Burning oil

Hi, and thanks for stopping in!

Engines can burn oil for a variety of reasons. Some reasons are worse than other so lets start with the little things first and work our way up to the more expensive ones.

The first thing to do is start the vehicle and let it idle. Stand by the exhaust pipe. Do you see any blue smoke? Have a friend rev up the engine a few times. See any blue smoke?

If you do, then you know that the engine is burning oil internally which I can discuss later.

If you do not see any blue smoke and are still smelling oil burning then that indicates that there is most likely a small leak that is finding a hot surface to smolder on (like an exhaust manifold, heat shield or other hot part of the engine. A leaky valve cover, a loose fitting or oil pressure sensor. Any of these could produce a burning oil smell.

If you did see blue smoke in the exhaust, then you have bigger problems. Typically when en engine of that mileage starts to burn oil its one of two things. The piston rings, or the valve guides. To determine this, you need to do a compression test.

See this guide:
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

If you have good compression on the cylinders and are burning oil its most likely the valve guide seals that need replacing.

Hope that helps,
Jon