Clowd

So, the first thing I noticed is a ticking noise from the engine, seems to be coming from under the valve cover.. it's pretty loud before the car is warmed up and then pretty much goes away.. noisy lifters or something? It's not the injector tick, it's different..

Then, under hard acceleration, I'll leave a fairly large cloud of black/gray smelly smoke behind me, and I seem to consume oil pretty fast too. I always change it on schedule with a new filter and Mobil 1 15w50, and I add probably like 3 or 4 quarts in between changes(I change every 3k) I had an air/fuel ratio gauge and it always said I ran lean, even though the exhaust always smells rich.

Other than that, the car runs pretty damn good, it never hesitates or anything like that except when it hasn't warmed up... doesn't burn any coolant that I can tell, it just burns quite a bit of oil.. how do I fix that? The exhaust smell is so strong sometimes it gives me a headache...

George Boss

You're burning oil kimosabe. The cure sounds like you might need a top end re-build. It'll allow you to check the lifters at the same time. Don't add any chemical "stop leak" or something like that, or you'll gum up the works and be REALLY sorry.
Just curious, have you left the car idling and went out back to see if you're still burning oil? Put your hand over the tailpipe for a few seconds then bring the palm of your hand up and smell it. Does it smell the same?

pearldrum944

The ticking sounds like it's lifters.

daniel951

i have the same problem with the lifters. usually first thing when i start it up it will be kinda of loud then it goes away within a minute. From what i was told that one of my lifters are starting to get soft so they will need to be replaced soon. Also what kind of way are you monitoring ur a/f ratio. if you are using a autometer those aren't accurate. I remember mine were giving me all kinds of false readings. If you plan on modding the car might as well spend the money and get a wideband

Charlotte944

Remove an intercooler hard pipe and look for oil. Oil here is a sign that the turbo is blowing oil into the intake.

Remove the intake J-Boot and look for oil. If you see oil in the J-Boot and at the inlet of the turbo, chances are the O-Rings for the oil filler neck are leaking. When this happens excessive amounts of oil get drawn into the intake.

To replace these O-Rings you need to remove the intake manifold, so you will need new intake gaskets, and perhaps new injector seals. The O-Rings are dealer parts and the size of the O-Rings depends on the VIN number of the car, so have the VIN number handy when you talk to the parts folks.

Another source for oil consumption is worn valve guides/seals, and the final source is worn piston rings.

Some of this can be diagnosed by doing compression and leak down testing.

Mighty Shilling

act quickly too... that's what my car was doing about 1000 miles before I spun a bearing... Not saying it's directly related, but get it fixed...

definately sounds like head problems, especially if it's the NA. a cylinder head rebuild would fix it, and the lifters could be replaced while the head is off, and you can even paint the engine!