Failed CA Smog - High HC - Eats Oil
 

Hello I'm Aber, and new to this forum so I'm sorta ready for the flames coming my way.

So heres a bit of history how I got this SUV. My mom just bought a new Honda CR-V to replace her '98 Montero Sport since she needed something that save her a bit more gas. So she gave me the Montero Sport after she just got all the brakes replaced including rotors and drums and she didn't want me driving my 1986 Toyota AE86 Corolla GTS too much cause it had alot of mileage (257,000 miles ) .. LOL

The only problem with the Montero Sport she had was it was eating excesive amounts of oil. About 1 qt. per 3 weeks so by the time she is due for and oil change there is no oil on the dip stick. There is no large puddles of oil where she parks so I was thinking it may come out somewhere while driving.


Went to do smog today and it failed on the HC and visual:

1998 Montero Sport 2WD V6

HC (PPM)
15mph : 117
25mph: 56

Max allowable:
15mph : 47
25mph : 31

So it failed miserably on the HC.

On the visual a bit of blue smoke on throttle snap test. On a normal basis it don't smoke much when warmed up.

The rest of the reading were well under max. So here is my question to the folks who have had Montero Sports.

1. How likely would it be the Piston Ring ?

2. And could Valve Seals leak as much as 1 qt. of oil per 3 weeks ?

3. How much have you paid to have this repaired ?

Try replacing the cat.

Bad cat would not produce blue smoke or excessive oil comsumption - and there would be an error code.

Sounds like valve seals but I can't confirm it that would result in such high oil consumption.

Hopefully others on this forum with valve seal reparis can confirm or come up with other ideas.

Ron

Kumachn, I feel for you. I too am a resident of Cali and their strict smog standards.

I would say that it's most likely not the cat, although if you don't fix your oil consumption problem, you could be looking at replacing it sooner or later. The manual does state that a certain amount of oil consumption for these vehicles is normal. My girlfriend's 2001 Tracker is the same; it goes through oil but doesn't smoke or leak. Go figure.

Anyway, I'd say the old tablespoon of oil compression test is in order, and that will narrow down whether any excessive wear is from the rings or the head, and then take it from there....

Hope this helps, bro...