2001 Cavalier oil

dwalmop · #1 01-31-2007, 10:27 PM

Hey all, I changed the oil on a friends cavalier (2.2) and when I drained the oil, it must have been half gasoline. The engine was making tons of noise when they pulled it in the garage (obviously from the lack of lubrication). What would cause all of this gas to get in the oil? Also, I also noticed that the coil packs were arching a little.

drindle · #2 01-31-2007, 11:02 PM

i heard once that if fuel injected cars get flooded gas can get into the oil, not sure if that's actually true though???

NovaRally77 · #3 02-01-2007, 11:25 AM

Are you sure it was gas? I have never heard of gas getting into the oil...I would say the most common thing getting into the oil is coolant, caused by a blown head gasket. If thats the problem the oil would be a light brownish color, and appear milky. That may be the problem but I dont know...like I said, never heard of the gas in oil. Good luck with that one
DJP2

drindle · #4 02-01-2007, 06:25 PM

A cold engine requires a more fuel heavy air/fuel ratio than a hot engine. A faulty sensor (Engine Temperature Sensor (Thermal Switch) registering an extremely cold engine would result in too much fuel being sent into the cylinders and the engine would run rich. Symptoms of this include: high idle, flooded engine, poor running (especially when warm), difficulty starting, stalling, and gas in oil.

i found that info on a volvo website...i'd imagine the same could happen on any car though.

dwalmop · #5 02-01-2007, 11:58 PM

Yea, I'm sure it was gas. That's all you could smell when I took the drain plug out. It wasn't coolant, it wasn't milky at all. I've never seen anything like it, either.

NovaRally77 · #6 02-02-2007, 10:51 AM

Is the car's check engine light on? If so, I would have it scanned and see what that tells you. The coolant temperature sensor route is something to try. I had to replace one in a friend of mine's car. I would start by getting the codes scanned, that is if he does have a check engine light. That way you can see if it is in fact throwing the code for the coolant temperature sensor. Also check to see if the car throws the code for running rich. If it is throwing one or both of those codes it could be that sensor. My friends car was hard to start, always ran with a high idle, and anytime you took the stress off of the engine (by engaging the clutch or shifting to neutral and letting the clutch out) the idle would raise about 500 RPM's for a few seconds. If he ever stalled it, it would take him about 10 minutes of sitting before it would start again. If your friend has any symptoms like that, he may be lookin at the coolant temperature sensor. Sorry so long just thought that the real life experience may help. Let me know how it goes.
DJP2

rustymac · #7 02-07-2007, 01:39 AM

If arcing @ coil packs then the fuel is not being fired properly or at all. It then could be leaking past the rings and into the oil. It could also be a leaking injector. The noise could just be a real bad misfire, like the engine running on 3 or 2 cylinders as a result of the sprk arc or overfueling.

spudracer73 · #8 02-10-2007, 11:04 PM

dude if there was actually gas in the oil and a hell of a lot of it, the engine would have hydrolocked from that much gas in the cylinders. Usually the oil will smell like gas if you piston rings go bad, but in this case it will just smell like gas there won't actually be gas in the crankcase. If he had leaky injectors and some real shit rings then it may be possible for liquid gasoline to get into the crankcase. im supprised he didn't role a bearing on that.

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