WTF why does my car eat oil in the winter time only?

nonlocality

Founding Member
Mar 5, 2002
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MESA, AZ.
During the summer time my car hardly loses any oil, but come winter time i find myself adding a quart every 2-3 weeks or so. last night i checked the oil and according to the dipstick it was empty!! WTF. does anyone else have this problem during the winter. i looked under the car and there are no visible leaks. what could make it lose oil in the winter?
 
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No luck yet, A Ford master technician told me that Ford says that Windsor motors will use a little bit of oil and its not a big deal. He didn't tell me how much "a little" was though. I'm hoping it has something to do with the cold, cause I was driving my car around for over a month with a 16.5:1 air fuel ratio, hope my rings aren't gone.
 
nonlocality said:
could the oil loss have something to do with the fact that i use synthetic quaker state oil? should i switch to regular oil instead? :shrug:

I will say this. Rubber seals shrink more during the cold. This could make the oil leak when the car goes from hot to cold. The car gets warmed up, oil gets on it. Then the car gets cold, and the seal starts to shrink, and oil may drip.

Try the cardboard test and see what happens.

Look at your oil filter, oil pan, bell housing, valve covers. See if you see ANY signs of leaking. Replace the seals as necessary.

Maybe one of your valve guides is cracked slightly, making your car burn a slight amount of oil. Any blue tinge to the exhaust gas?
Scott
 
slo95.0 said:
thats why i have always used valvoline vr1 20w50


I use Castrol GTX 20w50 year round. when its cold out, i'll hold the gas to the floor, and crank the car over for about 4 secs, stop.. crank.. ect about 3 times in a row.
Should prime the engine enough to get the SURUP flowing lol

Anyway, in case you may be wondering. Flooring the car during startup shuts off the fuel injectors. No fuel, no fire.. the engine will rotate until you lift.

But, I myself also suffer from the strange loss of coolant. I believe that there is a sealing problem with the resovior tank. (overflow). I got a "low coolant light" once, and freaked out a tad.. checked the radiator, and was like.. HUH??

I then came to find out that the coolant sensor is in the overflow. If the coolant level drops below the sensor, it will trip the light. (I know this is pretty much known buy everyone here, but there may be a few that arent aware.)

I remember reading something a while back, someone actually tracked down the leak, and it ended up being in the overflow. They also stated that the problem came about during the colder seasons.

Anyway, thats all I can think of at the moment. (waaaaaaay tired)