| Subject: | Eclipse burns oil |
| Question: | Dear Anthony, My Mitsu ( Eclipse, 93, 2.0 DOHC non-turbo 208000 km. )burns oil ( 1 liter in 2000 km. approximately ). There is no any oil leaks all around the engine. We have done compression test, and it was perfect. Plugs seemed good, not black or wet. There is not blue smoke then accelerating at all, but I see some more black spot at the end of silencer than on the other eclipses. Can it be rings? Do you feel change of these rubbers on the valves could help? Can it be any other reasons? Please, help! |
| Answer: | Savas, Going through a liter of oil in 2000 kilomters isn't that uncommon for a 10 year old car. If oil was leaking past your piston rings, you would definitely notice blue smoke blowing from your tail pipe. Worn valve seals are another common cause of loosing oil, but again, you would most likely see some blue smoke in your exhaust. You may be leaking oil from your oil cap gasket and/or your valve
cover gasket. When oil leaks from your oil cap, it will start to
pool up around your spark plug wire boots. But if you don't see any
oil around your spark plug area, you could probably rule that out.
If your valve cover gasket was leaking, that oil may be dripping
on a something hot and burning away. If that was occuring, you probably
wouldn't notice any oil drips on the ground around your engine. It's
very cheap and easy if you want to try to replace the valve cover
gasket yourself. On a 10 year old Eclipse, its a good idea to do
that, even if you have a mechanic do it for you. |