I don't exactly know how much oil an E30 should go through in a week or so, but it seems that recently I have been consuming quite a bit. I first thought it was unusual and prayed I wasn't burning oil. But there are no signs of that as my car doesn't smoke at all.
Okay, so if it is not burning it, then it must be leaking it from somewhere. But unlike my other E30 which had a worn oil pan gasket, which would cause it to leak in parking lots, my current E30 did not show any signs of a leak either. She left nothing but dry pavement underneath her. So where was this oil going?
It would be every week or so that the Low Oil light would appear on the check panel. I assumed that maybe my sensor was playing tricks on me. But it wasn't, because when I checked the dipstick, sure enough she was running low. But after a top off, it didn't seem to mind, and the car always ran fine, no hesitation or signs of loss in compression.
So the other day my Falken Azenis RT-615s came in and I went to get them mounted yesterday. After the mounting and balancing I requested an alignment done. They (NTB) said it couldn't be done due to a loose right tie rod. That made enough sense to me so I went home to place an order for some replacements.
After that I went out for some spirited driving to try out the new tires, and boy are they fun! I completely owned my favorite twisty road with the tires not squealing at all while taking those corners faster than I ever have. Parked the car after a couple runs and chilled with my friends, not seeing any leakage anywhere.
On my way to work this morning, things suddenly made a turn for the worse. I noticed upon acceleration, with the sun light beaming down on the pavement behind me, I noticed a trail of hazey smoke that appeared to be emitted from my cars ass. My low oil light came on as well, when just that last night, I added a quart to it. In disbelief, I told myself maybe it was just hazey outside and my mind was playing tricks on me, but the check control panel told me otherwise.
I wanted to turn around and go back home, but work is important, so I continued my short commute to the metro station since I was closer to that than my house. So 3 minutes later I get to the parking lot there, turn off the car, and check underneath it to see what was causing the smoke. My heart sunk when I saw a rapid drip of that thick, dark oil coming off my subframe. I had no time to really diagnose it, but I did pop my hood to see if I could spot a common leak. There was oil all over my A/C compressor, tie rod, and steering rack. I don't know how it got on the A/C compressor, but I'm going to assume the oil pan gasket has a severe leak at the moment.
She is definitely getting towed home tonight, I don't want to R3V the bitch. In terms of the oil pans state, I have only managed to lightly scrape the oil pan at less than 3 mph on one of those long gradual speed bumps. That occured almost 3 weeks ago, so I doubt that was the cause of this. I have not touched asphalt with the pan since, so what could've caused this mess? I feel like shit because just the other night I felt what the car was truly capable of and now she will be sitting idle until this thing is sorted out.
Any ideas on what could've gone wrong? Can gaskets (oil pan) blow a hole under pressure perhaps?
Me =
Okay, so if it is not burning it, then it must be leaking it from somewhere. But unlike my other E30 which had a worn oil pan gasket, which would cause it to leak in parking lots, my current E30 did not show any signs of a leak either. She left nothing but dry pavement underneath her. So where was this oil going?
It would be every week or so that the Low Oil light would appear on the check panel. I assumed that maybe my sensor was playing tricks on me. But it wasn't, because when I checked the dipstick, sure enough she was running low. But after a top off, it didn't seem to mind, and the car always ran fine, no hesitation or signs of loss in compression.
So the other day my Falken Azenis RT-615s came in and I went to get them mounted yesterday. After the mounting and balancing I requested an alignment done. They (NTB) said it couldn't be done due to a loose right tie rod. That made enough sense to me so I went home to place an order for some replacements.
After that I went out for some spirited driving to try out the new tires, and boy are they fun! I completely owned my favorite twisty road with the tires not squealing at all while taking those corners faster than I ever have. Parked the car after a couple runs and chilled with my friends, not seeing any leakage anywhere.
On my way to work this morning, things suddenly made a turn for the worse. I noticed upon acceleration, with the sun light beaming down on the pavement behind me, I noticed a trail of hazey smoke that appeared to be emitted from my cars ass. My low oil light came on as well, when just that last night, I added a quart to it. In disbelief, I told myself maybe it was just hazey outside and my mind was playing tricks on me, but the check control panel told me otherwise.
I wanted to turn around and go back home, but work is important, so I continued my short commute to the metro station since I was closer to that than my house. So 3 minutes later I get to the parking lot there, turn off the car, and check underneath it to see what was causing the smoke. My heart sunk when I saw a rapid drip of that thick, dark oil coming off my subframe. I had no time to really diagnose it, but I did pop my hood to see if I could spot a common leak. There was oil all over my A/C compressor, tie rod, and steering rack. I don't know how it got on the A/C compressor, but I'm going to assume the oil pan gasket has a severe leak at the moment.
She is definitely getting towed home tonight, I don't want to R3V the bitch. In terms of the oil pans state, I have only managed to lightly scrape the oil pan at less than 3 mph on one of those long gradual speed bumps. That occured almost 3 weeks ago, so I doubt that was the cause of this. I have not touched asphalt with the pan since, so what could've caused this mess? I feel like shit because just the other night I felt what the car was truly capable of and now she will be sitting idle until this thing is sorted out.
Any ideas on what could've gone wrong? Can gaskets (oil pan) blow a hole under pressure perhaps?
Me =
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