RE: Alfa Pleasure, Alfa Pain...

["Peter Webb" <webb.p@domain.elided>]

Jon et al;

My old Milano had those similar symptoms.  Turned out to be the oil pressure
sender leaking like a 5 year old on a 2 hour car
ride.  Only leaked under pressure and not while sitting.   $50 later I was
on the road with my cheap Milano as a daily beater that's more fun than a
usual commuter car.

The cam seals are going to have the same effect.  They will only leak while
under pressure.  Check back there and you can see the oil residue on there
from the leak.

Often people forget to check for the rubber ring from the old filter (like a
digester that helped me service my truck, names withheld to protect the
guilty).  Again it only leaked under pressure.

IMO:

1) That's too much oil to be burned in such a short period of time.  It
would be smoking like John Houseman in a Smith Barney invests in Phillip
Morris commercial.
2) The compression is too high for it to be rings
3) I agree with the opinion that seals couldn't leak that much oil.  If they
did you'd have under 100lb compression.
4) The plugs would oil foul and the car wouldn't even run.

Just giving you some things to look at before you rip the engine apart.

-Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Pike [mailto:jhpike@domain.elided]
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 18:44
To: Peter Webb
Cc: Alfa Digest
Subject: Re: Alfa Pleasure, Alfa Pain...


Peter Webb wrote:

>Jon,
>
>A few of less ominous things to check for oil consumption that high:
>
>1) The cam seals.  They are the half-moon thingies at the back of the cam
>cover.
>2) Leaking oil pressure sensor.  They are notorious for leaks.
>3) Oil filter ring.  Did the last person to change it leave the old ring
on?
>   Would explain why the PO didn't notice previous oil usage.
>4) Spica pumps are notorious for leaking oil when badly maintained.
>
>Compression seems good.  The usual procedure is to do a dry test, then wet
>the cylinders and do another and look at the compression change.  You don't
>have any really low cylinders to warrant that amount of oil consumption.
>
>I would suspect an external leak before an internal one based on your
>description.
>
>-Peter
>
>
>
One of the things that helped me lull my critical eye into terminal
blindness,  was the fact that the engine was leaking very little oil..
 a nice, but not internally significant feature.   After my 60 mile run
home on the freeway, and a few local drives,  totalling about 100,  the
next day there was barely a drop or two coming out of the car overnight.

Not sure what you mean by the oil filter ring,  the rubber seal under
the filter?  Would you not notice oil going down the pan and dripping
off it and the sump guard?

And is there a place that oil can exit while driving, without ending up
on the body or someplace to make tell tale drips later?

Thanks..

Jon
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