Help me pinpoint my oil loss!!!

[Chingon]

well...i need help on finding out how i'm losing my oil. I see no stains under my car, and I see no smoke from my tailpipe. The 1st time it happened, I assumed that the oil 1st used was burned off due to cheapness, 2nd time (now) I did the oil change with mobil 1 (10w40) for the winter and same thing happened.

I went to autozone to see if they carried amzoil:rolleyes and asked the "main" guy how I may be losing the oil. He said I'm probably burning it and said that I should take it to a mechanic and have him check the valve guides....I don't know what he meant so i asked him if he meant the cams...he said yes.

Anyways, I don't know how the cams influence oil loss and am pretty worried right now. I'm gonna check what I can tomorrow and see what i find. So I'm asking what I should check so that I'm not lost tomorrow morning. I'll probably go through everythign that looks oily and see if anything's dripping...I have a fram filter and have heard those go loose and may drip. Anything that I should look for, anything?

[randybunctious]

that guy is a dumb ***. if the valve stem seals are leaking or slipped down on the valve you could burn oil so slowly that you wouldnt notice smoke. to fix this you would have to take the head off and replace the seals. it usually isnt the stems nissan valve stems last a long time. check around your oil filter and oil sending unit, oil pan, harmonic balancer.oil pump, valve cover for leaking oil, does you clutch slip more now? you could do a compression test and see if your rings are worn buy recording the results , then pouring oil in the cylinders , do another compresson check if the comp went up the rings are worn to the point of burning oil

[Chingon]

seems like it's the oil pan... The puddle was on top of that cover they have under the engine and not on the ground...figures...

[C-Kwik]

If you are leaking enough oil to notice between changes(up to 1 quart each change is acceptible), then you would probably notice a puddle on the ground if it's an external leak. Small leaks from seals where they only stain the metal is not going to be noticable. I'd start witha compression or leakdown test to make sure the combustion chamber's integrity is good. Check the oil and coolant to make sure they are not mixing. Also let your car idle for a while and watch the tailpipe for small traces of smoke. You may not notice it while driving. If you notice a small amount of smoke at this time, or perhaps while or very shortly after decelerating in gear, you may have a valve stem seal problem. When the intake manifold sees high vacuum(idle or deceleration) and the seals are bad, it begins to suck the oil into the intak manifold. It will typically start out small and become more of a problem over time.

[navysnail]

if you have a uv light or have access to one you can get some dye that you pour into your oil and it glows BRIGHT neon yellow when the uv light hits it. you can get some dye at napa i think

[180fan]

well if you've no blue smoke out your tailpipe, it's not getting burned. I'd check out bottom near the front or rear crank seals. My other friend Chris just sprung an oil leak and said it's from the oil pan area but there's no oil leaking from the side of the oil pan itself, and said it was towards the rear of the engine. After hearing that, I told him to check out the area near the transmission and engine, and said it was leaking there. Only thing from the rear is the rear crank seal. I'd check out the crank seals or the oil pan seals if you're thinking it's coming from the oil pan.

[Chingon]

It's coming from the front....I've heard of crank seals but don't know what they really are. I may be getting that dye 240kid is talking about.

And c-kwik, you say some oil loss is natural. I'm guessing more would be expected from a higher mileage engine? i was missing 2 quarts and I went past oil due date by a couple of miles.

Also, does anyone know what I can do to make the oil light come on? I've only been aware of this 'cuz I check the dipstick and not once has the light come on....

Thanks for all the input..

[C-Kwik]

It can very with the condition, but up to 1 quart is acceptable. Less loss of oil is of course better. 2 quarts seems rather excessive.

The light will come on basically if you do not have enough oil pressure. In most cases if that happens, it is too late. Chances are you are still getting enough oil, but be careful that you don't take turns hard if your oil level is too low and such. It can cause the oil pick up to be out of the oil and doing this at high loads can cause problems.

[Cygnus_X_1]

if its the front crank seal, then its a pretty easy fix. i just did mine, and it only took me about an hour. the only 'specialty' tools you need are a pully puller and a socket big enough to fit the crank bolt. i think its a 27 or 28 mm for the crank

[navysnail]

the dye is pretty nice and really easy to use, just pour it in the oil and run the engine. you will need a flourescent uv or "black light" to make it glow and show up. if you do, get a little dye on your finger and rub it somewere, then shine the uv on it. that way you will know what you are looking for and if the light is putting out uv. it should glow neon orange or yellow.

[180fan]

the front crank seal is behind the crank pulley like Cygnus_X_1 said. The crank pulley is a 27mm, and you might need a pulley puller to get the crank pulley off. I had to use one for my SR but not for my 24E so I guess if it doesn't come off by trying to pull it off and kinda rocking it side to side then use the pulley puller. Then you'll see a little brown ring and you can use like a small hook like thing to punch through it and pull the bugger off. it's really in there but it'll come out with that method or with a small flat head if you're really careful.

[aspinballer]

popular mechanics showed this trick, to find the leak they used Dr. scholls foot spray after wiping it...well something like that,

http://popularmechanics.com/au...phtml