Hey all havent had too much time to hang around lately.

 

The car is still doing good for the most part but Ive noticed a fair amount of oil consumption as of late. The engine did great the fisrt 2800 miles with the M1 5w 30 with absolutely no oil loss but close to 3500 I was a quart down. I added a quart of Lucas to the oil since I know 5w 30 is a tad light for these engines and 1000 miles latter I'm a pint low. I get no noticeable smoke durring operation and my garage floor is spotless. I do see a small amount of oil sweating from the VC gaskets but it doesent drip. I'm going to change the oil soon but was wondering what weight I should use in this 139K engine?

 

Also is there anything I can do to give this car a little more grunt other then dropping 2K on a turbo or swaping in a manual trans? I did gut and pipe the rear converter and it made a slight improvment in the upper RPM range but nothing worth the effort. I would never expect the car to run like my firebird or truck but dang an automatic Geo Metro has more low end.

no puffs of smoke on shifting/accelerating/start up out the tail pipe?

 

check the owners manual but might want to bump up to 10w30 oil. probably won't make a difference, but may slow the oil loss depending where/how you're loosing it.

 

check your intake hose, it could be filled with oil. replace the PCV valve (use Subaru only on this part).

 

a tune up may help it. new plugs, wires, and air filter. otherwise i wouldn't bothering with the performance route, you'll keep getting the same results as you mentioned "alot of work for little return". that's how it goes with small non-turbo engines without lots of money and serious engine work. depending where your oil is going, there could be some power losses associated with that as well.

That's not bad oil consumption for that age. IMHO it would be a waste of time to hop up that tiny engine. Wear it out and install a 2.2 after and you will think it's a rocket for a while.

Thanks for the replys!

 

I did do a complete tune up minus the PCV valve this summer but I got some of the new E3 plugs for it yesturday. Looking at the NGK's I put in just a few months ago the plug I pulled from #4 cyl has quite a bit more wear, to much for only a few months and 4K. The car actually does run better with the E3 plugs. I'll bump the oil weight up and replace the valve cover gaskets this weekend.

 

So whats the deal with the PCV valve? Ive heard this mentioned on this board before about only using the OE valve. Are the aftermarket replacements rated at a different vacuum level or what??

So whats the deal with the PCV valve? Ive heard this mentioned on this board before about only using the OE valve. Are the aftermarket replacements rated at a different vacuum level or what??

I don't about using the OEM valve, I used one I bought from NAPA. But I'm pretty sure its what took my Sport Sedan from burning 12-16mpg to a more respectable 20+. Aka getting more than 300 miles per tank.