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2003 Monte Carlo SS using oil

J

jrsavoie

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My grandson's 2003 Monte Carlo SS is apparently going through. Some oil. It didn't appear to be leaking it. At least there was no oil spot where he parked a few days ago.

Is there anything common about those vehicles going through oil?

I think it has about 120,000 miles
 
That has a v6 not sure how similar it is to the one I just rebuilt but the 08 v6 I rebuilt has a pcv. If it's like mine it's probably all carboned up and the PCV could be plugged, just changing the pcv probably won't do much as all the baffling in the valve cover is usually gunked up. Those darn oil change reminders are alot of the problem as you end up not changing the oil often enough
 
I really never understood why a gasser engine's oil always turns muddy brown in color when they are near the time to change! I know diesels turn black from soot.

I think those monty carlos had a 3.1 or a 2.8 v6 sideways engine in them. they are known for the rear valve cover leaking oil because of all the heat that builds up between it and the firewall. all the hosing like from the pcv and other vacuum lines get hard and brittle too. could be one of the larger lines are cracked and not pulling from the crankcase like it should. if it was burning too much oil the cat will start giving issues real soon. they don't like oil very well!

on a cold morning startup look to see if any smoke comes out of the pipe. that's a good indication of valve stem seals giving up the ghost. and take a look at the spark plugs. if the electrode is white and the outer ring has residue on it, it's prob oil.
 
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If it's got that dreaded OHV cam 4 banger that Pontiac used in their grand am's and pre's those are a real joy! most of those engines died when one spark plug missfires and owners don't fix it right away! it throws off engine balance. I've seen one throw a rod only on a 10 mile stretch after a plug or coil crapped out!
 
MrMarty51 said:
That should not yet be using oil. Be sure and place a chunka cardboard under the wehicle to check for leaks. Our old Puick Century was leaking oil but could not see much on the gravel drive way. A chunka cardboard cured that diagnosis and WOW was it ever leaking.
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Great idea there Marty. I am familiar with the cardboard under the vehicle. My 2002 daily driver S-10 (4.3 Liter) with 154,000 miles leaks oil mainly from the pan gasket the best I can tell and thats what a mechanic told me. It does not seem to burn oil, but leaks like a son of a gun. It will leave a spot about the size of a 50 cent piece on the floor or cardboard. I have to keep carboard under it in my garage of course. I add a quart of oil ever so often. I reckon to replace the pan gasket the motor would have to be unbolted and raised up, if I am wrong correct me. At this time I think I will just put a quart of oil in it ever so often.
 
in some instances you can get away with cleaning off the oil pan seam where it mates to the block real good and smear a bead of silicone or even the "right stuff" cheese wiz in the can stuff around the pan seam to stop a small leak like that. as long as it's not up around the rear side of the crank where you can't get at.
 
I've found a can of that oven cleaner from the dollar store does wonders as getting all the caked on grime off of an engine block. then have at it with a power washer :) it makes those aluminum pieces under the hood nice n bright too!
 
After scrubbing all the oil from around the pan, compressed air and blow it all off real good, a couple more blasts of B&P cleaner with blast of air between to make sure it is all oil free. Give the pan to block area a nice bead of right stuff, then, use a finger and press the goop into the groove. Do that procedure several times. That will pressure the sealer into the groove and any deformities that might exist.
I hope that stops it up for You.
One time on a 302 ford, one piece pan gasket. No way to get the pan removed from between the engine and cross frame or axle or whatever it was on that 1/2 ton unit.
Dropped the pan as far as it would go. Drug the old pan gasket from between the engine and pan. Thoroughly Wiped the two surfaces, shoved the new gasket in and got it placed and prodded onto the pan. a little sealer in where the corners are, bolted the pan back up and that cured that leaking gasket.
 
BIGR said:
Great advice guys. I know it's not the main seal leaking. Transmission guy looked at that when he pulled my transmission and rebuilt it back on October.
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Replace rear main seal should be on top of the list of any transmission shop. Or at least ask the customer if they want it done while there. Long as its a mounted to back of engine seal.
 
