Motor Oil?

ANSWER : The fuel pump will not stay on if you loose oil pressure. This is why it is shutting off. The loss of oil pressure may be from bad crankshaft bearings or camshaft bearings. The engine oil pan should be removed and the oil pump needs to be checked to ensure that you put in the pick up tube seal to the pump and connected the pump to the block. Then remove at least one main bearing cap and inspect the bearings for excessive wear and crankshaft damage. If you need some help with this, consider YourMechanic, as a certified technician can help diagnose the issue with your oil pressure firsthand and help you fix it accordingly.

ANSWER : Hi there, thanks for writing in. The valve stem seals are the most common cause of this on your engine. When they fail, it requires that the cylinder heads be removed and rebuilt to fix it. The piston rings can also cause this but they are not as common. Unfortunately there is not anything, not even heavier oil that will fix this. You will need to have the heads rebuilt.

ANSWER : Excessive oil consumption is usually related to piston ring wear or valve guide seals not properly sealing causing engine oil to pass by and be ignited and burnt in the combustion chamber along with the fuel and air mixture. Generally, synthetic oil will not cure a situation like this as this is something that will require a fairly extensive repair job. With that said, there are many different opinions and theories on engine oil. Synthetic vs conventional oil is one of the most debated myths surrounding the topic of oil changes. This will not hurt your engine when switching from synthetic to conventional or vice versa. In fact, Synthetic blend oils are actually a mix of conventional oils and synthetic oils. It is recommended that you use the same oil to top off when needed, giving you the best protection from the oil you have chosen to use in your vehicle. Many people often wonder about the benefits of using synthetic oils. Many synthetic oils are made up of a base oil of approximately 80%, with other additives making up the remaining 20%. The main difference between the molecules in synthetically engineered oils and conventional oils are the uniformity of the molecules. The molecules found in most conventional oils differ in shape, size and impurity. The type of oil that should be used for a specific application depends largely on the driver’s driving habits, the environment in which the car is driven, the mileage on the car’s engine and the limits that the engine may be pushed to. I would recommend having an expert from Your Mechanic come to your home to diagnose your engine oil burning problem as this may be a sign of a bigger problem.

ANSWER : Hi, thanks for writing in. Excess crankcase pressure is the likely source of this problem. If one or more of your crankcase ventilation components (i.e. PCV valve, oil breather/separator, or other crankcase ventilation device) are clogged up or inoperative, then crankcase pressure will build, forcing the dipstick out, and can force oil out of the rear main crankshaft seal, which could be where the oil around the steering boot and control arm came from. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your home or office to confirm a diagnosis on the leak and make or suggest the necessary repairs or replacements.

ANSWER : You might have a problem with the oil filter leaking when you rev the engine and increase the oil pressure. This can be from a collapsed oil filter media or excessive oil pressure from the engine. I recommend having the oil and filter replaced using a good quality filter and have the oil leak verified to be from the filter. Make sure to not run the engine low on oil. If you are finding you do not want to drive with the leak, a mobile technician from YourMechanic can come to your home or office, and replace both your filter, and oil.

ANSWER : Unless there is an imperfection (e.g., serious pitting or irregularities) on the engine mounting base for the filter gasket, the leak is probably not at the filter. There are other adjacent potential leak spots such as the oil pan gasket, oil pressure sending unit and so forth. If the leak is significant at all, merely thoroughly cleaning the suspect area and running the engine while looking for the leak should be sufficient. If you still can’t find the leak origin, a UV visible dye can be added to the engine oil which will then make the leak point visible using a detection light. If you want these steps performed by a certified Mechanic, dispatched by YourMechanic right to your location, please request an oil leak diagnostic and the responding certified mechanic will get this taken care of for you. If you have further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to re-contact YourMechanic as we are always here to help you.

ANSWER : Hi There,
It sounds like you may need to replace the oil cap o-ring. If you haven’t done this before there are two O-rings to replace; a small green one on the base of the filter cap stem and the large black one that seals the filter cap (which seems to be the one you are having issues with). The large O-ring sits in a small square-shaped groove that is at the base of the oil filter cap. It is very easy to not properly seat the large O-ring because the threads for the oil cap are quite large and will accept the O-ring if you are not careful. I would suggest having a professional from YourMechanic come to your location to take a look at your vehicle.

ANSWER : Hi There,
If there are misfires, there should be a check engine light on, which should have stored specific fault codes. Many times these fault codes will indicate whether the misfire is related to a specific cylinder or if it is a general misfire code. Misfires can happen for many different reasons such as faulty spark plug wires or even an injector not pulsing correctly. I would suggest having a professional from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose and inspect your vehicle to determine what may be causing this to happen.