hey all,


I have a evo 9 with a 2.3 stroker running on e85. recently a blew a head gasket and spent a small fortune on a replacement head/valve seats/tomei gaskets via a experienced evo tuning shop. the car overheated a few times prior to me taking the car in for the new head.


so I got the car back with new head and all seems fine. no overheating issues. a couple of weeks later the oil light comes on, car is usually weekend only so I have probably only done 500kms at this point. filled the oil and took it back to the shop for a quick check, they said to record how many km's I did if the issue reoccurred and we reset the odometer. I then flew to Europe for a month, came home and after a few drives the oil light is back/low oil. odometer had 250kms on it but too be honest its all a bit hazy after Europe and maybe I reset it ? I really cant remember much after Europe I had been checking the oil level regularly though and wasn't noticing a level change on the dipstick until the light came on.


checked the driveway and there's a couple spots of oil but we are talking less than 5 droplets. had my local mechanic check for leaks and there's some minor leaks around the sump but nothing that matches the amount of oil I seem to be losing. I don't have oil contamination as far as I can tell (its not milky). Coolant looks spot on, pulled the pcv valve out after reading forums and it seems ok (rattles back and forth). running a oil catch can which is bone dry. no oil in the lower intercooler pipes. engine has 40000 kms on it since stroker build and turbo is about the same. prior to the overheating issue I never had issues with oil level dropping.


so at this point I'm fairly sure I'm burning oil somewhere but I certainly don't get blue/black/white smoke anywhere. no loss in power and no fluid contamination. its winter over here and its a little chilly today (15degrees c). there's always a bit of steam from the exhaust but lately (and I'm not sure if this is simply because I'm looking for problems) but the smoke seems more than usual and I cant tell if it has a grey/brown color ? the smoke is somewhat inconsistent also. cold start always some smoke, once warm usually completely disappears but then other times it doesn't stop smoking even when the oil temp has reached 80degrees c. I don't notice any smoke when driving, either hard pulls or decel.


at this stage I have NOT - checked spark plugs or done compressions tests/checked out turbo/tried different oil thickness. using 5/30 oil currently I believe. I have very little experience doing anything myself hence why. I have not taken the car back to the original tuner yet as I would like to get an idea of what the issue is before I'm stung with another huge bill.


so fresh oil now for the last 100kms, cant see any drop in oil level yet. I'm thrashing the **** off the car but leaving anti lag off this time just cause. (I did use anti lag more than I should have in the past).


that's a much info as I can think of. I have had local 2 mechanics look at the smoke and they didn't seem to think it was burning oil. i don't think the smoke smells of anything other than exhaust fumes. but i could be wrong/not even sure if i know what burnt oil smells of compared to normal exhaust fumes. latest video from today on cold start :
thoughts ?

 

looks normal to me.

 

mine does that when it is cold out on a cold start then it clears up when warmed/driven.

 

Yeah, that looks like the water vapor, but E85 does that on cold mornings, especially if you're running catless.


When you say the oil light comes on, do you have a low oil indicator light? Our USDM cars only have a low pressure light.


How much oil are you having to add?

 

I have an Australian delivered evo 9 and I was under the impression the indicator was oil low, not oil pressure. When the warning light comes on the oil level on the dip stick is well past the low indicator.


I did 250km last run and then the oil indicator light came on again/car took just over a litre of oil to return to top level of the dipstick/warning low clears. I thought the oil low threshold would be well past 1 litre lost though ? I have an aftermarket ecu so not sure if that changes thresholds.

 

An oil level sensor would be on the oil pan. If there isn't one there, it's just the low pressure light most likely, which is triggered by the pressure switch on the back of the block.

 

there is a sensor on the bottom of the pan. I don't actually know if my warning is oil low or oil pressure. I just assumed it was oil low which matched the physical level on dip stick when this light comes on. warning light has a picture of a oil can dripping. I think the adm is a bit different from US though.

 

Try pulling spark plugs to see if you are burning oil. Also look around to see if there are any other leaks (i.e. oil lines to and from turbo, oil filter housing, oil in turbo, etc.).

 

this sensor comes on when driving and dip stick almost empty.

 

myself and a few mechanics have had a good look around the bottom of the car and cant see any major leaks. this car sits still in the garage most of the time and as above there is 5 drops of the floor and that's it. unless of course its dumping oil only on load. the under carriage is clean as though.

 

The biggie is the oil light coming on. What turns on the light is no oil pressure. Driving with no oil pressure very soon equals no engine. So, don't wait for the oil light to come on before adding oil. Keep the sump filled.

Second, a few drops of oil on the driveway can equal a big leak. Sometimes the engine leaks only when operating and airflow through the engine compartment can sweep away most of the evidence of a leak. So, before searching for how the engine is consuming oil, seal all leaks.

 

Take a picture of it.

 

leaking from sump area and much more so under load I suspect. I switched from a 10/40 oil to a 20/50 oil some time ago and this drastically reduced the oil leaks/consumption to an acceptable level. Been running the 20/50 for about a year now.

 

Also worth noting, the oi light on the dash is an oil pressure warning, not an oil level warning. If you're oil was so low you got a pressure warning, that's very very bad. If you're running thicker oil in hopes of reducing consumption and leaks, it sounds like you have repairs to do...

 

you need to do a leak down and comp test, all vids on youtube to teach yourself, running heavier weight oil isnt the answer