Oil usage!

[moshbrandonmosh]

So, this has only been recently happening out of nowhere (that I know of). I took the car on a trip the other day. Total driving was about 115 miles, and when I'd arrived, I had used about a quart of oil. I do know that my oil pan gasket needs to be replaced. That's the only one that I know of, but when the car is parked, there are generally little to no drops oil left on the ground.

My Odo reading is a little over 120k. If I'm using, would the valve stem seals already be bad? Can this happen this soon?

The car has the stock carb, and it also intermittently idles terribly. Seems to drive fine, but when I slow down to a light, the tach will drop down below 500 RPM and fluctuate, and sometimes to zero, causing the engine to stall.

I really don't have much money on hand, and I need to have a reliable car to get to and from work, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do. Any help would be greatly be appreciated, as usual!

[Dr_Snooz]

Always fix what you know to be broken before trying to figure something else out. The oil pan seal is $10+shipping from Rock Auto. Get the Beck Arnley. You'll probably need a u-joint socket adapter and a long socket extension to get the bolts out. That will probably be another $10 from the local Autozone or whatever. Fix it at your next oil change and see if you still have problems. There are a dozen other seals that can go bad, but they are all pretty cheap and can be worked in as you have time and money.

For the idle problem, run a bottle of injector cleaner through it at your next fill up. Those are also less than $10. If it helps, then use better gas or just run a bottle of injector cleaner through again whenever it gets bad. I would put better gas in it myself. A lot of these carbs are dying right now. The rest are pretty fragile and I wouldn't stress them by using crummy gas. Rebuilding them is difficult and aftermarket carbs are few and difficult to get past the smog police.

[poorman212]

And please check the poor old PCV....

[Demon1024]

SEAfoam that sucker and take a vid!

[lostforawhile]

check the oil filter base gasket, it's a special o ring type seal from the Ronda stealership, it's cheap though, it's between the oil filter base and the block, they leak all the time, and the oil will also make it look like the oil pan is leaking

[moshbrandonmosh]

SEAfoam that sucker and take a vid!


Hahaha, just might have to do that. Heading to this huge yard in Hazleton, PA (about two hours north of where I live) to grab parts. I'll definitely check the PCV tomorrow, and I plan on replacing the oil pan and the filter base gasket as well.

[Dr_Snooz]

Seafoam would be my last choice.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=problems+after+using+seafoam

You could dislodge more crud by throwing a stick of dynamite in the engine compartment, but you don't. You want gentle, easy cleaning. Remember, we're trying to preserve the carb. If you eat something soft and squishy up in the carb with the Seafoam, you'll be SOL trying to get it fixed. No Seafoam. Okay?

[Demon1024]

http://www.google.com/search?q=seafoam+worked&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

seafoam is my first choice. never let me down. I have problems with my carb, check for vacuum leaks then SEAfoam!

Wtf will seafoam eat in a carb? Metal? gaskets? petro resistant rubber or plastic maybe?

IF there's That much crap in it then it will have to be taken apart and cleaned one way or another.

Now if the rings are bad and that's the cause of the smoking yes it could make it worse. But it would be an awesome video. As far as the idling thing tho this is the direction i would go after Making sure the plugs/spark are ok and theres no vacuum leaks

[rc00netzero]

If it is not dripping when parked I would check the oil filter base first. It is a pressure leak - only leaks when running. It also tends to run down the back side of the engine to the oil pan and could be (and has been) mistaken for an oil pan gasket leak.

Another common (and this one is easy to fix) leak is the distributor base o-ring. It tends to run down the front passenger side of engine and can be mistaken for valve cover or rear main seal leak.

[moshbrandonmosh]

Sounds good. I've been super lazy and just kinda driving the thing as is, hah. I guess my main issue is that I don't have a hydraulic lift, so it just makes things kinda harder. However, I do have jackstands! I still need to get the oil pan gasket and the oil filter base gasket done. I guess I'll be checking the condition of the PCV, hose going to the oil pan and breather box as well.....