I finally got around to driving the 1987 22R I rebuilt 9 years ago or so. And with about 1200 miles on it it's using a quart every 40 or 50 miles, not leaking a drop. The one I rebuilt for my 94 doesn't use a drop after 90,000 miles and they probably got the same kind of rings as I got all the parts from LC Engineering. I'll check my receipts. So I'm thinking I'll do a compression check and then a leakdown test. It's not smoking, at least not that I've noticed yet. And there's no blowby I can see. Any suggestions? I'm thinking the rings didn't seal. I can't remember back 9 years whether or not I ran it up a pass, first thing like I did the other one, which is supposed to seat the rings. Maybe not, because I had a heck of a time getting it tuned enough to take it on the highway, as I remember. I did run it up and down the country road which has a bit of incline to it. I probably didn't put more than 50 miles on it before it got up a mountain, though. Any advice very welcome thanks

 

a quart every 40-50 miles is insane, if that was getting into the combustion chamber i'd expect to see a lot of blue smoke on acceleration in particular... if the valve stem seals were bad it would be blue smoke on deceleration... maybe follow in another car while on the phone with the other driver, so you can monitor the tailpipe.

i wonder what the spark plugs look like... is there any mayonnaise under radiator cap, from oil getting into the coolant?

 

Leak down test might be helpful

 

Thanks. I just got a leak down test kit. Will have results tomorrow. No mayonnaise anywhere. No oil underneath. No oil in coolant reservoir, no smoke idling. Will check for smoke going downhill backing off pedal. Runs perfectly. Havent pulled the plugs yet.

 

I drove another 60 highway miles today but it didn’t lose any oil. So the first thousand miles the consumption gradually increased to the insane rate of a quart per 30 miles. Then suddenly stopped using any oil at all. The last two quarts I added were 20/50, maybe that helped. Hard to believe, but it’s what happened. Maybe the rings just needed some dirty oil to seat

 

You didn’t use synthetic during break in did you?

 

It was 9 years ago but I doubt it, as I would have been thinking of an oil change in 200 miles. And I have been aware for a while that synthetic isn’t good breaking oil.
I took the oil filter off just now, for an oil change. There’s no oil in it, looks brand new. I’m going to look in my service manual for the oil diagram. It’s got a new SW mechanical pressure gauge that reads 70 psi on the highway. Idles pretty good too. There’s no piston slap. Or knocking. I put the gauge in when I rebuilt it because I wanted to be sure of what was going on when I started it. I’m totally baffled

 

Uh what? My initial assumption is there is a bypass that is activated for some reason and bypassing the oil filter but I don’t know if these engines have one.

 

Must have been a stuck drain back valve in the oil filter, the new one had oil in it after I finished the oil change. But still don’t understand how there was not a drop of oil in the one I took out, the oil being black should have been visible

 

That is freaking weird...lol.

 

I have had the same problem with my 1988 Toyota Pickup for years. If you find out what is the problem, will you please post it. I just check the oil very often. It is the weirdest problem. I bought mine in 2009.

 

Never mind.

 

The oil consumption problem? It’s back, it’s using a quart every 100 miles without smoking, or leaking. I’m very curious now if that’s possible. Not just leaking when on the highway either; if I come to a quick stop it’s dry underneath. I’ve been pushing it on the highway and taking my foot off the peal intermittently, frequently, even downhill, to break in the rings, altho I think it’s got 2000 on it. Going to call LCE today and find out which rings I bought. Supposedly the moly rings are trickier. I think I was messing with the new carb so long once it got running that I delayed too long taking it up the pass and stressing it with a load. But if it’s unseated rings causing oil use wouldn’t you see smoke? And wouldn’t the compression be reduced? It’s got 160 in all 4 cylinders. Hate to take it all apart again. It has .002-3 wall to piston which is decent, and another honing wouldn’t be good. I had 3.5 on the 22RE because the shop didn’t believe me when I requested .001. And those pistons slapped for 60,000 miles before the slap noise went away. But it never has used any oil in 90,000

 

what were the leakdown test results? i didn't see it posted.

did you actually do the follow behind test, looking for blue smoke on acceleration/deacceleration?

 

Oil can actually improve compression test numbers, which can make the results misleading. A compression test is ok for an initial test, but it’s the leak down test that gives you more useful data to work with.

 

Thanks, I got a good leak down test kit but haven’t used it yet, but will do it this weekend. Seemed to me if it’s got 160 psi compression and isn’t smoking that a leak down test wouldn’t help, but it can’t hurt.

And yes I did look for smoke in the rear while suddenly decelerating going down a pass but didn’t see any smoke at all.

 

normally i'd say that looking in the rear view mirror is a waste of time, but if it's really eating a quart every 100 miles yeah you might be able to see blue smoke that way :-0 another clue is to look at the tailpipe on a cold start, if you see blue smoke there it's a bad sign.

agree about the 160 psi compression, if you did the test on a normal engine when it's cold there shouldn't be enough oil in the combustion chamber to affect the test results... the normal procedure there is when you get low compression test results, you squirt oil into the combustion chamber to temporarily seal the rings and then re-test the compression; if oil increases the psi you've got ring issues.

the problem here is that you keep making these bizarre claims about insane oil consumption, which if true could indeed mean that there is oil in the combustion chamber, it's pumping up the compression test results, which is what i think that jim is saying.

a proper leakdown test could be very helpful, because it could also help determine if there is a blowby problem that's dumping oil back into the intake manifold, via the pcv... a good way to check for that is to put a catch can.

 

you should be actively looking for leaks with a flashlight, particularly with the valve cover seal at the back of the engine... excessive blowby will cause leaks in all kinds of places.

did you check the ring gap? if it's excessive it'll cause blowby.

 

Yes. At least it's a strong possibility.

 

Thanks, I did check the ring gaps. When I took the valve cover off this morning I noticed the plug on the back was dangling, possibly just from removing the cover, but there is oil on the bottom of the tranny so I think I have found the problem. I adjusted the valves about 2 months ago and likely did not check that plug. Will drive it in a few days and find out. Thanks again