What could the problem be?

[Canuckrz]

Well I just got my 88' supra turbo and now it is eating through oil like nothing, It went from half way to the fill line to not even on the dipstick after about 2 hours of highway driving

Also it heated up a lot, I haven't had a chance to check if it's missing coolant because I'm still waiting for it to cool down

Its also getting very crappy fuel mileage, put 50 bucks in it and after a 2 hour highway drive there was about a fifth of a tank left.

I'm not sure what the farthest right gauge is, I'm pretty sure it's something for the turbo but the gauge is flat lining, nothing is showing up.


Could the problem be that the turbo needs to be redone? Head gasket? Or some other problem. Thanks for any help

EDIT: Checked the coolant levels, they're fine so I'm not loosing any coolant.

[robertsws]

did you pull the codes?

is there any smoke? if there is, what color?

is there any oil under the car?

did you use premium gas?

what's the milage on your supra? how long have you had it? what work have you done to it so far?

when you step on the gas does your oil pressure increase?

is there oil in your intercooler?

is there coolant in your overflow?

these all need to be answered.

[Canuckrz]

did you pull the codes? Wouldn't I need a programmer to do that?

is there any smoke? if there is, what color? Yeah theres smoke, its your typical grey smoke as far as I can tell.

is there any oil under the car? If it was it wouldn't be major, I'll put some newspapers under it tonight to check.

did you use premium gas? Not sure what the buddy who I bought it off of was using, likely regular.

what's the milage on your supra? how long have you had it? what work have you done to it so far? 147k km, a day, nothing yet but it looks like this problem is going to open a can of worms.

when you step on the gas does your oil pressure increase? Yes

is there oil in your intercooler? How do I check that?

is there coolant in your overflow? Yes.

Thanks for the help thusfar.

[robertsws]

did you pull the codes? Wouldn't I need a programmer to do that?

no you don't just read this, MK3 TSRM On-Line

this is your new bible, so to speak.

is there any smoke? if there is, what color? Yeah theres smoke, its your typical grey smoke as far as I can tell.

there's black, blue, and white/grey smoke, black is fuel, blue is oil, and white is moisture. your grey smoke could mean a blown head gasket BHG or if your turbo oil seal is shot it would be throwing oil into your intercooler which would result in moisture in your intake. this was my problem.

when you step on the gas does your oil pressure increase? Yes

this could be a sign of worn piston rings, which a engine with your mileage wouldn't surprise me. i would do a compression check on your cylinders, read here for that MK3 TSRM On-Line

is there oil in your intercooler? How do I check that?

the ic piping at the bottom of you intercooler. remove that and see if any oil drips out

[Canuckrz]

Thanks alot for the help, I'll do the checks that you said tomorrow and post the results.

How much would a new set of rings run?

[Chambers]

Mmmm... well honestly, you probably wont be looking into just new rings, if you are going to take the engine down that far apart then you should do a re-build. Sorry I do not have a price on the rings for you.

Good luck.

[robertsws]

chambers is right. when you check your compression, if it is out of spec then a engine re-build is neccassary

[SideWinderGX]

Originally Posted by robertsws

when you step on the gas does your oil pressure increase? Yes

this could be a sign of worn piston rings, which a engine with your mileage wouldn't surprise me. i would do a compression check on your cylinders, read here for that MK3 TSRM On-Line

what? more info please. specific info, not the TSRM link hehe.

[robertsws]

when piston rings are worn it allows the compression from the cylinders past the pistons down around the crank and into the oil pan. this increases the oil pressure. a surefire sign is if you push your oil dipstick all the way in and go around and step on the gas and walk back around to the dipstick and it's pushed out by any degree. this was the problem with my 87 non-turbo that i sold. another sign is low compression in your cylinders. but that could also be just a BHG. my last post i said that if your compression is out of spec it means a engine re-buil is neccassary. I wasn't completely accurate. it could mean just a doing a BHG job. If your piston rings are worn then you must get a engine re-build.

[CyFi6]

"when piston rings are worn it allows the compression from the cylinders past the pistons down around the crank and into the oil pan. this increases the oil pressure."

This is not true at all. What you said about the dipstick is partially right, but if this is happening, i would be checking to make sure the PCV system is clean and in good working order before assuming anything else. Oil pressure increases with engine rpm, and has nothing to do with the amount of throttle you are applying. Oil pressure is higher than the amount of air pressure the crankcase could hold without blowing something out, so pressure in the crankcase does not change oil pressure at all.

What you need to do is a dry and wet compression test. Doing a regular compression check, and then add a little bit of oil into the cylinder and do another compression check. The oil between the piston rings and cylinder walls create a temporary seal, and if your wet test numbers jump more than about 20psi, its a pretty good indication that your piston rings are not sealing properly.


This doesnt seem to be the biggest concern though. If you are losing that much oil you are either burning it or leaking it. When you say the smoke is the "usual grey", what does that mean? No car should be smokeing. Does it look pure white? or does it have a slight tint of blue to it?


The fact that you are overheating is something you need to look into. You say the overflow tank has coolant in it to the full line. Does is your radiator full? Does the overflow tank spit out coolant ever?