Hi all, new here on the forum. I am a mechanic by trade, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what is going on with my new to me car. I am losing oil. It is not leaking anywhere. It is not burning it that I can tell as there is no burning oil smell or cloud of blue smoke with throttle. I do not see anything in my coolant that would suggest a blown head gasket. The car has 54,453 miles on it and runs like a top, but has left me stranded a couple times due to low oil. Anyone run into anything like this before?

2004 Chrysler sebring 2.4L with 54,543 miles

 

Have you checked the plugs? Just a guess here but it might be leaking very slowly by one of the valve guides, slow enough to get burned reasonably cleanly but I would think if that is the case the plug in the affected cylinder would show some evidence of oil burning like carbon deposits. When pulling the plugs, crack them loose a tiny bit, then run them back in to try to avoid dragging a chunk of carbon out through the threads.

 

I have not yet pulled the plugs. I plan on doing a tune up on it this weekend and will see then.

 

Been a couple weeks. I have completed my tune up. All plugs looked uniform and had no carbon build up on them or any signs of oil being burnt. I pulled the valve cover to see if it was slugged up and drain holes were plugged, but the top of the DOHC motor was extremely clean. I ended up replacing the VC gasket and PCV valve while I was there. There was a small amount of oil around the plugs when I pulled the boots off. I have not seen a change in my oil consumption as of yet. Still, there are no leaks around the pan, I pulled the timing cover and there is no oil in there from bad seals. I can not find where this oil is going. Its going somewhere though... going low enough to not start the car because of low oil pressure time and time again and having to add 2-3 quarts to get her going again.

 

Interesting, yet perplexing.
What weight oil are you running?

 

I was running 5w30. I switched up to 10w30 to see that happens. Doesn't seem to change it

 

Check the PCV again. There are/were some out there that did not seat properly causing oil consumption.
Chrysler 300M Enthusiasts Club • View topic - ALERT: Check OEM PCV valve for this design flaw...