Re: IML: Odd oil question

[RandalPark@xxxxxxx]

It is tough to say exactly what has happened. I can explain something similar that has happened to me. 

I had a car that would often not give an accurate reading on the dipstick. Also, it smoked a lot when I started it up in the morning, and occassionally smoked oil when I was WOT on a steep grade. It used about one quart every 300 miles. Strangely, sometimes, when I would have the oil changed, these problems would seem to disappear, and the car would use very little oil between fill ups at the service station. 

I discovered that the oil drain holes in the cylinder heads were plugged up. I was having the car serviced at two different places, depending on whether I was home or at work when I had the oil changed. It turned out that one one brand of oil would pass through the drain holes and the other brand would not. When it would not, oil accumulated in the top end, under the valve covers. That was the reason why I was getting inconsistent readings on the dipstick. Since there was so much oil held in the top end, during the night it would seep past the valve guides and burn off as a big puff when I started the car in the morning. The final problem that this caused was that since the PCV valve was located in the top of the right bank valve cover, when the engine was working hard, the oil would pump into the valve cover faster than it could drain out. Once the cover was full of oil, the PCV valve would pull it through causing the smoke at higher RPMs.

When I realized what was going on, I pulled the valve covers, cleaned out the drain holes, and the problems went away. I don't know what the difference would have been between the two brands of oil, but all the receipts at the time said that they were using 10-30.

Paul

In an email dated Wed, 5 1 2005 11:10:23 pm GMT, alacaria@xxxxxxxxx writes:

>Hey Guys;
>
>My son's girlfriend has a 1995 dodge caravan with 180,000 miles. It burns 
>oil and has to have oil added as it burns it. My son would change it every 
>3000 miles and add 10w30 Valvoline or other name brand. Well the last time 
>he changed it I told him to use the Advance brand oil because it was 
>cheaper. Well he changed it with the Advance brand 10w 30. Now he tells me 
>it smokes very little and they add oil once in a while. Basically it uses 
>3/4 less oil.
>
>
>Can anyone explain this to me or have any ideas why?
>
>Anthony
>
>
>
>----------------- ?http://www.imperialclub.com ?-----------------
>This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
>reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
>shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
>Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
>
>
m¶?ÿÃ"??«?©\?æÜ¢dá?É?²Æ?{¬±éí¶?¨¹¼­?â&¥êâjS?X§?¸¬´ù^jÇ«z?r¶???X§?X¬¶)©z¸??ÉnmÊ&jwr¢êëzÊh?Ç°?Y[zÈZ­çp?Ø^½êò¢w?®+Úµé?²Æ?zƧu«miÈfz{l~?í?à?)â²ÚÚ¶?ì².?ÖÞ±éí¶?nf¬µêâ??«?©\?æÜ¢dèPÔ? ?  ¢Ú!¶Úþ)©z¸??ÉnmÊ&þéì¹»®&Þ?Ù