Rockabillyrat said:
Modern oil consumption specs are 1qt per 1000 miles. That is considered "normal" with today's low tension rings.

As far as the Monte Carlo, I would check the intake gaskets and PCV system.
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That doesn’t sound like normal to me. Our 01 suburban and 2010 escalade would barely loose 1 qt in 30,000 miles. Thats how often they got oil changes, not a typo. I have a friend with a couple Toyotas that he added the electric driven centrifuges and a provent auto drain on them- he runs his oil 50,000 miles, said he adds his at less than a quart per 100,000 miles. The one pickup he has 1.1 million miles on it- I just rode in it last week. My two Toyotas (01 & 07) get oil changes at 5,000 mile intervals, both have about 175,000 miles on them- they are almost perfectly full still each time. My sons 01 ram with 5.9 gasser - oil change again 5,000 mile twice since he drove it, maybe 160,000 on it- looses 1 pint in that time. He gave up on old truck as daily driver now and is gonna sell that beater this weekend for a couple grand, kinda likes his little Toyota car being an outside salesman now.

I get comparing Toyotas to chevy malibu isn’t same, or even that chevy to my LS6.0 engines. But the dodge 5.9 is not known to be an amazing engine.

If it was a 1980’s monte carlo, yeah ai would say that amount of loss is ok. But no way I would think thats ok in a post 2000 engine.

I really suspect something is up with pvc, valve stem seals, something. Here we have to do emmisions test every year for registration. We can see a printout of hydrocarbons parts per million. When 1 quart burns up in 3,000 miles it shows up on that test. When an engine will burn 1 quart in 1,000 miles on a 90s or new gas engine- that is enough hydrocarbons to fail the test. Thats when people do the honey trick to pass smog, even move the registration time to summer and use thick straight 50 weight oil just for the emissions test.
 
He mounted a 120v unit in his truck driven from a secondary alternator he already uses.
Its a small service truck converted to hiway chase truck. Not really practical for most uses.

Thats why I am giving up on truck mounted cf, and going to just add drain & refill oil hoses to my truck and will plug into the 120v unit at home. I really am wanting to figure out cleaning oil pan and oil cooler oil all at same time. But because it circulates through engine oil pump after cooler, idk yet.
 
All the 120v units I have seen online are over a grand in price! surely someone out there has to have built a small unit for around 100 or so bucks lol I'll keep searching though. I like your idea and also want to clean all the oil I have been saving over the years from oil changes, possibly use it ether in the fuel or something!!
 
dbrannon79 said:
All the 120v units I have seen online are over a grand in price! surely someone out there has to have built a small unit for around 100 or so bucks lol I'll keep searching though. I like your idea and also want to clean all the oil I have been saving over the years from oil changes, possibly use it ether in the fuel or something!!
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No way- not with the inflation we have seen in last year. Just a simple 120v motor is a couple hundred bucks. Look up just an oil pump that can supply over 60 gpm at 120 psi.

2 years ago a basic kit was $675 and now goes for $1000.
You have to make a descent amount of fuel just to break even on the cost. Doing it with a ds4 I don’t see as practical on wmo. Ds4 means diy bio and dealing with all the chemicals.

Wmo- if you have an oil burner for home or shop heat you could maybe(??)use the wmo and centrifuge. Otherwise that is all db2 ip.

The soot in used oil, especially from a Diesel engine, is damaging to fine surface area of tight tolerance- thats why you get rid of it from the oilpan. Injector pump is far more easily damaged by this than crankshaft bearings. So you have to clean it to that fine level to keep from ruining the ip. Years ago you could buy a good used db2 and injector at junkyard for $75. Guys ran total garbage through it saving hundreds in fuel cost and just swap an ip and injectors once every couple years.
But we are taking his thread WAY off topic- should bump this over to appropriate fuels thread for it.
 
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