excessive oil use??

[why2kmax]

Hi

Friend of mine has a very early build 03 Cobra. he bought it used from a dealer with about 3000 miles on it. Never noticed anything unusual about the way the car runs but after having the 03 head/valve TSB done to his car his car is now using about 1 quart of oil per tank of gas, so say 200-300 miles of mostly city driving.

Is it possible that the dealer who did the head TSB could have really hosed something up and caused this problem? The car isnt driven much but just went out of warranty in December before he noticed his oil disappearing.

His mods are simply an K*N Intake, magnaflow exhaust and an oil separator on one side of the motor (not sure which). but he never noticed any real significant consumption until recently.

Any thoughs on what might be causing this? The dealer remarked when he did the TSB that a lot of exhaust and some suspension bolts were loose when
They took the car apart and at that point he found out his car had no front sway bar so Im guessing this car went 2000 miles 1/4 at a time until the guy unloaded it for his family hauler.

any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[badcobra]

Sounds like valve seals.....

 

[SnakeBit]

Before going into the heads, I would add an oil separator on the driver's side (PVC Valve side). I'll bet it catches a lot of oil.

 

[plan b]

I have an early build vert (June 2002) and mine smokes like a bitch. I talked to one of the SVT engineers involved with the Cobra and he said one quart every 700-900 miles. Something like that. I think I need valve seals as well.

 

[WDW MKR]

Before going into the heads, I would add an oil separator on the driver's side (PVC Valve side). I'll bet it catches a lot of oil.

Catching it does nothing to stop the problem that is causing it. Beside, oil leaking directly into the combustion won't go through the PCV. Good idea to run a separator or check valve after you get this problem fixed.

 

[WDW MKR]

I have an early build vert (June 2002) and mine smokes like a bitch. I talked to one of the SVT engineers involved with the Cobra and he said one quart every 700-900 miles. Something like that. I think I need valve seals as well.

Another case of them ducking a problem. There is no way your car should use that much oil!

 

[plan b]

Another case of them ducking a problem. There is no way your car should use that much oil!

My 175,000 mile 1992 ford ranger doesn't even use that much oil. I have never babied the Cobra though. Full throttle all the time.

 

[SnakeBit]

Catching it does nothing to stop the problem that is causing it. Beside, oil leaking directly into the combustion won't go through the PCV. Good idea to run a separator or check valve after you get this problem fixed.

Yes, I realize that won't solve the problem, but it will help identify if the oil loss is through the PVC valve or not. Why go to the expense of replacing valve seals unless you KNOW that's the problem. If an oil separator fills up quickly, then there's a very good chance that is the source of his problem, and not valve seals. The PVC source is well known and well documented. Valve seals failing at 3,000 miles, not so much.

BTW, when oil slips past the PVC valve, in my experience, it ends up burning in the combustion chamber. Or did I miss something? I was just suggesting that he start with the easy and inexepensive first. If the oil separator only catches a small amount, then progress to the more expensive.

 

[plan b]

Yes, I realize that won't solve the problem, but it will help identify if the oil loss is through the PVC valve or not. Why go to the expense of replacing valve seals unless you KNOW that's the problem. If an oil separator fills up quickly, then there's a very good chance that is the source of his problem, and not valve seals. The PVC source is well known and well documented. Valve seals failing at 3,000 miles, not so much.

BTW, when oil slips past the PVC valve, in my experience, it ends up burning in the combustion chamber. Or did I miss something? I was just suggesting that he start with the easy and inexepensive first. If the oil separator only catches a small amount, then progress to the more expensive.

I put a catchcan on mine with a checkvalve inline with the pcv. It catches some oil but not as much as I expected. The catchcan I used has a pet**** valve on the bottom which makes it easy to drain. I haven't checked leakdown or compression but I checked vacuum. At idle the guage reads 21" vacuum steady. I'll just drive it this summer and keep an eye on it. If it gets worse I'll repair it. Hopefully it would be valve seals with good valve guides. If the valve guides are sloppy, then the heads have to come off.

 

[why2kmax]

I just figured it had to be something related to the TSB head repair or something the dealer did or didnt do, since the excessive oil use was noticed after the TSB repair was done (few months ago). Even if he did put a separator on the drivers side, He would either have to use a bucket or stop every half hour to empty it. There has to be something wrong

 

[WDW MKR]

Yes, I realize that won't solve the problem, but it will help identify if the oil loss is through the PVC valve or not. Why go to the expense of replacing valve seals unless you KNOW that's the problem. If an oil separator fills up quickly, then there's a very good chance that is the source of his problem, and not valve seals. The PVC source is well known and well documented. Valve seals failing at 3,000 miles, not so much.

BTW, when oil slips past the PVC valve, in my experience, it ends up burning in the combustion chamber. Or did I miss something? I was just suggesting that he start with the easy and inexepensive first. If the oil separator only catches a small amount, then progress to the more expensive.

It has to first make its way through the inlet, blower and intercooler. That much oil just doesn't point to a PCV (not PVC) issue. Certainly makes sense to check the small things, but I don't think a catch can is going to point to anything definitive. As was already mentioned, it would constantly be full with as much oil as this particular car is using.

 

[WDW MKR]

I just figured it had to be something related to the TSB head repair or something the dealer did or didnt do, since the excessive oil use was noticed after the TSB repair was done (few months ago). Even if he did put a separator on the drivers side, He would either have to use a bucket or stop every half hour to empty it. There has to be something wrong

+1

The timing of this problem seems to point at the repair work being to blame.

 

[turbocake]

+1

The timing of this problem seems to point at the repair work being to blame.

I agree and wanted to point out that the more credibly the customer can tie this together, the more likely the original "repair" can be faulted for not being done correctly.

It takes time to track oil consumption and come to know it's a problem. This point should help out.

I would ask for a thorough inspection and offer whatever hard data I could that this is something that's waited because of a thorough diagnosis, but that it most definitely goes back to the botched repair.