chronon

As some of you may recall I have a 2001TT CPO that has been eating a lot of oil (~450 miles per quart in normal city driving conditions - no mods). The dealer has confirmed the high consumption and is currently running tests (leakdown and compression) but indicates everything is normal so far with the exception of sparkplugs looking particularly old. The 60k service was done at 56k and the car has now 69k - so here is my question:

Can the old sparkplugs be impacting oil consumption? If I recall correctly they need to be changed every 30k so a ~13kmiles sparkplug should still be ok.

Any other ideas of possible cause and tests suggested?

Thanks

slant911

I can not see how an old sparkplug could effect oil consumption. Performance yes.

CaptPegLeg

If that kind of oil was going through your engine, I would expect the plugs to look bad.

ltc

^ +1
And your cats are probably not enjoying it either.
Have you noticed blue/white smoke at startup? Any excessive residue inside the exhaust tips?

chronon

Any suggestions on other tests or diagnosis that you think I can ask the dealer to do? He said that cylinder 3 looked worn and had some minor oil deposits but compression and leakdown figures were excellent.

chronon

No white or blue smoke at all. I have polished the tips before and didnt notice anything unusual.

adam_

I'd say it's time for the dealer to be proposing a new motor!

Look, they've confirmed high oil use that is outside 'Porsche acceptable limits' correct??? Everything that follows is on Porsche's dime. They can do all the tests they want, but the entire assembly is out of spec. It is up to PCNA to fix this. Once the car has 'tripped' a limit (ie the official oil use limit) it is 'bad' and the CPO should kick in.

Bad spark plugs will not increase oil consumption, nor would they be bad at 13k- and as pointed out above, running that much oil has trashed the plugs and perhaps cats. I'd bet your ring lands in the pistons are fouled with carbon too.

chronon

That's what I am hoping for! The dealer in this case has been supportive and is (at least in theory) helping me build the case. I guess he was expecting bad reads on the tests to support the request for a new engine or major engine repair. I guess at this point all I can keep asking is that they fix it (whatever that means). The official limit is 588/miles per quart and I am below 500 so it is officially off-specs (all documented with pics and with the dealer standing behind the reads)

CaptPegLeg

Sounds to me like Happy Days Ahead for you. At least after you get through all the BS that PCNA is going to fling at you. See if you can recruit Itc to deflect some of it for you. Experience counts.

chronon

Who is Itc? I need all the help I can get! (I assume by happy days you mean a new engine?)

chronon

I have another question - does it make sense for the leakdown and compression tests to have good results if obviously oil is getting past the valve guides and/or piston rings?

CaptPegLeg

I would think the oil has only two places to go, on the ground or out the pipe. On the ground would be obvious and out the pipe is the only thing left. It's going somewhere and I wouldn't think that it would matter how if you don't see it on the ground, it's gotta be the dealer's problem. If it's out of specs. it's out of spec's.

ltc

Or option #3: mixing with the coolant.....but that is very easy to verify.
(common problem on 924/944/968's)

ltc

Experience counts? Whatever are you talking about?
The next thing you'll tell me is that I owned a Cayenne.......would you like to speed dial PCNA legal or would you like me to try and find the number.