Where did the oil go?

JesseH

Active Member
Nov 12, 2005
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Englewood, Ohio, United States
Victor Charlie;1498715 said:
Just to complete the thread. I collected overflow from the coolant system. There is a gradual overflow of liquid over a week as expected, but it is a water based brown-green liquid with an oily feel, not separated oil. I need to check the solubility of oil in antifreeze. I'll have to wait to spring to tear it down and have more info.
So your going to keep driving it with a known problem? Your just going to make everything worse....
 

Jayhall

WHIP THE PISS OUT OF THEM
May 7, 2005
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Surrey BC
I bet your turbo needs a seal. Its most likely burning the most oil under boost. Good luck finding the smoke in your mirror as your thrusting forwards, creating a vacume and turbulant air behind you. Thats where all my oil was going. Check your afm and air filter for oil
 

Victor Charlie

Supramania Contributor
Aug 18, 2009
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Ann Arbor
Jayhall;1500005 said:
I bet your turbo needs a seal. Its most likely burning the most oil under boost. Good luck finding the smoke in your mirror as your thrusting forwards, creating a vacuum and turbulant air behind you. Thats where all my oil was going. Check your afm and air filter for oil
I didn't expect much action on this thread, but thanks for the feedback. I did have a friend drive behind me, no smoke under boost, FWIW. I will pull the head off in spring. IF I blow the motor, I have another spare, but I really think its okay. Also, I just did a complete rebuild, and the rings and bore were in spec and every thing was really carefully cleaned, all pinhole passages cleared, etc. If I have to rebuild it again, so be it, but I'll check the head, cam seals, and PCV system first. Probably should close this thread since I don't have time or good weather to do much more with it for a few months.
 

Sside

Member
May 20, 2008
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Houston
I just had the same problem a few months ago, It happened right after my fresh rebuild..... I was getting oil in my coolant but no coolant in my oil.... I flushed the system prob 12 times and it always came back..... I decided to take the head off and my pistons had that nice milky look..... I cleaned it up, took the forgotten rivets off the MHG and slapped it back on..... I also took my radiator off and had it cleaned by a shop... All good now, not sure if was radiator or leaking MHG... Not saying this is your problem but taking the head off is a great idea.... :) GL
 

supradjza80

Mr. Formula SAE
Apr 24, 2007
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This doesn't add up...Post a picture of the coolant color in the overflow... Plus once the coolant system is purged of air you should not have any more coolant coming out the overflow. That or it is leaking and you are not noticing it.
 

Victor Charlie

Supramania Contributor
Aug 18, 2009
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Ann Arbor
Sside;1500602 said:
I just had the same problem a few months ago, It happened right after my fresh rebuild..... I was getting oil in my coolant but no coolant in my oil.... I flushed the system prob 12 times and it always came back..... I decided to take the head off and my pistons had that nice milky look..... I cleaned it up, took the forgotten rivets off the MHG and slapped it back on..... I also took my radiator off and had it cleaned by a shop... All good now, not sure if was radiator or leaking MHG... Not saying this is your problem but taking the head off is a great idea.... :) GL

Very interesting,thanks. I don't know what the nice milky look means. Or the "forgotten rivets" and whether that mattered that you took them off. I'm actually not sure if I messed up the head. I was very careful and triple checked before modifying the coolant flow. but it is what it is, I sure screwed something up, and I'll find out in spring when I take it apart to check. Since I hate inconclusive threads as much as anyone, I have to apologize again that I'm a wuss about working in the snow, so I'm not working on this for a while.
 

Keros

Canadian Bacon
Mar 16, 2007
825
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Calgary
Put some coolant and oil together in a clear bottle and shake it... that's what milkshake looks like.

I once lost 2L (almost 2qt) of oil mysteriously. It seemed to dissapear like a fart in the wind. Didn't burn on startup, didn't burn under boost or idle... just gone, vanished. Didn't leak for two days sitting either.

