pineapple_tree

I discovered something somewhat alarming today. Before I started my Jeep, I checked the various fluids as I normally do every once in a while, and discovered that i’m half a quart on oil, when I just topped it off to full on the dip stick just 2 days ago. At that time, when I first topped it off, I had just changed the oil and thought I might’ve skimped on the oil on accident, so bought a quart, poured in half, and I was on my way.

However, today, it seems that i’ve consumed about half a quart in a total of 100 miles, give or take some. That’s a lot of oil to be consuming, almost out of the blue.

When I did my first oil change on this Jeep when I got it, I checked the dipstick about 3 times a week to see if I was consuming oil, (after I fixed every leak on this engine), and my dipstick stayed at the “full” mark for 3k miles until I changed it again.

Now, it doesn’t seem likely that i’m burning the oil, because I don’t smell it out of the exhaust, and I don’t see the thick blue smoke that would tell me i’m chugging half a quart of oil every 100 miles, so that leaves me to believe that maybe I have a stuck PCV valve, but the air filter, which was just changed, didn’t have an oil stain on it.

Maybe i’m leaking it out? I doubt it. The only seal I haven’t changed is the RMS, but I seriously doubt it would fail and leak out that much oil suddenly, and it would leave a mark where I park it.

So i’m stuck. I don’t know why all of the sudden i’m consuming this much oil.

I’ve also started to see that my oil pressure has been slacking recently, it’s normally pegged at 60 PSI on the gauge, and now it’s dipping down to around 50-55 when cruising above 1.5k.

I should also note that i’m running 5w30 conventional oil, and yes I know 10w30 is the best for this engine, but according to a chart from Chrysler, 5w30 offers better start up protection in temps below 45-50. Even though 10w30 provides protection all the way past the negatives, 5w30 is okay to run at temps below 60 at start up.

Let me know what I need to check, if I have the time to check

DustyWagoneer

I would pull the spark plugs one at a time, and check to see if they show oil burn?
The pcv system really just dumps into the top of the air filter. So if the filter is coated in oil you would know there is excessive blow by?
Is there any evidence of oil leaking from the valve cover or anywhere else on the outside of the engine??

agreen

Yep. Obviously, look for leaks first. Check the plugs. If one looks greasy, do a compression test. If the compression looks good, you might be losing it through the valve stem seals. If it's not good, the rings could be worn out.

Here's a picture of a Honda Civic that I recently worked on that was losing a quart every 80 miles. The owner had only just got this car. Looks like the previous owner sprayed nitrous on it or something. This car still ran fine otherwise, and the cylinder walls actually looked good.

pineapple_tree

I’ll pull the spark plugs soon if I ever get the chance, but I remember when I did my plugs and everything else, I looked at each one and each one showed no signs of oil on them. They were just a light brown color that’s normal for spark plugs.

As far as leaks go, I just did my valve cover and oil pan gasket, both with the good type of Fel-Pro gaskets, the perma-dry moulded gaskets, and the only things that show any type of oil is around where the oil filter is, since I never cleaned it up when I took the old one out. Regardless, i’m gonna clean it up and make sure I didn’t tighten the oil filter enough.

As far as the PCV system goes, if it was really sucking that much oil in, I imagine the filter would be brown and moist, but it’s not.

Ill check the oil again when I leave work and see what I see.

doublechaz

A loose filter can empty a lot of oil quick, but there would be no missing the James Bond oil slick everywhere you went.

pineapple_tree

Turned out to be the oil filter. I put on a ford oil filter, and thought it was the same. Well, the threads are the same, but the gasket was larger, so it never sealed all that well. Changed it out to a Jeep one, and so far so good.

Word to the wise… just stick to part number that’s for your car. Don’t try and save 2 bucks by grabbing a free oil filter that “looks” like yours