol.

[shorod]

Originally Posted by marius dirge

no its only smoking from the engine noting from the tailpipe the rest of the car is impecable. i think its just the gasket. its a 93 with 130k miles. but it was very well taken care of. so i dont think it is abuse...just age lol.

That's where the phrase "burning oil" can get confusing. It can mean that the combustion chamber is burning the oil, in which case you'll have a bluish exhaust color and odor of burning oil. But, in your case, it sounds like the oil is burning on the exterior surface of the engine, due to a leaky valve cover gasket or head gasket.

When you mention a leaky manifold gasket, do you really mean "manifold" as in exhaust manifold or intake manifold, or is it the valve cover gasket? Neither manifold has oil flowing through it, so a bad manifold gasket should not cause oil to leak onto the engine and burn. A valve cover gasket or head gasket that is leaking will cause oil to drip on to hot engine surfaces and burn. Maybe your valve cover gasket is dripping onto the exhaust manifold?

-Rod

[marius dirge]

Originally Posted by shorod

A valve cover gasket or head gasket that is leaking will cause oil to drip on to hot engine surfaces and burn. Maybe your valve cover gasket is dripping onto the exhaust manifold?

-Rod

that sounds about right. i can see a little bit of oil bubling on the surface so i think it might be that. i think im going to just change all the gaskets that are simple to change cause i dont have a lot of time right now. thx for the help guys.

[rrichie]

is adding oil unusual between changes