Need Advise 2 questions

[stoneymonk]

1995 lumina 3.4 dohc,is there any easier way to change the rear spark plug other than takin the plenum off as desceibe in the haynes manual,also car has 131k miles on it burns a quart of oil in about 500 miles any ideas why re and re the oil o rning already no external leaks,pull the fron 3 plugs and two cylinders had oil in them?.Thank all.

[kwk39018]

I would worry about the oil leak first before the plugs.

[slick]

Take off the cowl weatherstripping, use several extensions with a swivel. Should be able to do the rear plugs.

 

Oil leak is most likely the dist o-ring. Do a search to find the pictures, and replacement procedures.

 

 

EDIT: Crap, couldn't read clearly through the run-on sentence and misspelled words. If your 100% that your o-ring job fixed your leak, have you check the oil pan? If it's losing it internally, then you have some issue's.

[Robby1870]

1995 lumina 3.4 dohc,is there any easier way to change the rear spark plug other than takin the plenum off as desceibe in the haynes manual,also car has 131k miles on it burns a quart of oil in about 500 miles any ideas why re and re the oil o rning already no external leaks,pull the fron 3 plugs and two cylinders had oil in them?.Thank all.

 

Trying to make sense of this.....

 

You have replaced the dist. o-ring before. There are no external oil leaks, but when you pulled two of the front spark plugs out there was oil in the cylinders?

[Andrew]

i bet the valve cover o-rings are bad. did you reuse them when you fixed the dist o-ring?

[GOT2B GM]

The orings around the spark plug boot holes in the cam carrier cover are leaking?

[stoneymonk]

Yes the o-ring was done 2 weeks ago and also used a sbc gasket,the mechanic did it when he did the safety and e-test.Car runs great oter than burning a quart of iol in the first 500 miles since i got it on the road,checked the oil level this morning and still full,Im thinking the mechanic only put 5 quarts instead of 6?.Where is the valve covers and is it hard to replace the gasket,will be doing the plugs this weekend so i wiil see if there is anymore oil in the sparkplugs valleys.

[Crazy K]

front gasket is easy, the rear is harder. start there.

 

the plenum does not need to come off to do the rear plugs, but it will if you have to do the rear intake gasket.

 

 

You probably aren't burning that much oil... keep monitoring for changes in it's level.

[stoneymonk]

Thanks all for the advise,Crazy K think i will do what you suggest and see what the rear plugs look like and if any oil there also.Then maybe do both gasket change at the same time.

[RobertISaar]

i'd also take a look at the PCV...

 

not sure how bad it is for the LQ1s but my l82 seems to like sucking oil slowly through the PCV...

 

just a thought

[jtwmechanic]

first you said no external leaks, so that covers any and all gasket issues. if you are losing oil inside the motor and find evidence of it in the cylinders then either you have bad oil rings on pistons, bad seals or guides in head at valves letting oil go by. unless i have missunderstood your description.

[Andrew]

first you said no external leaks, so that covers any and all gasket issues.

wrong. bad cam cover o-rings can cause this. ive seen it on several engines.

[jtwmechanic]

please explain how these bad o-rings let oil in the cylinder

[Andrew]

oil passes by the bad o-rings into the spark plug holes.

[jtwmechanic]

if using a quart every 500 miles through the plug holes then he must have serious compression leak issues also that's a lot of oil!!!!!!!

[stoneymonk]

Update,didnt change the plugs due to bad weather in toronto.Checked the oil level this morning still at the full mark on dipstick,no leaks or burning.Confirms the nechanic didnt fill to correct level 5.5 to 6litres.Have to wait till next weekend when i do the plugs to see if any oil in the plugs valley.Notice a vacuam leak either at the pcv hose or the t-connection line that goes to the back of the plenum.Again thanks for all of your responses its been a great help,will try to get some pics up next weekend weather permitting.