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With everyone having oil induced misfire issues I decided to investigate hers wednesday night since it has 22k on it now. Its never low on oil, but I pulled the plugs out and #4 is definitely burning some oil. So I acquired a Mishimoto catch can yesterday and installed it. New factory iridium plugs come in today that will go in tonight. She does say it occasionally lacks power so im hoping this will solve that.

I would attach pictures but they too 'big'

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I had my injectors changed last Monday due to power loss/hesitation. My car is running great so far. I had it in for the a/c fix and mentioned the issue so they ran some tests and said the injectors weren't functioning properly. I guess they were correct b/c it seems to have solved the issue.

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I'm not entirely convinced that iridium plugs are all they have cracked up to be. My car (not a spark) came with Iridium plugs. I noticed that on some hills I was having to shift it down a gear. It had 36000 miles on it.

Just for fun, I decided to change the spark plugs. Instantly got the power back that the car had lost before ... really surprising. I have never been a huge fan of 100K mile plugs.

Especially in engines with aluminum heads. Change early, change often.

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well...700 miles later i had to do the oil change...so i checked the catch can

the catch can was already 1/2 way fucking full!! And it is leaking around the base a little bit....but it was 1/2 full...my turbo tercel, with almost 300k & gets fed an additional atmosphere of boost only fills the can with about a shot glass worth.

So i went to do a leakdown test...but it figures the plugs are a smaller thread then whats normal so i could not perform leakdown or a compression test. Number 4 was clean as a whistle tho which is a good sign now.

I want her to trade the fucker in...that is unacceptable amount of oil to be blowing out

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If you are using that much, that will be a warranty issue. Maybe get it documented and an oil consumption test going so you can get a new motor and then trade the gremlin box towards something else. You could then trade it with a clear conscience.

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My good buddy works at the dealer we bought it from. He is one of the main techs and is the only guy I trust touching her car. I keep him up to date of whats going on. He informed me GM told him 1 quart every 2k is considered ok. And they have been having alot of issues with rings not sealing. I dont know if that was directed to Sparks or all GMs in general.

Im tempted into running a drain line from the catch can back into the crankcase so I dont have to dump the can back into the motor every 2 weeks

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The newer low friction (low spring force) rings are an industry wide issue, it only takes a very small flaw in the groove to mess them up.

The more strange part is why the cars will go for 20,000+ miles and then start having issues?

Is the oil in the can clean or all black? My car now blackens the oil in 1000- miles, before it started consuming the oil it would remain dark amber all the way to the end of the change interval. The blackness suggests increased blow by which my be increasing the airflow within the block which is causing the oil to blow out the PCV and get burned. The carbon buildup from burning the oil could make the ring/cylinder worse and or cause pre-ignition (ping).

Also, I've compression checked some pretty oval and scored cylinders, they often check out just fine. A leakdown test works better to see how much gas is getting past the rings, I would check at top of stroke and bottom of stroke.

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Well...checked it out after a week from the oil change...~300 miles.

Catch can had about a little less then a shot glass worth of oil. That oil was not super clean looking. However the oil on the dipstick is still pretty clear.

Im hoping this works out as a real fix for the apparent design flaw in which makes these cars consume oil

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  • 4 weeks later...

My good buddy works at the dealer we bought it from. He is one of the main techs and is the only guy I trust touching her car. I keep him up to date of whats going on. He informed me GM told him 1 quart every 2k is considered ok. And they have been having alot of issues with rings not sealing. I dont know if that was directed to Sparks or all GMs in general.

Im tempted into running a drain line from the catch can back into the crankcase so I dont have to dump the can back into the motor every 2 weeks

I think it all of the small GM engines, I had a 2010 Equinox that we used as a toad with a oil use issue and got the same run around so I bought a 2011 Ford Edge fantastic toad but I got the hots for a F150 sure miss my Edge. So far we are enjoying the Spark. I hope they have it fixed on the 2014.

Edited by walt2137
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Could the problem be caused by excess crankcase pressure? I changed the oil on my Spark at 500 miles and then every 5000 up to the current 34,000+ mileage. I always fill the oil up to the second dot on the dipstick, never all the way to the top of the second set of hash marks.

I ride small motorcycles and scooters and it is common for them to blow excess oil through the crankcase vent tube if filling all they way to the top level on the dipstick. I also believe that a small high revving auto engine can be prone to cavitation of the crankshaft in the oil pan at high rpm's. This results in foaming of the oil causing a reduction of lubrication in the top end.

That being said, my Spark is running perfectly, no oil consumption and excellent power and fuel economy.

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