M20 oil leaks?

[whitebulat22]

I am burning TONS of oil. Every 500 miles or so I dump a quart in it. It was originally 10W synthetic which I have replaced with 10W conventional and it has not helped the slightest amount. Compression test showed 5 cylinders at exact same compression with one 20% off due to a ring, but that one slightly defeated ring shouldn't cause this much consumption right?

I plan on trying out a new valve cover gasket straight away. Engine "only" has 150k miles on it and I don't plan to do a serious rebuild on it anytime soon, are there other places I should be looking to patch this up?

[mpowerful]

10w-what? Try going to a conventional 20w-50. Then replace vc gasket. Then getting more involved you can check/replace oil pan gasket, front cam seal, rear main seal. 20% may be enough to eat a lot of oil too. Try bumping to a heavier weight oil. Also dont forget the little half moon seals in the valve cover.

[jlevie]

a quart every 500mi should leave a noticeable blue cloud behind the car if the engine is burning oil. More likely that rate of loss is from leaks. Clean the engine (from top and bottom) and watch for the first sign of oil the find the leaks.