Oil consumption issue (leaking?)

[Tukkr]

Hello all,

I believe i am having a little oil issue and was hoping on your good advice!

I own a 2002 Chevy Tahoe LT with 152.406 miles on it. The last oil change was done at 149611 miles.

Last night I got, to my surprise, a "Low Oil Level" warning. Thank god I was home soon thereafter. I parked the car and this morning I checked my engine oil --> almost nothing left!

The car does not produce white smoke on startup. I have checked the engine bay, everything as dry as can be. However when I check underneath the car I have a feeling something is leaking (see pictures below). As you can see from the picture the right hand side seems to be leaking, the left hand side is dry. The strange thing however is that I have never seen a puddle or a spot of oil on the ground where I park the car.....

I am no technician, what can it be? Thank you in advance!!

 

[wjburken]

Hello all,

I believe i am having a little oil issue and was hoping on your good advice!

I own a 2002 Chevy Tahoe LT with 152.406 miles on it. The last oil change was done at 149611 miles.

Last night I got, to my surprise, a "Low Oil Level" warning. Thank god I was home soon thereafter. I parked the car and this morning I checked my engine oil --> almost nothing left!

The car does not produce white smoke on startup. I have checked the engine bay, everything as dry as can be. However when I check underneath the car I have a feeling something is leaking (see pictures below). As you can see from the picture the right hand side seems to be leaking, the left hand side is dry. The strange thing however is that I have never seen a puddle or a spot of oil on the ground where I park the car.....

I am no technician, what can it be? Thank you in advance!!

You said this is a new issue. Have you had any work done on the vehicle lately? Oil change maybe?

First thing I’d do is get some more oil in it and then check to make sure your oil filter is tight.

Then I would clean everything up as best you can drive it around a little and see what you see under there.

Others will likely chime in with some more suggestions/questions.

 

[Scottydoggs]

hard to say. best to clean that up good, then keep a eye out for the new clean trail of oil.

oil pans, valve covers, rear main seals all can leak.

 

[avalonandl]

Powerwash it and put a new oil filter in it. I had a weeping oil filter (Wix) and a new filter fixed it.

 

[iamdub]

That doesn't look like a leak bad enough to lose ~2+ quarts over 3,000 miles. With all the grime in it, it's been there a long time. The stuff to the right is more fresh. Maybe it's something that only leaks when the engine is running and the oil is pressurized? As Scott mentioned, clean it off and look for the trails of fresh oil. When you're driving, the wind currents can blow oil all over the place and make it difficult to find the source.

Get 3-4 cans of engine degreaser, brake parts cleaner, a stiff bristled brush and some safety goggles. Set your Tahoe up on ramps or whatever you have to get it up, and spray the degreaser everywhere it's needed. Scrub it in, let it sit for a minute, then wash it off. Repeat as needed. When you get most of the heavier grime off and you're down to just the thinner oily stuff, finish it off with the brake cleaner.

Start it and let it idle for a few minutes and look for fresh trails.

 

[ks03]

That doesn't look like a leak bad enough to lose ~2+ quarts over 3,000 miles...

Tukkr, my Yukon looks worse. I need to do the rear main but haven’t, it’ll leave at least 3drops everywhere I park it, and I can easily see where I usually park it from the stains left behind. That being said it will barely touch the oil level in 3k mi.
Do an oil consumption test. Did you check the oil level early in this oil change? It could be a simple as being underfilled once, and there is really nothing wrong.
If continues it has to be consuming it some other way.
If it has been going into your cooling system, your coolant should look pretty nasty, and radiator hoses should be glimmering and sweating oil where they are up high in the system.
Otherwise it’s burning it somehow. You can burn off a lot from a valve cover dripping onto a manifold, but I think you would of seen and smelt that.
Hopefully you have an old pcv and going to the restricted orifice type could help. Otherwise you could pull spark plugs, see if you have some that are crusted over.

 

[Tukkr]

Hi guys, thank you all for your advice!

I have added 1 liter (approx 1 quarter) of new oil and now the dipstick shows a perfect level.

I have also spoken a mechanic and he told me that between min and max on the dipstick was approx 1 quarter, correct?

If so, then I have used 1 quarter of oil the last +-3000 miles, that sounds reasonable.

This is my first V8, my former car was a volvo v70 diesel that hardly used any oil. Perhaps I just should have checked the oil more often...

But based on your advice, im first going to clean things up underneath. And see if it leaks somewhere.

Cheers!

 

[iamdub]

Hi guys, thank you all for your advice!

I have added 1 liter (approx 1 quarter) of new oil and now the dipstick shows a perfect level.

I have also spoken a mechanic and he told me that between min and max on the dipstick was approx 1 quarter, correct?

If so, then I have used 1 quarter of oil the last +-3000 miles, that sounds reasonable.

This is my first V8, my former car was a volvo v70 diesel that hardly used any oil. Perhaps I just should have checked the oil more often...

That sounds much better. By your previous post saying there was "almost nothing left", it sounded like you were way low and just had some residue on the dipstick. Adding one quart to fill it isn't terribly low at all and I'm surprised your low oil light came on. Usually, it takes being around two quarts low for the sensor to detect low oil level. Maybe you were on an incline? Either way, one quart over 3,000 miles isn't unreasonable, especially if it's conventional oil. Yes, it takes one quart to fill from the "MIN" level to the "MAX" level. Or, lowest hole to the highest hole. Anywhere in between is acceptable, but try to keep it at half to full.

There are a few things you could try to lessen this amount of loss. First would be to fix all leaks. At least identify them to accurately assess how bad they are in both volume and what they're leaking onto. For example, a small valve cover leak isn't such a big deal in itslef. But, if it's coating your starter in oil, it could turn into a more expensive and much more inconvenient situation.

 

[BADRIDES]

2002 Tahoes are known for oil pan gaskets and rear main seals leaking. I know cause I have replaced them both and mine is an 02 model.