Need help engine burning oil!

[Xandub87]

Hey guys i have a 2003 protege lx has 126k miles and ive had an issue with it burning alot of oil especially on start up when it has sat for atleast 6 hours. checked compression and im getting 180-200 lbs of compression dont know what norm is. if anyone does i would appreciate the info. checked the pcv valve and it was fuel of oil. changed that and it still burns quite a bit of oil. spark plugs are very black. if anyone knows what my issue is please let me know. thanks

[m_jackson]

is there blue smoke coming out of the exhaust?...dirty plugs doesn't always mean that its burning oil, it could be running really rich.

[Xandub87]

yes it is blue smoke when the car is started after sitting for atleast 5 hours

[dtatham]

How often are you having to add oil? How does the oil in the oil pan look? Your oil wiping rings and compression rings are probably good since the compression is OK. The main way for oil to get into the cylinders is the valve stem seals. Check the PCV to make sure it's working OK, but I doubt that's it. I would take it into a shop, not a dealership and price a valve job. Chances are you won't need an engine rebuild.

[mclovin]

Valve stem seals?

[therieldeal]

try replacing the PCV valve first

[dtatham]

Pcv

Usually when the PCV valve is bad and allows blow by, you lose oil when the engine is hot and the oil in the head is hot and partially vaporized. I wouldn't expect it to burn oil only when the engine is cold. When the engine cools things contract and seals and gaskets leak more. If the valve stem seals (under the lifters) are badly worn, oil will slowly seep through them. If the engine isn't running for a few hours a fair bit can drain down into the cylinders and will burn off during the first few minutes when the engine starts up. It will be leaking at all times, it's just not as apparent because not as much oil has built up. The other thing that happens once it starts up is that the metal parts expand and provides better sealing on the gaskets. My recommendation is that you pull the head, visually check the inside of the cylinders for bad wear (you'll most likely be able to still see the swirls from the original honing), take the head to a machine shop, then reinstall it with new gaskets.

I would do the repair before you coat the catalytic converter in carbon.

[therieldeal]

you can explain your theory to my old EGT that smoked on startup, but was fine driving around. replaced the PCV valve and the issue immediately went away was fine for years after that.

but hey if you want to try the $1000 valve job before the $5 pcv valve, go for it!

PS i know my way around a car and i know what leaking valve stem seals do. i'm not disagreeing with you, just offering a possible alternate diagnosis...

also the PCV valve that went bad on my car was a nearly new parts-store one... spend the extra couple bucks and get one from mazda.

[XxaltezzaxX]

pcv valves suck on third gens, replace it.

[Xandub87]

replaced the pcv valve and is still burning oil on startup. the pcv valve was worn out though. but the oil continues to burn on start up

[goldstar]

Hey guys i have a 2003 protege lx has 126k miles and ive had an issue with it burning alot of oil especially on start up when it has sat for atleast 6 hours. checked compression and im getting 180-200 lbs of compression dont know what norm is. if anyone does i would appreciate the info. thanks

From the '02 FSM, FS-DE Engine:
Standard = 171 PSI (1,177 kPa)
Minimum = 119 PSI (824 kPa)
Maximum allowable difference among cylinders = 2 PSI (196 kPa)

Readings taken at 300 rpm with WOT at cranking speed. Before test, engine should be brought up to normal operating temperature then allowed to cool off for ~ 10 minutes before readings are taken.

Happy Motoring!

[Lex]

What weight oil are you using? It sounds like the valve stem seals. Did the car sit around for a long time without someone driving it? Also make sure the PCV hose is not kinked or blocked or broken.

[KAinjection]

Hey guys i have a 2003 protege lx has 126k miles and ive had an issue with it burning alot of oil especially on start up when it has sat for atleast 6 hours. checked compression and im getting 180-200 lbs of compression dont know what norm is. if anyone does i would appreciate the info. checked the pcv valve and it was fuel of oil. changed that and it still burns quite a bit of oil. spark plugs are very black. if anyone knows what my issue is please let me know. thanks

From the '02 FSM, FS-DE Engine:
Standard = 171 PSI (1,177 kPa)
Minimum = 119 PSI (824 kPa)
Maximum allowable difference among cylinders = 2 PSI (196 kPa)

Readings taken at 300 rpm with WOT at cranking speed. Before test, engine should be brought up to normal operating temperature then allowed to cool off for ~ 10 minutes before readings are taken.

Happy Motoring!

I would say based on your compression test and the specs he posted, that you need to perform a wet compression test and make sure its not the piston rings.

I know what everyone is going to say, "its not the rings his compression is high"

I had a customer bring me a car that was burning oil and I did a compression test on it, the compression was just like yours or higher and this was a 98 protege with a Z5. I did a wet compression test and it jumped up by about 30psi, and I think the highest cylinder compression I got was almost 230psi after putting a little PB blaster in the cylinder. The reason was, is because this car had such terrible carbon build-up on the pistons that it made the compression appear somewhat normal.

Now I know your supposed to perform the wet compression test with a little bit of engine oil, but I had PB blaster handy and shot some of that in the cylinder, it worked fine. I made sure the heavy carbon build-up was not the culprit of the ring issue by removing some of it. Carbon build-up on the rings like that, can cause issues and make an engine burn oil-seen it happen and thats why I checked it.

I removed some of the carbon from the cylinders by running a large glass of water through the engine while it was running. You just trickle a little bit in till it starts to run rough, let it clear up, and do it again, you dont want to dump the whole glass in at once. After I did this the compression dropped down considerably from before, but the wet test did not change much, so I re-ringed the engine, cleaned the remaining carbon from the pistons and no more oil burning.

The only other thing it could be is a headgasket, but that would have other indicators and you would not have such high compression either from the gasket leaking and the carbon would not build up if the engine was burning coolant either.