When I'm driving along, people say that I have blue smoke coming from my exhaust pipe, especially when I step on it. Since I work at a dealership, they told me I am burning oil. I already figured that since my oil level keeps dropping on the dipstick and I have to put two quarts in every other week. Well, it's really getting to me now though because it's been doing it for about 5,000-8,000 miles, and I put on my new exhaust and it makes it all black on the outside.

Anyway, the real question is how do I know what is making my engine burn so much oil? Is it part of the valvetrain? Pistons? Piston rings? I mean two quarts of oil every 2 weeks is a lot right? If it's pistons, should I upgrade the pistons to higher compression pistons, since I want to go N/A anyway? How much will I be looking to spend if I dont do it myself? Am I losing horsepower due to lack of compression?

Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated!

 

you're burning oil. could be bad rings.

 

do a compression test and see what kind of numbers you get, do you have any mods to your car?

 

A compression and leakdown test will let you know how bad the problem is. Do you notice smoke behind you when you get on it? If so, your rings are shot.

If you don't replace them yourself, it will be close to $800-900 to fix it at a mechanic. I would get it fixed as soon as possible since it is roasting your cat, creating harmful sludge inside the engine, killing your 02 sensor, and putting your engine at risk for oil starvation.

Check out my thread that I created a while back when I had this problem and replaced the rings myself. It will give you some good info.

 

its most likely the rings. if you want higher compression pistons (which i would suggest for N/A, usually people go with 12:1) you can just replace the pistons, new pistons usually come with rings. kill 9 birds with 1 shotgun shell.

by the way... what engine do you have? B18B? B18C? because i wouldnt suggest 12:1 pistons on a B18B block without a GSR head.

 

i own a GS-R, and I THINK thatz a B18C? yea...

one of my mechanic friends that i work with told me that he would actually do the work for free!!! he told me that it would take him some time, but eventually he would have to take the head off and do a valve job.

since i dont see smoke behind me, but others see it, it might not be THAT bad of a problem. but until i get the problem fixed, i dont see how it can be that bad to just keep feeding my engine oil.

also, my mechanic friend told me that since he has to take apart the head and do a total valve job on it, i might as well get high-performance cams. man, that runs into a lotta money...even if the labor is free... h:

 

i don't have serious smoking, but i thought i would do a small thread revival to ask a few questions...

1) how much is it to get new rings for a stock gsr?
2) is there anything else i should replace while i'm that deep?
3) does the engine have to come out to do it?
4) anything else i'm missing? just trying to get an idea so I can prepare for it soon!

cuz i just got a job so i'm looking to get my car back to form b4 i start doing anything to it...

 

1) OEM rings are around $120 a set. The labor will kill you though. The dealership quoted me around $900 in parts and labor to do it.

2) I would replace the rod and main bearings (I didn't though). You will need a new head gasket since the head has to come off. If you want to do some work on the head like springs, valve seals, retainers, valves, etc, that would be a good time to do it. Oil pan gasket would also good to replace since the oil pan and oil pickup assembly need to be dropped. And if you are feeling ballsy, a new set of ARP rod bolts and head studs would be a wise investment for future modification plans.

3) I did my rings with the engine in the car. Like I said, the head needs to be pulled and the oil pan and oil pickup dropped. Everything is accessible once that is done.

4) Be prepared for a bitch of a job. I did mine in one full day, but I am very mechanically inclined and there were no hitches at all. You are forgetting the honing process. The cylinder walls need to be honed with a 400 grit stone. You can pick up an attachment at any autoparts store and it fits into a drill. Put some NEW stones on and lube up the cylinder walls with WD40 and make some slow passes with the honing tool. You just need enough to make the cylinder walls rough again for ring breakin. Then wash the walls down and oil them and you can put in the new rings.

 

well i think i'll have to stick with rings and gaskets for now cuz i'm trying to stop the smoking mainly right now cuz i'm gonna build a new block and work on my head b4 i put it on the new block... that's when the turbo will be going in now due to my suspension going out...

will gaskets, rings, and all that stuff stop the smoking? as well as the slight oil burning?

 

The rings stopped my oil burning completely. I was going through 3 quarts every 2000 miles, so I had a serious problem.

The gaskets will just help avoid any leakage. You will need a headgasket for sure though and the oil pan gasket is cheap, so you might as well.