Where is My Oil Going???? O_o

[rsmithdrift]

Ok Some of youk know how I am with posts about my cars problems I can get a bit detail oriented in my rants. So if your lazy and don't want to know the details just read the last paragraph in bold for the simple questions.

Ok so I have had a front main seal leak in my ka (ka24de) ever since I got the car. It's gotten worse over the years...by 4 months ago I was loosing 1qt per week. I noticed long ago it would only do it at high revs... like over 3k regularly. So I finally said f it and bought a big enough socket and a gasket to do it myself. Went without a hitch. No more leak. No more leak anywhere actually...None that I can see. Stays totally dry under my car now. Finally. 4 months straight no drips no more wet oil pan.

Not the end of discussion... Now every month or so I am finally down to low and fill it back to high. About 3/4 of a quart. My car has 206,500mi on it and I changed the near perfectly fresh looking 2,500mi on it oil with max life 10w-40 to try and help it a little at 204,700. No difference.

My car does not smoke AT ALL. It has no funny smells. My coolant is perfectly sealed and full. The oil looks fine... barely dirty... a month for me is ~1,000 miles btw. I have my a/f ratio dialed in perfectly. My timing is at 22* (248/232 cam swap) and I only get a tiny bit of knock (reading on AFC) at idle if I lean the ratio out more than 5% at low throttle and that's expected once it's warmed up and even better than normal actually.. It's not running dangerous at all I'm around 12:1 at high throttle and 16-14:1 at low throttle. I have new and perfect cond ignition system, no power loss AT ALL. I'd say i'm around 150whp 180 or so crank (I want to dyno it so bad) and I had the car on the weight scales the other day it weighs 2,590 lbs... I'm down from 2760 from when it was stock just minus the spare tire and I even have a system in it too lol I've done so much for weight reduction its unreal.. For what it is It pulls hard. Real hard. Keeps up with 370z's no problem.. Even non stock ones. Keeps up with sr20 swapped at 13psi 240's no problem. Literally I can keep door to door with them under any circumstances our cars pull almost the same. It's fast. 0-60 in 6.2-6.5 seconds... I time it with a stop watch every day almost. On flat wide one way streets with no intersections. I hit start when I first move my foot to release the clutch at 3k rpm and if I don't feather it it'll burn rubber and fishtail everywhere and go nowhere all the way into 2nd gear... has alot of mid range power. and hit stop when my gps says im going 60mph. (Usually 2mph after my speedo hits 60 btw). so I'm even starting like .2 or so early of my actuall launch initiation time. I have video of it doing it in 6.2 on youtube I've posted on here.

I just cant figure out where my oil is going... My spark plugs are always just a little glazed from the hi throttle hi rpm runs ive been doing, because of which high speed glazing is typical... I just don't get it. I've heard engines run the best and pull the hardest right before they die. I really hope that's not true... I love the way it runs now I just want to know where my oil is going it freaks me out. Before the leak got bad I was only really loosing oil after 3k miles and the oil started to break down in which case loosing a qt every 1,000 miles is normal since I was driving with oil that needs changing. But now it's loosing it with fresh oil... and not leaking either... at all to my knowledge. I want to run Royal Purple 5w-30 again very badly but I can't run that expensive oil if it's just going to dissapear every month... even though I do gain hp by running with it. (you can actually FEEL the difference it makes)

So does anybody know something I don't about where oil could be going in this engine??? How would I know if I had blowby if their are no simple signs of it?? I know this is a very in depth post but I wanted someone with actual understanding to be able to properly assess it.

[OM3GA]

Mine may have been burning oil slightly or it was blowby and then it was burning it that way. Either way i ran 10w30 Royal purple in my KA and after hard drives typically every 3 or 4 days i would add about 200-300 ML of oil.

Not really a big deal, imo its normal for older motors to use a small amount of oil on a large amount of abuse. I wouldn't get too worked up about it, just make sure you check your oil once a week or so and add accordingly. You really can't expect to just change your oil and not have to touch it again until the next change do you?

My car did not smoke at all either. It definitely was not leaking because every gasket and seal was brand new and confirmed dry.

Just my opinion but that seems normal to me.

[rsmithdrift]

Mine may have been burning oil slightly or it was blowby and then it was burning it that way. Either way i ran 10w30 Royal purple in my KA and after hard drives typically every 3 or 4 days i would add about 200-300 ML of oil.

Not really a big deal, imo its normal for older motors to use a small amount of oil on a large amount of abuse. I wouldn't get too worked up about it, just make sure you check your oil once a week or so and add accordingly. You really can't expect to just change your oil and not have to touch it again until the next change do you?

