burning oil?

Discussion and technical advice for 84-89 AW10 & AW11 MR2. 3A-LU, 4A-GE, 4A-GZE.

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paulh
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:17 pm
Location: Hebburn- Northeast

burning oil?

Post by paulh »

Hi everyone, looking for some advice, bought a new mk1 2 weeks ago with 48k miles on the clock, superb bodywork etc, drove it to the lakes last night a 100 mile trip, checked the oil this morning and it is very low, i suspect it is burning oil, is this normal? If not how serious a problem is it, can it be fixed? Any help and advice would be much appreciated as i'm sort of panicking.
Regards Paul.
coverco
Posts: 1489
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:31 pm

Re: burning oil?

Post by coverco »

Did you check the oil before you set off? If not then maybe it was low before. If you did then the oil must be going somewhere, either on the ground due to leaks or out the exhaust due to worn valves/piston rings or into the coolant water, if it is going out the exhaust over 100 miles you should have seen quite a lot of smoke if it is in the water then you will have oil in there. :thumleft:

Let us know and we can hopefully help.
paulh
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:17 pm
Location: Hebburn- Northeast

Re: burning oil?

Post by paulh »

The oil was about half way when i set off and it's now near the empty, I'm pretty sure it isn't leaking onto the ground and no smoke so mustn't be the exhaust, is it likely to be worn piston rings at that mileage? Hows the best way to check th coolant for oil?
Appreciate the help :thumleft:
Paul.
greglebon
Posts: 757
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:52 am
Location: Worthing, UK

Re: burning oil?

Post by greglebon »

One thing to bear in mind is if the previous owner only did short journeys, then there would be a fair amount of water mixed in the oil: when the level was checked, it would seem that it was up to the mark, despite the natural consumption of oil over time by the engine....

However, if you then do a long journey, then all that water / condensation, etc will be burned off: as a result it will look like the engine has suddenly lost a lot of oil.

All Mk1's, especially ones with aftermarket SS exhausts, suffer from steam coming out of the pipes when the engine is warming up: it looks alarming, but is merely the condensation inside the backbox evaporating....

Top it up and monitor it for a while: you can usually smell if you're burning oil, and the exhaust emits a bluish smoke rather than white steam....

Dont worry too much at this stage..... :thumleft:
paulh
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:17 pm
Location: Hebburn- Northeast

Re: burning oil?

Post by paulh »

On my way to get some oil now, will top it up and see how it goes after the drive home, i do have a magnex system on, hopefully it isn't too serious it would break my heart as i've just payed 2600 for it. Cheers for the advice.
Paul.
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