*Oil Consumption 5.9 Cummins with 87K-Valvoline Premium Blue Restore Oil*

[Thomas]

Good day everyone,

Wanted to discuss with you guys alternative methods before a complete engine torn down. In a nutshell, I have been dealing with an abnormal oil consumption since I purchased the truck with 80K. I’m considering using the Valvoline Premium Blue Restore oil treatment as a final solution before parking out the truck for rebuild. I have my doubts about this oil, though it was designed for ISX Cummins engines to fix some of their new engine oil rings carbon buildup and is 10w30 viscosity. Please advice if you have used this product. I cannot think of anything else other than stuck oil control rings resulting in adding 1qt-2qt of oil every 1K. Truck doesn’t seem to have blow-by, just normal white steam with no pressure to blow away the oil cap. Oil cap remains steady when conducting the test. Truck has great power and doesn’t idle rough. In addition, I have check both inner and outer turbo housing for oil residues and none were founded. I even took the entire turbo to look closer onto the housing but everything was bone dry. All my vacuum lines were checked and found ok. No oil leaks either. It does seem to smoke a little during light acceleration first start in the mourning, but clears out after warming. I have tried different oil brands, but none seem to help. Although seafoam treatment showed signs of progress, 8k later I still have this frustrating oil consumption. Please share your thoughts and recommendations. Ty 

[Towrigdually]

I haven’t used the restore, but I’d check the valve seals. Might be letting oil by. 

[CUMMINSDIESELPWR]

sources of oil consumption

 

oil rings

valve seals

turbo seal on intake and exhaust side

 

sounds like your issue is same as mine, the exhaust side turbo seal is worn or bad and even though you dont see it burning oil after startup it still is burning oil. my turbo was "rebuilt" by a shop in colorado for $400 but i think they jipped me and reused stuff as it burns a lot of oil and now i have to rebuild it myself.

 

i wouldnt try a different oil as im sure its not your rings, i would look at the turbo and rebuild it first then see how much it drinks.  thats my opinion.

Edited May 10, 2020 by CUMMINSDIESELPWR

[Ed ke6bnl]

I put restore in my forklift that would smoke like a fireplace, added restore a month's later did not smoke again. 

[Dieselfuture]

I would try capping off your vacuum pump completely at the pump, just put a rubber cap where the hose comes out of it. There was a another member recently had same issue, he was dumping oil out of breather tube. Guess if it doesn't dump on the ground, could be something more serious. 

Any mods to the truck?

[Thomas]

4 hours ago, Dieselfuture said:

I would try capping off your vacuum pump completely at the pump, just put a rubber cap where the hose comes out of it. There was a another member recently had same issue, he was dumping oil out of breather tube. Guess if it doesn't dump on the ground, could be something more serious. 

Any mods to the truck?

Just the normal, 4 inch exhaust, edge comp box, air intake, big bank waste gate,  90 degree elbow on turbo, fass 150. 
 

I don’t know if I have bigger injectors though, for what it seems yes. I wish there was a way to tell other than removing them. Thoughts? 

[Mopar1973Man]

Turbo bearing and seals

Valve guides and valve seals

Vacuum pump seal

Tappet cover gasket

Rear main seal

Front gear case seal

Vacuum leak causing vacuum pump to pressurize the crankcase. 

[Thomas]

11 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Turbo bearing and seals

Valve guides and valve seals

Vacuum pump seal

Tappet cover gasket

Rear main seal

Front gear case seal

Vacuum leak causing vacuum pump to pressurize the crankcase. 

That leaves me with only two options there, Valve seals and turbo. 
 

Everything else have checked ok, and truck doesn’t have any leaks anywhere. 
 

It sounds economically logical to start with valve seals, then turbo if valve seals don’t fix it. 
 

Which of those two can go out first, turbo or valve seals? Ty 

[dripley]

If the valve guides or seals are that bad you should see blue smoke. If the turbo seal is bad you should see oil out the tail pipe or blue smoke. 

 

I drop about a quart every 800+ miles due to a bad rear main seal. I you are not seeing blue smoke or a puddle of oil, I dont know what to tell you.

[Thomas]

10 hours ago, dripley said:

If the valve guides or seals are that bad you should see blue smoke. If the turbo seal is bad you should see oil out the tail pipe or blue smoke. 

 

I drop about a quart every 800+ miles due to a bad rear main seal. I you are not seeing blue smoke or a puddle of oil, I dont know what to tell you.

Yes it’s very frustrating, given the fact that there is no oil leak anywhere.

The truck only smokes blue during first start, under light load and clears away soon as temperatures rises. 
I’m rooting for valve seals first, then I guess am gonna have to pull out turbo and rebuild. 

[Dieselfuture]

4 hours ago, Thomas said:

I’m rooting for valve seals first, then I guess am gonna have to pull out turbo and rebuild. 

Take alveolar cover off and see if seals worked them self of guides, happened to me, then retainers beat them up and you have smoke on start up. I didn't drive it that way long enough to see how much oil I was losing, just replaced the seals. Oh wait it wasn't just... I had to reinvent the wheel on mine, long story. 

[Thomas]

Did you noticed the blue smoke coming out soon after you started her up, or you had to depress the gas pedal to able to see the smoke? 
 

My truck smokes black when it first start, then blue smoke starts to come out only under throttle load, then clears out. 

[Mopar1973Man]

My head after 350k miles... Smokes every morning before... Smell of burnt engine oil. Need head gasket, head trued, 425 studs, and replaced 18 valve guides and all 24 valve seals. Total cost for me was $2,000.00

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by Mopar1973Man

[Thomas]

2 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

My head after 350k miles... Smokes every morning before... Smell of burnt engine oil. Need head gasket, head trued, 425 studs, and replaced 18 valve guides and all 24 valve seals. Total cost for me was $2,000.00

 

 

 

 

 

You think it would be wise to conduct a compression check just to discard any possibilities of a bad ring, if so, what method would you use either nanometer test, or regular compression test gauges ? Ty 
 

[Mopar1973Man]

You could... wouldn't hurt.

[IBMobile]

12 hours ago, Thomas said:

You think it would be wise to conduct a compression check just to discard any possibilities of a bad ring,

I would.  It would give a idea of the valve and ring health.  If  low compression is found  then do the leak down test on that cylinder to determine the problem. 

[Thomas]

11 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

You could... wouldn't 

 

Does anybody here knows if there is a thread on this site that points out how to conduct the Cummins recommended nanometer compression check task? That would help a lot. Ty 

[Mopar1973Man]

 

This is what I have for articles...Most likely nothing wrong with the rings... Here is 350k miles on mine. 

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Mopar1973Man

[Dieselfuture]

On 5/15/2020 at 1:24 PM, Thomas said:

Did you noticed the blue smoke coming out soon after you started her up, or you had to depress the gas pedal to able to see the smoke? 

Yes, pretty much every start up if it sat longer than few hours would smoke and smell like oil. 

 

[CUMMINSDIESELPWR]

On 5/18/2020 at 5:01 PM, Dieselfuture said:

Yes, pretty much every start up if it sat longer than few hours would smoke and smell like oil. 

 

 

 

mine does this, and i know its the rear turbo seal as it wasnt doing it before i had the turbo rebuilt, after rebuild it was doing it.