thought I would share a little info as anyone who finds
their oil consumption going up might want to consider ,
over a period of months my 4.2/4.0L hybred developed a
huge appetite for oil, I got a number of opinions on what
the problem might be but a 'one liner' in my haynes manual
was dead on ...
engine:'89 4.2L w/hesco 4.0L '91 HO head (casting #7120),
'95 MPI conversion, borla headers/catback, K&N coldair,
syntec oil, bosch platinum plugs - est. 14mpg around town,
est. 210HP;
symphtom:went from burning maybe 1/2Litre of oil per 3000km
to 1/2Litre a tank of gas over 8 week periods ... yech !
diagnosis:asked around, rings etc were suggested, I pulled the
plugs examined them and also did a highlevel compression test.
noticed tail pipe was darker than usual with soot ...
everything seemed to check out, I even video taped the tail pipe
at startup to see if it was blowing blue, it looked white ...
examined the plugs for 20th time over a cold one scratching my head
and noticed some white deposits on a couple of the electrods for #1,#2
and #3 cyls, these 3 cyls also had the lowest compression numbers but
were still in spec, checking the haynes manual for white deposites it
suggested valve seals ...
the fix:called around and mopar had 'em for about 90$ complete set of
intake/exhaust seals, seemed like a pretty good gamble to give'em a try so put them in
over a couple of nights sat/sun ...
what I found was the used ones in the head were of a totally different
design than what mopar gave me, the mopar ones looked like better quality
design, they used a spring tenstioner at top and the case was metal, the
used ones had a cheaper(?) band clasp design around a rubber body;
following the haynes manual I picked up two cheap spring compressors from
cdn tire, to get at #6 valves I had to cut one of compressors handle off to
clear the firewall and used a monkey wrench for leverage on it ...
took me about 6 hours to replace them taking my time carefully labeling
rocker assy and pushrods etc , put everything back where it came from ...
I rigged up a little guage from a pringle can lid to tell when I was at top dead
centre while tightening the rockers
keeping the dirt out better than a mash surgical unit
the result :was pretty excited after the first tank of gas went through and the
dipstick level didnt move - but wanted to wait till I had some km on her, well am
glad to report my oil consumption is now about 1/4 litre for 3000km and tailpipe
has lightened up , seems this could happen to anyone w/4L engine and its an easy cheap
fix ...
Randy
Topic: 4L high oil consumption - one possible solution to consider (Read 614 times)