Before this all happened did you open up the engine at all if so what work and when was it done?
Burning oil so bad it won't drive around the block... suddenly
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No, I bought the car with a blown transmission and drove it about 5km to my garage, then parked it. It ran very little over a 2 year period (possibly longer) but it seemed to be running fine, as I said, for about 250km. I just checked the basics and changed the oil. I didn't see any major reasons to dig deeper as the car was running virtually flawlessly.
I haven't checked it yet for one simple reason- if it's seals, I can take care of that in a day for $100 and move forward. If it's rings, I'm going to need to come up with a whole new plan for that car - I'm not eager to have it back in pieces taking up valuable garage space again after just finishing the transmission. And obviously it's going to cost a bit more than $100
I'll probably check the compression this weekend because I am curious. Probably wise since there's no point in wasting money on valve seals if the rings are clearly bad... it's just bad news I don't really want right now.
EDIT: My real curiosity here is which of those 2 things, if any, might have gone bad so quickly. It was literally one 30km flawless drive, then next start car won't run due to oil fouling.
Yes, the car did sit a lot over a 2-3 year period. I ran it a few times just to move some oil around and boil off some moisture, but otherwise it sat. My first thought was rings, but it ran so well for those couple hundred miles I figured the rings wouldn't suddenly get that much worse.
Also, I really like the idea of it being some problem common to all the cylinders, such as intake, fuel-air etc, rather than 6-12 valve seals going bad all at once.
FWIW my neighbor was a Mercedes mechanic for 47 years and his conclusion was that it's definitely burning a lot of oil. He was really fixated on intake issues though as well. I just can't see how an intake problem could result in so much oil getting into the combustion chambers. The PCV was the only common thread I could think of.
I'll check the compression, but if it's the rings I think I'm going to throw in the towel on reliving my youth and sell the car.
Is it confirmation bias when you get an idea in your head and then you start seeing things in a way that supports your preconceived theory? Well, whether it's that or something else, I definitely got a case of that going with this problem. The plugs were so wet and so fouled that combined with some bluish smoke I convinced myself it couldn't be a fueling problem. I must admit that I have quite a bit of experience with carbureted cars and OBD2-era fuel injection systems but almost no experience with primitive fuel injection systems and I have virtually no idea how this system is set up other than the very basics.
It's funny, your ZX road trip purchase story beats mine, which was also a minor adventure. I was in my last year of school, applied for several credit cards, then maxed them all out to buy a 1982 ZX in Massachusetts. On the drive back to Maine the oil pressure gauge dropped to zero driving down the highway which was plenty stressful for a noob kid. I don't have a user manual for that car anymore, but there was actually a troubleshooting section in the manual regarding zero oil pressure reading, and as I recall, it said something like "Check if there is oil in the car. If there is, keep driving." So I did.
Man, I knew absolutely nothing back then but I'm making slow progress. 😂
Youtube gives me the impression that your area has a pretty healthy car scene. Mortske, Vice Grip spent a lot of time around there, DD Speed Shop and Halfass Kustoms just across the border... I'm sure I'm forgetting others.
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. I'm not sure I ever would have found it as the connector looked fine from the outside but was green and crusty inside. Luckily the sensor itself tested fine. Took the car for a 50km shakedown today to get some heat into it... no problems at all other than a rare misfire or 2, but this was on the old plugs so I'm saying problem solved!
It's funny, your ZX road trip purchase story beats mine, which was also a minor adventure. I was in my last year of school, applied for several credit cards, then maxed them all out to buy a 1982 ZX in Massachusetts. On the drive back to Maine the oil pressure gauge dropped to zero driving down the highway which was plenty stressful for a noob kid. I don't have a user manual for that car anymore, but there was actually a troubleshooting section in the manual regarding zero oil pressure reading, and as I recall, it said something like "Check if there is oil in the car. If there is, keep driving." So I did.
Man, I knew absolutely nothing back then but I'm making slow progress. 😂
Youtube gives me the impression that your area has a pretty healthy car scene. Mortske, Vice Grip spent a lot of time around there, DD Speed Shop and Halfass Kustoms just across the border... I'm sure I'm forgetting others.
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. I'm not sure I ever would have found it as the connector looked fine from the outside but was green and crusty inside. Luckily the sensor itself tested fine. Took the car for a 50km shakedown today to get some heat into it... no problems at all other than a rare misfire or 2, but this was on the old plugs so I'm saying problem solved!
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