My car did not smoke at all either. It definitely was not leaking because every gasket and seal was brand new and confirmed dry.

Just my opinion but that seems normal to me.

Well I don't expect it to be perfect, just the way it was before when I first got it... I could go that first 3,000 miles after a change and never have to add a drop no matter how hard I rode it. Only after that would it loose some oil slowly till I changed it again. Drifting occasionally every day for over a year back then. Then I got in a pinch financially and couldn't afford to keep buying tires and just drove it normal for the past two years with occasional slide sesssions and hard pulls but not regularly at all Like maybe once a week. Trying to be conservative mostly. It started getting in a state of disrepair due to my not having money to properly diagnos it and upkeep it. That's when the leak got bad. Now I'm on it the same as I was when I first got it and it's going through oil very fast compaired to what it was when it was new to me that first year.

And when I am constantly running it hard I always check everything and add/adjust accordingly very often. Like once a week. I'm very in tune with my car... that's why the oil thing disturbs me so much.... Cause I have no clue why it's different now.

[kouki munster]

There is a tiny portal to another dimension full of tree hugging hippies in your oil pan, you should be happy about that, because of you hippies will get cancer and die. But seriously its being burned off, its not something to get up set over, your ka has 200,000+ miles on it and based on your description it has been beat on pretty hard. Just run a less expensive synthetic oil and keep a close watch on the oil level.

Also, it won't smoke enough to be easily seen unless the valve stem seals or a rings are pretty worn out.

[OutToWinPAHC]

200K yeah past you rings or down the valve stems

[rsmithdrift]

There is a tiny portal to another dimension full of tree hugging hippies in your oil pan, you should be happy about that, because of you hippies will get cancer and die. But seriously its being burned off, its not something to get up set over, your ka has 200,000+ miles on it and based on your description it has been beat on pretty hard. Just run a less expensive synthetic oil and keep a close watch on the oil level.

Also, it won't smoke enough to be easily seen unless the valve stem seals or a rings are pretty worn out.

lol I like the hypie excuse better... haha

[rsmithdrift]

200K yeah past you rings or down the valve stems

Is that something to worry about?? Like does that mean my engine is on it's last leg and I should be saving up for a rebuild soon or will it just do this and not have any problems cause of it from now on?? Blow by really worries me...

[OM3GA]

Mine did this for 3 years and then the headgasket finally went, that is typically the first thing to go at that mileage imo. When you do the hg you can also rebuild the head to eliminate the possibility of it being the valve guides.

[Redevil]

i got the same problem yo... it's those engine gnomes, they be climbing in your engine and snatching your oil up. they trying to rape you so you better hide your wife, hide your kids.

[kouki munster]

I wouldn't say that your engine is on its last leg, just that it is starting to show its age. If you are really worried about it, do a compression test and hook up a oil pressure gauge. Thoes should give you an idea of the condition that your engine is in.

[OutToWinPAHC]

This is what you do.

Check compression dry, if number low do the test with some oil in the cylinder and see if the rings are blowing oil past. Read how to compression test, and west compression test.

If you pass compression test, then check for external leaks, internal leaks (hard to do with good compression), and replace the valve stem seals. If it not intermixing, and not getting pass the rings your burning it somehow, most likey from above (valve stem seals)

[rsmithdrift]

This is what you do.

Check compression dry, if number low do the test with some oil in the cylinder and see if the rings are blowing oil past. Read how to compression test, and west compression test.

If you pass compression test, then check for external leaks, internal leaks (hard to do with good compression), and replace the valve stem seals. If it not intermixing, and not getting pass the rings your burning it somehow, most likey from above (valve stem seals)

Will do. Valve stem seals make sense though as my car ran really lean and had a high amount of knock (reading from sensor) for almost two years untill I finally figured out I needed to replace my fuel pump. Just to give an idea... now the highest knock reading I get is 9 after I've been driving hard on the interstate and doing high throttle runs constantly for about thirty minutes. When the fuel pump was bad (installing the AFC and AF gauge is how I finally figured out it was the fuel pump btw) I was going all the way to a reading of 250. Idk but that just seems crazy bad like IDK how the engine still runs after that. It was flooding at idle and then going so lean at throttle that it would litterally not read on the 02 sensor. I chased that grimlin for years before I finally figured it out. The guy at the local nissan tuning shop hooked it up to nissan consult and said it was off the charts lean beyond 125% and he had no clue how I drove it their....

[OM3GA]

Crazy