Oil Shortage!

[Lorie]

I have an Twin cam SL2, has it been figured out where all the oil goes?
About every three weeks I need to put oil in, if I forget I will be reminded
by the ticking .... ouch!!
It's a few years old now, but has been like this since I bought it new from
the dealer.
Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Bob Shuman]

Lorie,

You are either burning the oil or leaking it through bad gaskets/seals. To
eliminate the latter as the cause, you need to inspect the underside of the
engine or at the minimum look for oil stains on the garage floor/driveway
where you normally park. If there are no obvious signs of leakage (and from
the frequency you state there certainly should be) then you would almost
have to be burning the oil through the combustion chamber. You generally
can see this as light blue smoke coming out the tail pipe, especially when
you accelerate under load. If you are burning the oil, then it is either:
1) through the valves (needs a valve job with new valve stem oil seals) or
2) through the rings (needs a ring job/new rings and to have the cylinder
walls re-honed) or 3) both through bad rings and valves. Repair costs for
this vary, but basically require either a rebuilding of the head or short
block or both.

Since you do not provide a mileage or maintenance history, it is hard to say
much more on if this is normal wear and tear or from abuse or poor
maintenance. The way to try to avoid this is to regularly change your oil
following the severe maintenance schedule or even better, every 3,000 miles.
I also like to use a good 10W30 oil for the summer months, but stick with
the recommended 5W30 during winter since this provides a bit more protection
and reduces long term wear. Good luck.

Bob

PS When you hear that ticking sound because the oil is low, you are doing
damage to the engine since there is too little/no oil getting to the engine
head to lubricate the valves. Keep the oil level up to the full line and
get the problem fixed or you will likely be incurring major (several
thousand dollars in) repairs.

 

[Ron Herfurth]

My 94 SL1 gives off bluish exhaust so I'm assuming it's burning the lost
oil.
The most popular folk lore is that Saturn (in homage to the shortcuts they
pulled in the Vega I suppose) used the cheapest material they could find for
the rings so eventually all Saturns will burn oil.

I got to the point where I quit checking the dip stick, I just add a half
quart every thousand miles.

ron

 

[Oppie]

PS When you hear that ticking sound because the oil is low, you are doing
damage to the engine since there is too little/no oil getting to the
engine head to lubricate the valves. Keep the oil level up to the full
line and get the problem fixed or you will likely be incurring major
(several thousand dollars in) repairs.

The ticking sound is usually the Valve rocker arm tapping against the valve
stem due to air being sucked into the oil pump pickup. Air makes its way to
the hydraulic valve lash adjuster (where it gets in easily and is slow to
leave) making the adjuster spongy. Valve tap will eventually mushroom out
the end of the valve stem.
Check the oil level every few days or as needed and don't wait to hear
sounds before adding oil.

Seems the twin cam engines are famous for burning oil. I have the LW300 ('01
with 63K on it). Oil consumption is not too bad but every now and then there
is a very embarrassing thick blue cloud of smoke at start-up. It goes away
almost immediately. Most likely a nick on one of the valve stems that when
it is in the right position over a long period of time, allows some oil
seepage from the head into the intake. I check the oil level once a week and
wind up adding a quart every 3k miles. Like Bob said, I also use 10W30 for
the summer and 5W30 in the winter.
Oppie