Is it possible...

[98ACR]

All right, here's what I know:

My car currently is leaking NO fluid of ANY kind.

The block has 162k miles, the head ~20k miles.

The head is a reman from a shop that we use for all of our head work, and we've never had a problem from them.

Every ~900 miles or so, depending on how I drive, I have to add 1 qt of oil.

My bumper is collecting black soot, just like what diesels usually spew.

Upon checking my spark plugs, they are clean with a light white ashing indicating a clean burn with no oil.

The engine is running as well as it ever has.

Fuel consumption is right around 38-42 mpg highway

Now I've said all of that to ask this: Is it possible that I have a valve seal leaking on the exhaust side only? And it runs into the exhaust stream where it is partially burned at the cat con and the remains become the nasty soot on my bumper? I 've heard that the Galant uses an "O-ring" type seal which is easily kinked during assembly causing leaking. Just a thought, as I'm trying to tie up the last of the loose ends on this car.

[mapid145]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(98ACR)</div><div class='quotemain'>


Fuel consumption is right around 38-42 mpg highway

.</div>

u get 38 mpgs.. how..

[94 5-Speed]

Seriously, I get a solid 30 MPG highway. Also is the exhaust anything other than (basically) clear?

[Shadow19]

Yea.. I definately want to know how the fuck u get that much in gas mileage.. as for your problem fuck if i know what it could be... but if u get 38-40 MPG i wouldnt try to fix it.....

[DOHCstunr]

galant seals are high quality viton rubber. not an o ring desing. its a spring tensioned cap style valve seal.
however, with time valve seals will wear. just as any seal of any kind will.
exhaust valve seals are almost always the culprit cause they get the most heat/ abuse.

you can get brand new viton rubber valveseals, for about 20 bucks plus shipping on ebay,
but installing them isn't the easiest task without a bolt on to the head valvespring compressor(the kind where you don't have to take off the head.

but before you go crazy on valveseals(which mind you ARE probably worn)
go ahead and do a compression test.
takes about 15 minutes. just rent the tool from autozone(10-20 bucks refundable)
lets see what your compression says before you go spending money

[manybrews]

if you JUST had a head replaced, Im assuming they rebuilt it correctly.
in your case, you probably have slightly worn cylinders. There was a few incidents of them becoming out-of-round on the earlier blocks prematurely. Although this DOESNT affect performance at all, it did create an increase in oil consumption.
Frankly, at 162K, if you're only adding a quart every 1000 miles or so, you're doing GREAT. at the time your car was new, the allowed spec was a quart every 1000 miles (typical of almost all auto manufacturers).
So, 162k later you're almost still within that spec. I wouldnt do a thing but add a quart every now and then.

Incidently, mitsus new oil consumption spec is a quart ever 1250 miles, so it hasnt gone up much.

[98ACR]

Really? I guess I'm just an alarmist. Before I popped the head, I never added any oil between oil changes.

I'm really not worried about the oil consumption, rather I'm just trying to get that blasted soot off my bumper!

When I had my muffler welded on, I had the guy tuck the tips under the bumper about 1/2" or so thinking it would lessen the sooting, but it's still pretty nasty looking within 1k miles

And for the fuel economy...I dunno. Everyone I talk to about it says it's abnormally high. My ACR got similar milage despite having a MUCH higher power output (shortly before selling it it dyno'd at 218 whp) But it also weighed about 600 lbs less. The G has always gotten good milage, but it's even better since P&P of the head.

[manybrews]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(98ACR)</div><div class='quotemain'>Really? I guess I'm just an alarmist. Before I popped the head, I never added any oil between oil changes. </div>
the head installation is probably what "pushed it" over the edge
removing and retightening the head causes block distortion, and amplify the out of round condition... that is a normal occurance with any engine, some more than others. Thats why a lot of todays engines are running the head bolts into the lower part the block using bolts that are 10-12 inches long. That prevents the torque from being applied to the cylinder walls, and instead to the main girdle area.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>
I'm really not worried about the oil consumption, rather I'm just trying to get that blasted soot off my bumper!

When I had my muffler welded on, I had the guy tuck the tips under the bumper about 1/2" or so thinking it would lessen the sooting, but it's still pretty nasty looking within 1k miles</div>
the soot may or may not be from oil. A quart every 1000 probably isnt enough to do that.