Diagnosing and solving oil useage, what it gunna involve!

Welsh_Jon

Hello all and a Merry Christmas!

Yesterday I went to have a look at my sisters Vectra 2.2 SRI (X reg), and from looking at a few of the threads it looks like its a common problem for these engines to drink oil! My sister was pouring in about 1.5 litres a week! (and knowing her, quite likely to have overfilled it a few times to - not that it would have been too full for long!)

The symptoms are: drinks loads of oil, doesn't leak over the drive, spits a little oil out of the exhaust when rev'd. 🙁

Now I narrowed it down to it possibly being piston rings, then I was pointed to this wonderful forum!

Could somebody confirm that it is likely the valve stem seals, how much work it is to replace them myself and how much this should cost?

Also is there anything else that would be useful to do when I was there?

Many, many thanks,

Jon

vocky

it is usually either the valve stem seals or piston rings dunno..

has the cam chain ever snapped, it can cause the piston rings to stick

otherwise it will most likely be the valve stem seals, I would replace the cam chain whilst the cylinder head is off

Welsh_Jon

Hey, thanks for answering,

I cant say if the chain has ever snapped, the only thing that we know about the car is that it looks like it has been well looked after - she was only purchased around 6 months ago, though I think she has done around 100,000ish.

From what I've been told it's been an ongoing problem for a while now, and it's not putting out a lot of oil from the exhaust. It creates a spot of oil rather than covering the whole hand so I was thinking that maybe it could be more likely the valve stem seals - then although I'm confident I could do the job I'm certainly no expert!

Just bought a Haynes manual and it doesn't seem to have 'excessive oil use' in the trouble shooting (surprise!).

When the head is pulled off, is there any sign that would suggest valve stem seals rather than piston rings on inspection? Or by then would it be a matter of doing the whole job and monitoring the oil again?

vocky

with the head off you can simply drop the sump and take the pistons out

remove the rings and clean up them up and also clean the grooves they sit in, this will help increase the compression and might help reduce oil consumption

ay 100,000 miles you need to replace the cam chain, the valve stem seals have also probably gone hard :roll:

The_Crusher

Fupp!! I was concerned at a litre a month!!!

Was hopping stem seals could be done in head like ford escorts etc...guess not 🙁

sriestate

exactly the same problem as Im having! and It sounds like it could be expensive?

Graeme_McTighe

Excess oil consumption

I have owned my ZC series II manual since new and it's nearing the end of it's warrantee period. It drives well but a little slower than the JR Vectra I had owned.

Since 30,000 kms it has used a bit of oil, and the light has come on during two longer country trips.

Holden (Vauxhall cousin) has completed three readings over consumption 3,000km intervals and the final figure of 2l of oil being consumed over 9,000kms. Holden will normally repair these motors if they consume more than 2.5l of oil. It's a bit noisy on startup and throws an old puff out on cool mornings - valve seats are the likely culprit.

I have owned 2 Holden Geminis, 2 Camiras and 2 Vectras - all based on Opel/Vauxhall models, and this is the only unit that drinks oil.

My only advice is make sure you check all consumption figures as early as possible - Holden may repair my motor but I am not holding my breath. chill.gif