Intermittently burning oil

TSACOMA

MEMBER
1989 FORD PROBE
2.2L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
85,200 MILES

My car is burning oil at 5,000 RPMs when shifting from 2nd to 3rd. I did a compression test, and that looks good. I'll be driving down the road (with a heavy foot) as usual, and 1st to 2nd it shifts just fine at 5,000 RPMs (no smoke at all), 2nd to 3rd it doesn't shift, and starts dumping smoke from the exhaust. Like I said, I did a compression test, and the results were as follows:
Cylinder 1: 140
Cylinder 2: 135
Cylinder 3: 130
Cylinder 4: 130
If you need any other information, let me know, and I'll do my best to get it for you.

3 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

What color is the smoke and how much oil are you losing? Meaning when you top it off, how much and in how many mile inurnments are you doing this?

If the smoke is dark in color I am thinking it is fuel.

The gear that it is shifting to would not really cause any difference to cause it to start blowing smoke due to oil but the shifting to 3rd can cause additional fuel to be dumped causing dark smoke.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-black-smoke

So, what I would suggest at this point is to pull the plugs and see what they look like. I don't think this is a plug issue but the plugs will help confirm if this is oil or fuel.

Below is a chart that will help with telling if the plugs are fouled. Please let us know what you find with this and we can go from there.

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Sunday, September 26th, 2021 AT 11:59 AM

TSACOMA

MEMBER
4 POSTS

I've included pictures of the spark plugs, and there is definitely oil and gas on them. When it is smoking it smells like burning oil, so I'd assume that it's not burning any coolant. And I haven't ran it in this state long enough to tell how much it's losing, but it's enough that you can barely see headlights through the cloud of smoke. It's done this three times in the last 24 hours and I'm concerned that I might cause damage by running it more than strictly necessary.

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Sunday, September 26th, 2021 AT 2:56 PM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Okay. That is great info.

If this just started and is that bad, then I suspect you have blow by which means the rings are going out of it.

The compression is terrible, but I would suggest doing a leak down test. Basically you put the cylinders on TDC of the compression stroke and then remove the Schrader valve of your compression tester and put compressed air to the cylinder. Then you check the intake, exhaust, cooling system, and oil fill cap for any air escaping.

They make a gauge that will measure how much is escaping but you should not hear or feel much air coming out so if you do then it is too much.

Here is a video that will help with this. This is not produced by our site, but it is a decent video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHli-wLy9_o

This could be valve guide seals, but it is unlikely to cause this much smoke. Plus, the fact that this is at high RPM points more to a ring issue.

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Sunday, September 26th, 2021 AT 7:22 PM