Well, I've gotten about 4k on the newly rebuilt engine. It was originally rebuilt due to a suspected headgasket failure that was manifesting itself as a terrible oil loss problem. It was loosing engine oil to the coolant and also out the tail pipe. Since the rebuild was completed in the late Spring I had been taking it easy on the go pedal and getting 24mpg per tank average. Power was back up too. However, about a week ago I noticed a very bad sign - remnants of a past engine oil blow-by on the front of the girlfriend's car. Went to look at my tailpipe, and it looked pretty black alright. Pulled the dipstick and there was just barely anything on there. Put a quart in it to bring it back up to normal. However, I know this isn't good. It had to of just started, because the first oil change (well the last anyway) lasted 3k miles with no issue, and was full when I changed it.

As a little background, if you care to read the "original" begining of this engine rebuild started with this thread:
Read: Oil Lossage : https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...roblem-129480/

So i decided it must be a headgasket, unless it was a crack in the head itself. While I had the head off the truck, I had it professionally redone, including a pressure check for cracks. Again, if you care to read, you can, but it isn't necessary:

Read Hadgasket saga: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...e-pics-139787/


So today I went out and did a compression check. Below are the findings, in order, from cylinder 1 - 4 (in order).










Essentially the compression check tells me that everything is in good shape. However, it's clearly not. I'll throw in that I also noticed the coolant was down a bit. How much I'm not sure. The radiator was still full, but the resevior had lost most of it's overflow in about 5k miles. It's not obvious that I'm losing oil into the coolant, although it's entirely possible. What I do know, is that if I am losing it in there, it's not much. And that I am losing a LOT to the ground/surrounding vehicles/animals/structurse that are within about 4 feet of the tailpipe upon startup. I assume I lose this when the truck is running as well, but it never smokes.

So I'm open for suggestions and theories.

Thanks!
Kyle

 

maybe strap on your butt-kissing boots and wait for your girlfriend to notice the oil blowby on her car... lol

 

How do your plugs look?
Oil in the coolant would be fairly obvious since the oil should float to the top of the radiator.
What type / weight oil did you use?

 

Yeah...those are nice, high and even compression readings, Kyle. How's it running, otherwise? Are you sure you're not just losing coolant externally? And, have you drained any of the oil out to check for water?

 

Plugs look okay. I noticed that plug 3 and 4 were a little dirtier on the threads than 1 and 2. No oil in the radiator (as far as large amounts) just a "rainbow" look to it, which I chalk up as possibly being residue from before the engine change when there really was oil getting in there. Running Castrol 10/30.

Matthew - Truck runs great. Never overheats, runs very smooth. Not 100% sure I'm not losing coolant externally, as it has been a while since I had it in the garage, but if I am it's very slow.

Didn't drain the oil out of the truck, but dipstick should show milky/bubbly look to the oil I would think if water were getting in there. Not seeing any evidence of that.

 

take a look around the belts and trans and see if there's any seepage.
it's also possible that the rings aren't full seated yet. are you using synth or conventional oil?
How's your PCV valve looking?

 

PCV not so good. Needs replacing probably. But could it lose this much oil just because of that?

I do have some minor leakage near the trans that I haven't pinpointed, but nothing ever ends up on the ground (well it must eventually, but at least not in the course of a few days being parked). No where near enough oil there to be the source of this. I know it's going out the tailpipe, just not sure why....

I would think rings would be seated, as I didn't experience this in the begining. It's become a recent problem. I'm using regular oil. No smoke, just the blow-out.

 

you're still in the break in period, but only barely.
it's possible oil is getting sucked through the pcv valve and burned that way.

 

Take an old cast iron pan and put it on your stove, let it get to around 250 300 degrees and drop a few drops of your oil on it...if there is ANY water or anti-freeze in your oil, it will sizzle and pop. If its clean, the oil will just smoke. Thats the way we do it where I work(CATERPILLAR), and we build 12 cylinder quad turbo engines....except we have a hot plate and an oil specctrology machine to see what and how much of certain elements are in the oil...but that is foolproof.

 

did you replace the radaitor cap if the seal on the cap is bad it can boil out.

 

Gawdamn...that's a great idea!

Omelets, anyone?

 

Good ideas guys. That pan idea isn't bad. I assume it doesn't have to be cast iron does it? Believe it or not, my throw aways are stainless...

I guess I'll give that a try sometime soon. In the mean time, I will replace the PCV valve. Even with the "frying pan" test, it still wouldn't explain the extreme oil loss...

 

What's the rate of oil loss exactly? 1qt /1k miles?

 

~ish. To be honest I'm not sure. Until I saw the signs, I'd not checked the oil. On the first couple of changes, I saw no oil loss at all, and guess I got confident.

 

For the love of God that is the best idea I've ever heard! I hope the wife doesn't get pissed about the Toyota flavor of the eggs.....

 

Well, Kyle....if the valve is sticking open that could definitely be it. If it were sticking shut, it would run worse. You said the valve is bad....does that mean it's sticking, though?

 

PCV valve is bad, I think. But I couldn't believe I would lose so much oil from that.... but I've been wrong before. I can certaily hope, if nothing else.

 

There is a good deal of vacuum on that sucker. I do hope that's all it is, though. Have you pulled it off to check it?

 

Bought a new one today... couldn't get the old one out, dangit! Ordered the grommet while I was there. I assume I'll have to tear the old one out getting this dude out of there anyway... I wonder if there's a trick to it.

 

I used vice grips on the PCV valve, pried up and put a new grommet and valve in. spent about 6 bucks.