Re Jon's Oil consumption.

[Stuart Thomson <stuart.thomson@domain.elided>]

Hi All,

I have been reliably informed that valve guides are not meant to seal 
the oil passages.  That's what valve stem seals are for, so I'd suggest 
that you look into those first.  Also the smoke on lift off and 
reapplication of the throttle indicates worn stem seals (perhaps 
non-existent).  Now my imperial measures are a bit rusty, but a quart is 
about 1200ml's, right?  If there is no evidence of external leaks, your 
seals must be very bad indeed to leak that much oil every 160kms.  I'd 
suspect that the oil control rings are shot as well, you may still get 
good compression, but the oil consumption would escalate.  Looks like 
it's rebuild time for you.  Another test for stuffed rings is to take 
off the breather tube at the top of the motor, and run the motor to see 
how bad the fumes are.  Having just rebuilt my race car engine because 
of ring failure, there is bucketloads of oil smoke and fumes coming out 
when the rings don't seal, and very little (if any) when the rings are 
new.

My 3l V6 also had shot rings, and was developing so much pressure in the 
oil vapour system it had blown the rocker cover gasket, had cracked a 
valve guide, and consumed about the same amount of oil your experiencing.

You should budget for an engine rebuild/replacement when negotiating the 
price for the car.  If the rest is sound, the car could be worth it, if 
not send it back.

I think we have all been caught out by the nice looking bad acr 
occasionally, so don't feel so bad, and really if the body of the spider 
is good, that's the most expensive part to fix, the rest you can do 
yourself, with a little assistance, and learn heaps about your car at 
the same time.  If you like the car it's worth having, as long as you 
don't pay too much for it.

Cheers
Stuart
On Thursday, July 11, 2002, at 10:50 AM, alfa-digest wrote:


> So, the car is drinking a quart every 100 miles,  and makes most of it's
> visible smoke when you deaccelerate with the throttles closed,  then
> open them..
>
> I have the idea this is leaky valve guides...  (correct me if I'm wrong)
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