mdawg
SILVER Star
Hi, all,
A little background info to start... my cruiser (see signature line) has 278k on the odometer. I purchased the vehicle when it had 242k on the odometer. I have no idea if the head gasket has ever been replaced. Average mpg is between 12 and 14 mg. It "feels" like it has adequate power, but I live on the North Texas blackland prairie, so there is that. The big issue I am trying to resolve is oil consumption and the smell of burning oil. As for relevant repairs, valve cover gasket is new, new spark plug tube seals, new pcv valve and grommet seal. Most oil leaks resolved, except for maybe upper pan arch seal.
Here are my symptoms:
* I add around 1 qt of oil every 400 miles or so (I use Mobil1 TDT 5W-40).
* I see blue smoke after starting up an already warm engine. I might have also seen it when accelerating from a long idle.
* There is an ever-present exhaust smell (I assume burning oil) whenever running it; the exhaust shop says all is well.
So, I decided to pull the spark plugs and do a compression test. I've posted the results below, but I would like your input on the results. What do you think? And is the only possible culprit at this point the valve stem seals?
Spark plug condition:
Compression test results (hot engine, dry, cranked 7-8 times with throttle fully open, efi fuse pulled)
#1 - 200
#2 - 205
#3 - 195
#4 - 180
#5 - 205
#6 - 215
Obviously #4 is quite a bit lower than the rest, especially since 14 psi is the maximum variation spec. I don't know a lot about what the numbers should be given mileage and age... do they seem unusually high?
Thanks for any thought!
A little background info to start... my cruiser (see signature line) has 278k on the odometer. I purchased the vehicle when it had 242k on the odometer. I have no idea if the head gasket has ever been replaced. Average mpg is between 12 and 14 mg. It "feels" like it has adequate power, but I live on the North Texas blackland prairie, so there is that. The big issue I am trying to resolve is oil consumption and the smell of burning oil. As for relevant repairs, valve cover gasket is new, new spark plug tube seals, new pcv valve and grommet seal. Most oil leaks resolved, except for maybe upper pan arch seal.
Here are my symptoms:
* I add around 1 qt of oil every 400 miles or so (I use Mobil1 TDT 5W-40).
* I see blue smoke after starting up an already warm engine. I might have also seen it when accelerating from a long idle.
* There is an ever-present exhaust smell (I assume burning oil) whenever running it; the exhaust shop says all is well.
So, I decided to pull the spark plugs and do a compression test. I've posted the results below, but I would like your input on the results. What do you think? And is the only possible culprit at this point the valve stem seals?
Spark plug condition:
Compression test results (hot engine, dry, cranked 7-8 times with throttle fully open, efi fuse pulled)
#1 - 200
#2 - 205
#3 - 195
#4 - 180
#5 - 205
#6 - 215
Obviously #4 is quite a bit lower than the rest, especially since 14 psi is the maximum variation spec. I don't know a lot about what the numbers should be given mileage and age... do they seem unusually high?
Thanks for any thought!