At one point I thought, 'hey, check the plugs'... guess what I found? My oil. 2L of redline 5w30 in the spark plug gallery. Replaced the valve seals and new valve screws and that solved the problem. It's surprising how much oil fits in there...

Still funny though.
 

Victor Charlie

Supramania Contributor
Aug 18, 2009
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Ann Arbor
Keros;1501215 said:
Put some coolant and oil together in a clear bottle and shake it... that's what milkshake looks like.

I once lost 2L (almost 2qt) of oil mysteriously. It seemed to dissapear like a fart in the wind. Didn't burn on startup, didn't burn under boost or idle... just gone, vanished. Didn't leak for two days sitting either.

At one point I thought, 'hey, check the plugs'... guess what I found? My oil. 2L of redline 5w30 in the spark plug gallery. Replaced the valve seals and new valve screws and that solved the problem. It's surprising how much oil fits in there...

Still funny though.

How would oil from the cylinder fill up the spark plug galley? I would have thought it was a poorly sealed cam cover that got corrected when you were working on the plugs. I will check my cam cover, though. thanks.
 

TurboStreetCar

Formerly Nosechunks
Feb 25, 2006
2,778
13
38
Long Island, Ny
If you want to see if anything is bieng burnt, then take the car out at night and goose it a little when theres cars behind you. The headlights will make any amount of smoke very visible.
 

Victor Charlie

Supramania Contributor
Aug 18, 2009
161
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Ann Arbor
nosechunks;1501389 said:
If you want to see if anything is bieng burnt, then take the car out at night and goose it a little when theres cars behind you. The headlights will make any amount of smoke very visible.

Did this with a friend behind me who has a lot of experience. Absolutely no smoke.
 

WhtMa71

D0 W3RK
Apr 24, 2007
1,813
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Macon, GA
Mine doesn't smoke either aside from fuel smoke...but after boosting and coming to a stop i can smell burning oil. It's enough to notice on the dipstick when I check it every now and then. I don't know if it's quite what you're losing but I was slowly but surely burning it off.

I'm pretty sure if your car is turbo, it smokes...I've never seen a turbo car that didn't have nice fuel smoke.. A little oil smoke mixed with a lot of fuel smoke would be hard to see.
 

supradjza80

Mr. Formula SAE
Apr 24, 2007
782
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39
Appleton, WI
www.uwracing.com
Victor Charlie;1501371 said:
How would oil from the cylinder fill up the spark plug galley? I would have thought it was a poorly sealed cam cover that got corrected when you were working on the plugs. I will check my cam cover, though. thanks.

He meant to say valve cover seals and valve cover screws.
 

Victor Charlie

Supramania Contributor
Aug 18, 2009
161
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Ann Arbor
WhtMa71;1501488 said:
I'm pretty sure if your car is turbo, it smokes...I've never seen a turbo car that didn't have nice fuel smoke.. A little oil smoke mixed with a lot of fuel smoke would be hard to see.

Yes, that's probably true. The white stuff out the tailpipe dissipates in a few seconds, as opposed to leaving a trail. I thought it was mostly water vapor. it is tuned to run a bit on the lean side. I think the PCV system malfunctioning is a reasonable theory after having a mechanic look at it today.
 

Nick M

Black Rifles Matter
Sep 9, 2005
8,897
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You won't see smoke for a quart of oil in 500 miles. Sorry, but it is only one of two things. You are burning it, and you are, or it leaks. I guess the oil gnome is the correct third choice.
 

Victor Charlie

Supramania Contributor
Aug 18, 2009
161
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I see it now. It IS smoking on heavy boost. i think my friend must have been smoking something when he followed me and watched the exhaust. It isn't noticeable on low boost, but with WOT accel there is a brief delay, then it smokes. Sorry everyone, I didn't know what to look for. I put fresh coolant in without additives, just to be sure there's nothing going on there. Sucks being a noob!