i got this car for my girl and it seems to be using oil but i do not see it buring oil so i think it may be a leak, i do not see just by looking under the car any place it may be coming from. i have not got under it yet to see if i can see a oil spot on the engine. so maybe some here can point me to places that are normal for this car to leak oil? i asked her t put a pc. of cardboard down to see if any fresh oil show on it but she has not done it yet. so leave it to dad to figure this one out. you know how this is?

anyway i was hoping that some here migh help me out by pointing me in the general direction these cas have for oil leaks after they get 100k on them. thanks for any help. bp.

 

The 3.5 motor is a known oil drinker, you may not see it out the tailpipe due to the cat converters. Any vehicle with 100k on it will show signs at front and rear crank seals and oil pressure sender unit(s). Valve cover gaskets rank right up there as potential leak sources also.

 

thanks rebel59 i'm aware of the seals and valve gaskets but was not aware of the engine being an oil drinker. i did look up under it just after i got it and it looked clean but then it could have sprung a leak somewhere that is why i asked.

after i posted i did more research and found out that engine was notorious for using oil due to poor piston ring design. sure hope they fired the idiot that did that design work. i got a kick out of the mfg tell people that this was a normal thing. hell i have engines that go 6k the factory stated oil change and not a drop missing. well you know what i mean still showing full on the stick.

now my corvair is a drinker but then that engine runs at 325 deg normal operating temps and can boil the oil out, so i expect that, but not any other normal running engines. so it sounds like that was a bad design flaw that they just could not afford to repair during the 05 to 08 era as the were going broke.

anyway thanks for the reminder. i have to do a more thorough check in a few weeks and will repair any places that show oil leaks. or at least get them located for another day. if the oil consumption continues i will start using as cheap oil i can find being this is 11 years old i do not expect her to get more than 5 years out of it. an then she will be sick of it and replace it/junk it. bob p.

 

Using a high mileage synthetic oil (Penzoil) seemed to cut my oil consumption in half.