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my car has been consuming oil for a while now but only recently has started to smoke when it is started while the engine is cold. I thought that maybe because I am using a synthetic oil in a high mileage car but after switching to non-synthetic one it still consumed the oil although at a slower late but still a quick one none the less. I thought it was because of my aggressive driving style and how I do late shifts and I stopped that completely and the rate of consumption didn't change much. And only recently my car has started to smoke, when I start the engine and wait a little then press a little bit of gas it smokes not a lot and the smoke stops after a short while. It has been like that for maybe 2 weeks.

I am not sure if it is worn out piston rings or something else, I also did a compression test and the results were very odd I was got 140 150 140 150 on my car which I think is really high? maybe the guy did it incorrectly as he asked me to start the car and didn't use an assistant and I didn't press the throttle wide open while the test was carried. Also he did a wet test on a single cylinder and it gave from 140 (dry) to 153. He also said the "escape" rate of the cylinders is 13 PSI something I didn't really understand, he also said that new cars get 5 PSI while really old ones get 15 PSI

I haven't noticed a difference in the car acceleration or speed, so where is the problem exactly, are the piston rings worn out? is it something else in the valves?

The oil usually lasts me about 3 to 4 weeks before I need to add more.

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  • When you say it consumes oil, how much does it consume? One quart every 20 miles or 1/2 a quart every oil change? What is the make/model/year/engine of the car? You say it's white smoke, what does the smoke smell like? Is there any soot around the inside of the tailpipe? What does it feel like if you touch it (oily? black carbon?)?
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Jan 14, 2016 at 0:54
  • I am not sure how much exactly but I could say it lasts me about 3 to 4 before the reading goes below the LOW reading.
    – method
    Jan 14, 2016 at 2:25
  • 3 or 4 what? And please answer the rest of my questions ... Edit your original post and put it in there.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Jan 14, 2016 at 2:48

1 Answer 1

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Your piston rings are worn. This is allowing oil into the combustion chamber so it's being burnt off... Typically accompanied by a sweetish smelling exhaust and heavy gas smell in oil itself.

And the reason you didn't need to step on the gas when the compression was checked is because the spark plugs shouldn't of been working... This it wouldn't have helped to add fuel... It's checking the compression of fuel and air without spark...

The compression is different for all vehicles but as a base line 120-150 psi is acceptable... The 13 psi he was referring to was that the oil coated the cylinder walls thus helping to seal the rings. This is why the boost in psi occurred. If it wouldn't have changed at all or very little it would mean the valves weren't sealing.

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  • Let me help you out a bit here. You are answering the same question over and over. Please take the tour mechanics.stackexchange.com/tour so you can see how stack exchange works. It's not a forum, it's Q&A site. Have a look around. You can goto the chat and somebody there would be glad assist as well. chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/340/the-pitstop this place is a little different but IMO much better than the standard forum method. Cheers.
    – DucatiKiller
    Jan 14, 2016 at 0:46
  • Yeah, it's was a little strange when I landed here for the first time myself. I upvoted you a couple of times which gives you enough rep to comment and do basic things. Hope to see you around. Clearly you have good data to share. Cheers! A mod is probably going to jam all these responses into comments or something. Don't be offended when it happens. :-) see you around
    – DucatiKiller
    Jan 14, 2016 at 0:51
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    Dee you may want to edit this question now to make it flow a little better. I consolidated your answers into one answer.
    – Move More Comments Link To Top
    Jan 14, 2016 at 3:03

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