My Xantia drank 6 litres of oil in a month !!

Mosser · Post by **Mosser** » 12 Nov 2004, 02:28

Has anyone got any idea why or how i can stop my xantia drinking oil ?
I have got a 1997 R reg 1.8i 16v xantia with 132,000 miles on the clock and i did 5000 miles last month and had to put in a full 5 litre bottle and another litre out of the next bottle, i am using total quartz 9000 semi synth oil (as recommended) and the car never smokes, not even under full acceleration, and the engine is spotless, no drips or leaks, and no oil drips on my driveway where it is normally parked
Its almost getting silly (and expensive!!) with the amount of oil it is getting through now

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 12 Nov 2004, 04:17

The truth is out there

Mosser · Post by **Mosser** » 12 Nov 2004, 04:23

Heh!, its just knowing where to find it thats the problem

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 12 Nov 2004, 05:37

Based on the assumption that the level in the cooling system isn't rising as the oil level's falling, it has to either be that you have a 'pressure leak' that is blowing oil out when the car is under load, although you would have to think there would have to be some evidence of this, or it is burning it.
I'd opt for the latter as being the most likely as we had a BX that was doing exactly the same. In our case, I gave the engine the brake fluid decoke treatment and it seems to have cured most of it as we suspected that the rings may have been stuck in the ring groove due to carbon as the car was an around town vehicle that was previously owned by an elderly gent. It didn't smoke at idle, nor when revved but it did show up when hot under load.
Blockages in the breathing system will also cause it and another favourite on the BX 8 valve motors was the valve stem seals.
To check valve stem seals, drive the car up to a bit of speed, then as you go downhill, totally decellerate until the car has shed off a few MPH, then flatten the accellerator. If the seals are gone, a cloud of blue smoke should come out. ( I know yours is 16V but they can still need replacing)
The best way to find out whether it smokes or not is to arrange for someone to follow you when you're going somewhere & for them to note if & when the smoke comes out; uphill under load, downhill as suggested, when hot, when cold etc. That gives you a chance to narrow the field down.
Alan S

ScottFromNZ · Post by **ScottFromNZ** » 12 Nov 2004, 05:40

I'd go with valve stem seal leakage. But it does seem an awful lot of oil to lose with no smoke. I have heard of this on BX's too.

beezer · Post by **beezer** » 12 Nov 2004, 19:13

I think the heading of this post is almost on the lines of 'Freddie Starr ate my hamster'.
I would have thought you could have at least smelled oil in the exhaust.

Mosser · Post by **Mosser** » 12 Nov 2004, 23:12

I went out tonight with my friend following me and we came to the conclusion that it only smokes when under full power at more than 4000 revs, and even then there isnt much smoke, on the overrun with me levelling the revs there isnt even a hint of smoke so i hope that rules out valve stem seals,
One other thing i have always noticed is a constand misfire when idling and i think i can detect the misfire at part throttle too, the misfire is quite bad when idling and if i listen to the exhaust outside the car, it almost sounds like a boat engine with a sort of drum beat in time with the revs,
I filled the oil right up to the top mark yesterday morning and have done 630 miles now and the oil is around the halfway mark on the dipstick so it is still using it,
If the engine is burning oil, would that account for the 42mpg i am getting now ?, it seems very fuel efficient for a petrol and i fill brim to brim on each tank and note the mileage on each reciept so my figures are accurate, the mpg seems to have risen slightly in the last couple of months, maybe the petrol is being suplemented with oil !!
I smelt the exhaust on idle and all i could smell was unburnt fuel which i assume is down to the misfire ?

CITMAN · Post by **CITMAN** » 12 Nov 2004, 23:22

I think youve got a bore sealing problem to be honest

reffro · Post by **reffro** » 13 Nov 2004, 00:36

Its sounds exactly like the oil is washing down the side of your pistons. By the way Quartz 9000 is fully synthetic, and is probably too thin for your engine. Fully synthetic thin oil literally runs out between the piston and barrel. Unless the engine has been run on fully synthetic for its entire life, its advised that you don't switch to it if the engine is getting on, and after 132k miles you'd be way too late to get any benefit from it. Plus your engine will be used to less good oils, sounds daft I know, but that's the honest truth.
Try using a thicker semi-synthetic, or failing that go back to a good mineral oil. You didn't mention the viscosity of the oil you are using, but I'm guessing its 5w40, try at least 10w40.

JohnCKL · Post by **JohnCKL** » 13 Nov 2004, 07:08

Try 20-50W. My 96 Xantia 1.9TD does the same but to a lesser extent. Anyone tried any oil additive which plugs up engine leaks successfully?

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 13 Nov 2004, 08:16

Full synthetic is possibly a bit rich for a motor with high mileage.
I agree that if it's blowing under load and at high revs, yes sounds like it's getting past the oil rings. The valve stem seals sound like they've come up trumps; they're OK.
I'd suggest a 10/40 or up to a 15/50 oil. With a 16V engine you have to be extremely careful using oil too thick as these engines pump oil over some fairly long distances and through some very tiny gallies and thick oil or oil thickeners don't do the engines life expectancy any favours.
We did a BX16V engine up a year or so ago now and found that due to it having been run on heavier oil in its earlier life, we had to get some of the oil gallies drilled out & plugged to be able to clean them properly as they'd bunged up so badly with varnish. It added a lot to the cost of the rebuild and was in part responsible for the engines early demise.
Go for a semi synthetic oil of a slightly higher grade & see how it goes. Whether it's worth trying to use any fuel additives to free up the oil ring could be a gamble if the car has done big miles but if most of those miles were done in slow traffic type driving, there could be some advantage to it.
Alan S

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 13 Nov 2004, 11:45

With your misfire I suspect piston/ring problems and before going any further I suggest you do a compression test and see what the results are. Hopefully I am wrong - and you then know that you haven't got these problems.
Jeremy

CITMAN · Post by **CITMAN** » 13 Nov 2004, 21:43

I doubt that putting a thicker oil in would solve the problem. I think its defo a bore sealing problem, and your really need to have a compression test carried out on the engine. If the figure you get is low, then add spoonful of oil to the suspect cylinder and do the test again. If it increases then poor bore sealing is the trouble. Also a cylinder leakage test is another way of determining whether or not there is a bore sealing trouble.
But I suspect that the engine will need a bottom end rebuild i.e. new liners and pistons. Or you could get away with a quick re ring and horn the the bores.

Mosser · Post by **Mosser** » 14 Nov 2004, 06:15

Doh, not good news then, I will get a compression tester on monday and see what results i get,
If it does turn out to be a compression problem, then i will probably either drive it till it dies fully (proper servicing still) or trade it in for a HDI xantia as i have always been a diesel driver really and prefer the torque that a diesel delivers

dnsey · Post by **dnsey** » 14 Nov 2004, 16:04

I remember my Grandad telling me that in the early years of the last century it was common practice to hang a can on the tailpipe to collect the oil, and tip it back into the engine at the end of a trip[:D]