had this problem before and it led to me getting a new engine wit 56k on it about 30k ago...

im burning oil (not bad) but noticable.

every once in awhile i will see white smoke coming out of my exuast.

when i start my car up i get a shot of "hard to clean" black soot spraying out on to the pavment (i think this is just soot and condensation)

could this be anything else besides the begining of bad/ worn piston rings? is there anything i can do to stop it from happening.

i know all the symptoms only get worse as more and more oil leak. would a compression test help dignose the problem. what else should i be looking at as a possible factor? or solution?

 

lil help?

 

checking compression couldnt hurt, its easy as pie.

 

its not worn piston rings!!!

 

thanx for the sacarsm(sp?) what else could it be?

 

dude,
take it to the dealership and tell them to do a compresion and leakdown test. EVERY car does hat you said to a point, but the only way to know for sure is to check. Even if it is rings, you can have them replaed for less then 600 bucks with high performance ones.
lol

 

Just another reason to put some forged pistons in with rings.

 

With 97k miles on the clock, my intake manifold has quite a bit of oil in it. Maybe you have the same problem. I'd expect that some of it runs down to the valves, especially when it's parked for a few hours.

 

good point weston.... teh i can't really swing the pistons and tearion the whole thing up. outta both engines i have had it seems like the pistons rings are the weak point on high mileage engines.

 

White smoke would lead me to believe you need a new head gasket. Also the "condensation" could easily be anti-freeze due to needing a new head gasket. After going through your exhaust system the anti-freeze will look black. I'm pretty sure you need a new head gsaket .