Where is my oil going????

[jttrucker]

My 05 with 120k is loseing 5-6 quarts of oil between 4000 mile oil changes. I have no leaks, I have checked the air to air and it is dry, and there is no blowby. The tubo spins with no play, truck runs great. I cannot figure out where im loseing it!!! Maybe Im loseing it!!LOL. Whatcha think??

[dorkweed]

What color is your exhaust gas??? Most likely its piston rings, valve guides or turbo.

[AH64ID]

Check the oil fill cap, it can leak out under the plastic valve cover and be hard to see. But that much oil is probably going out the turbo. But you can check the rings by removing the oil cap with the engine running, how much pressure comes out the fill port?

[Mopar1973Man]

I tend to agree with AH64ID I think most of it going to be turbo on the exhaust side.

[CUMMINSDIESELPWR]

I tend to agree with AH64ID I think most of it going to be turbo on the exhaust side.

yup, best way to see the exhaust color is look through it with the sun shining towards you, that much oil could be a constant weep burning clean through the exhaust side of turbo.

[dorkweed]

Bump to the top, hoping for an update!!!

[jttrucker]

ok guys, here is the deal. I checked both sides of the trbo. Both sides dry no play in shaft, no blow by at filler cap. no leaks. sits in shop all night and no oil on floor, and I have inspected the engine over and over for leaks. I took it on a 1100 mile trip over thanksgiving and it used 2 quarts of oil. I am thinking it could be an oil control ring since the compression is good. I have not got a clue, I really dont want to go inside the engine but am probably going to have to. I have a hard time with mechanics, somthing simple could still cost you an engine rebuild if your not carefull, if the guy just wants to make a $buck LOL.

[CUMMINSDIESELPWR]

if it aint dripping, spewing out the vent or pouring out the turbo on either side, next bet are the rings OR valve guides. Have you done the smoke color test yet?no matter what it is sounding like it is burning the oil it loses. not sure if taking the exhaust manifold off and inspecting the valves from the exhaust ports to see if they are weeping would be the next step before taking the head off or the entire engine out...

[Blackcuda]

Any updates on this? Just wondering since my truck is consuming oil too.

[Wild and Free]

Some times oil usage can be rectified by changing to a different brand of oil for a while, I have seen engines do what yours is doing and then stop oil consumption completely by switching oil brands. Would be worth a shot for a few thousand miles as it will not hurt anything to try at this point.Compression test would be a good spot to start if you do anything.

[Blackcuda]

Yeah I copy what you are saying about the compression test.If all goes well I plan to start taking things apart this weekend and see what I can find.I have just had way too much going on the past few weeks to start.Lucky for me I still have my old Jeep to drive while I figure out what is going on with the truck.

[hd99fxr3]

I'll second the suggestion to switch Oil brands. Wifes 5cyl. Benz diesel doesn't like Rotella.

[Blackcuda]

Not wanting to offend anyone here but I have never been a fan of Rotella.I always ran the Mobile Delvac in my 1995 12 valve but have been using the Valvoline Turbo Blue in my 2004.5.I could switch it over to the Delvac just to see?

[Wild and Free]

Not wanting to offend anyone here but I have never been a fan of Rotella. I always ran the Mobile Delvac in my 1995 12 valve but have been using the Valvoline Turbo Blue in my 2004.5. I could switch it over to the Delvac just to see?

I just came from a week long failutre analysis class that Caterpillar put on and there was a lab tech in my class who does oil analysis for a living at a Cat dealership, he and the instructor were talking about how Shell/Rottella was rejected publically by Cummins engine company and Caterpillar years ago due to poor quality and not meeting many if any lubrication specs the companies laid out. Shell/Rottella did improve their product a bit after that but is still not looked at as a quality oil from the big diesel engine manufacturers.

[jttrucker]

First I need to thank all you guys that have responed to help me figure this out. Second I need to appologize for my poor corrispondance. I live in rual Wyoming and am a oil field pipe welder and gone to even futher remote locations up to a month at a time with no internet access. I made it home last night and got on here and had some "well how about some update on your oil use" LOL. After all the input I went with the suggestion on the turbo and had it rebuilt, and they had to machine one surface to get a bearing or seal to seat propper. So I thiught we nailed it. I changed the turbo and have been gone a month and checked the oil last night, and sorry to say its still using oil. Still no blow by so Im thinking valve guides or seals? What a bummer huh? Ill be around the house for a while so let me know what you think?

[Wild and Free]

After reading your sig I now would lean towards worn rings and dusted cylinder walls.You are running K&N filters which are not much better than running no filter at all. I ran one on my 02 for a year and as I watched my oil analysis reports saw silica "Dirt" levels climb along with some wear metals I did some research and found that the K&N air filters have such a course media in them they do not filter out fine dust particles. I pulled off my intake tube to the turbo and it was coated with dust, shined a light through the K&N and light shined through everywhere. Threw it in the garbage switched to an AFE dry filter and my samples cleaned up instantly.So sorry for the bad news but I will go ahead and say you need to do a compression test and most likely an overhaul.

[angus]

Just some thoughts about valve guides here.. and some of the guys may want to correct my logic.A naturally aspirated engine has negative pressure, or vacuum on the intake ports which allows it to suck oil around the intake valve guides as they wear.A turbo, or supercharged engine have positive pressure on both the intake & exhaust all the time.I realize if the clearance gets wide enough the oil may weep regardless of pressure, but is does not seem like it should be as big a factor on a turbo engine. Just my:2cents:

[Wild and Free]

The amount of oil he is using in a short amount of miles "5-6 quarts in 4K miles" is beyond what a bad guide seal would leak and these engines have little issue with them in the first place. I would rule them out for this simple fact. If it was leaking past the vavle guide seals that bad I would suspect he would see that at startup.

[angus]

I have heard rumors that K&Ns are bad news. If this turns out the rings & cylinders are wiped out? I don`t see how they could keep on marketing their product

[AH64ID]

I have heard rumors that K&Ns are bad news. If this turns out the rings & cylinders are wiped out? I don`t see how they could keep on marketing their product

They blame it on improper servicing, but I think its that and poor design.