170k Galant Woes

[Randolph]

Hey. New guy here from Long Island, New York. Just wondering a few things. First off. I drive a 1996 Mitsubishi Galant ES which just hit 170,000 miles a few days ago. Bought the car in 2000 with 38,000 miles. Car is daily driven to Brooklyn and back each day + mid day commutes.

Burns oil like a mo-fo. We don't even get oil changes anymore. How much oil should I be adding? I been doing 4 quartz every week or two. Some are telling me that its too much but then some are saying that sounds about right. Even the people at Autozone said it sounds about right. But...thats alot of oil and alot of money at the same time. Any ideas?

Also. Cars soon going to be kept as a local car, as we are putting down cash on a brand new 2007 Pearl White Mitsubishi Galant ES with ONLY 10K miles!!!!!

But...minus the windows being off track, the car burning oil, the tints peeling, the passenger axel snapping, the starter going on us, a tranny rebuild, its lasted us a while heh.

[Galant306m]

um after 190k before my rebuild i was only going through about 1 qt every oil change so you are going through a lot IMO.

Does it burn when you start or while you are driving, could be guide seals which would be pretty easy to do if you are good with cars or if you could find another head to just put about 150 bucks in and rebuild it.

If it burns all the time then the rings are shot or the cylinders are worn to shit, then you are looking at a full rebuild again not to much to do if you do it yourself, but going to have to get the head and block checked to make sure they are flat.

If i where you would do a quick compression test you should get 140+ psi for normal ring wear on that many miles, and if you are then i would say that you have bad guide seals. If not then you are looking at a rebuild.

Hope this helps some.

[Randolph]

um after 190k before my rebuild i was only going through about 1 qt every oil change so you are going through a lot IMO.

Does it burn when you start or while you are driving, could be guide seals which would be pretty easy to do if you are good with cars or if you could find another head to just put about 150 bucks in and rebuild it.

If it burns all the time then the rings are shot or the cylinders are worn to shit, then you are looking at a full rebuild again not to much to do if you do it yourself, but going to have to get the head and block checked to make sure they are flat.

If i where you would do a quick compression test you should get 140+ psi for normal ring wear on that many miles, and if you are then i would say that you have bad guide seals. If not then you are looking at a rebuild.

Hope this helps some.

I can bring it to my mechanic tomorrow. He would be able to do a compression test, correct? Also, just driving. I mean I use to do 1 quart but started doing 4 recently when I would check the oil dipstick and realize i'm not seeing any oil on the stick, but after 4 quarts you would see oil drip off the stick. I hope I am not adding too much. Thanks for the information. :)

Also: we are going to be having a tune up done. Nothing has been changed since we bought the car. Any suggestions?

[Galant306m]

Yea they can do it too other wise you can do it by renting the compression tester from autozone its really easy to do, just take a spar plug out of one cylinder at a time, screw the compression tester into the spark plug hole, disconnect the distributor power and have someone crank the engine a few times, the gauge will peak and hold. Do the same for each. simple test.

Fore the tune up:
First timing belt for sure.....

Spark plugs, wires, oil change with filter, cap and rotor, trans flush, coolant flush and the misc checks they will do.

Also if you want since you have not changed the oil in awhile and if you have good compression i would dump 1/3rd a bottle of seafoam into the engine and then the rest into the gas tank. Drive the car for about 30 miles and then change the oil, will clean up the inside of the engine and break down any sludge that will be present.

[Randolph]

Wow. Thank you for the information. I am going to relay this to my mother and get back to you. I appreciate this ALOT. :)

[Galant306m]

No problem let us know how it turns out for you!

[Galanttuner10]

thats way too much my 96 burns a qt over like 5k miles( i run synthetic) and i believe i am on original everything except plugs and wires as thats all ive replaced in my 3 years of having this car

[evil-G-nius]

Hey check the valve cover gasket as well...I run through oil too and I found out my gasket was kinda rotted out. It was also brought to my attention that the rear main seal could leak and that would be an oil consumption issue too...if it has failed that is. Good luck

[kamenfaiz]

see if it is even leaks oil from the bottom
i guess that should be first?

[bronxbombr]

Look in your distributor area and see if there is oil dripping from under the cover.

[evil-G-nius]

oil pan could need to be resealed as well...trying to cover all bases here

[Randolph]

Well. The PCV valve was shot so that was replaced. The timing belt he said lets not mess with it. New brakes/rotors was done today. Oil he said I added way too much and just give it two weeks and check it...but its good as it is now. He said the car runs good and sounds good. Said car DOESN'T need a tuneup. "if it aint broke dont fix it" I guess the good old saying goes.

[Galanttuner10]

so um y were u adding so much oil.. adding 4 quarts that often is rediculous as when ur down that muchs its basically 80 percent of the oil in the system is missing and ur engine would have seized by now

[Randolph]

i don't even know dude. as long as the car is good now...im straight hah.

[Galanttuner10]

i hear you but youd know if you were putting in too much oil as it would be being pushed out of the crank case and youd see it of u looked around the crank while under the car. over filling is just as bad as running low on oil so just keep an eye and dont go crazy

[Randolph]

thanks for the info. :)

[mko]

it proly leaks out too. oil pan gasket, front main seal