Losing oil, '89 Mazda 626

There was some weeping around the valve cover gasket, so I replaced that.
There is still a burning oil smell, but no smoke from the tailpipe. I am
suspecting the oil pan may be loose; I'm going to look at it now.

I'll be doing an oil change in a bout a week; for right now I'm going to
check the tightness of the bolts. When I do the change, I may drop the pan.

THe question is this: did this car have a gasket from the factory? All I
can find are cork gaskets, and I really don't like using them unless I
absolutely *have* to!

Hachiroku <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news(E-Mail Removed):

> There was some weeping around the valve cover gasket, so I replaced
> that. There is still a burning oil smell, but no smoke from the
> tailpipe. I am suspecting the oil pan may be loose; I'm going to look
> at it now.
>
> I'll be doing an oil change in a bout a week; for right now I'm going
> to check the tightness of the bolts. When I do the change, I may drop
> the pan.
>
> THe question is this: did this car have a gasket from the factory? All
> I can find are cork gaskets, and I really don't like using them unless
> I absolutely *have* to!
>
>
>

Don't know. Never dropped the pan on my '89.
did have to tighten it up a few times.

I did replace the valve cover gasket twice tho.
You gotta clean off the gunk and parts of the old gasget
and make sure the new gasket is seated properly.

Depending on the mileage you may have to replace the
head gasket. Had to do thet once.

YOu might need to get some engine cleaner and clean the
engine. After the next drive the leaks will be obvious.

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:02:11 +0000, Gordon wrote:

> Hachiroku <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> There was some weeping around the valve cover gasket, so I replaced
>> that. There is still a burning oil smell, but no smoke from the
>> tailpipe. I am suspecting the oil pan may be loose; I'm going to look at
>> it now.
>>
>> I'll be doing an oil change in a bout a week; for right now I'm going to
>> check the tightness of the bolts. When I do the change, I may drop the
>> pan.
>>
>> THe question is this: did this car have a gasket from the factory? All I
>> can find are cork gaskets, and I really don't like using them unless I
>> absolutely *have* to!
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Don't know. Never dropped the pan on my '89. did have to tighten it up a
> few times.

Did that...

>
> I did replace the valve cover gasket twice tho. You gotta clean off the
> gunk and parts of the old gasget and make sure the new gasket is seated
> properly.

Did that...

>
> Depending on the mileage you may have to replace the head gasket. Had to
> do thet once.

Oh, no...


>
> YOu might need to get some engine cleaner and clean the engine. After the
> next drive the leaks will be obvious.

The only thing I can think of now (hopefully NOT the HG!) is the
aftermarket oil filter I put on. I'm kind of hoping that either the gasket
didn't mate properly or got nicked going on.

I always match the new filter to the old, and it matched, but it went on
hard, so it might be nicked...

120 miles to the next change...

=?iso-2022-jp?q?Hachiroku_=1B$B%O%A%m%=2F=1B=28B?= <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in news:xJEqi.129$9I3.50@trndny06:

> The only thing I can think of now (hopefully NOT the HG!) is the
> aftermarket oil filter I put on. I'm kind of hoping that either the
> gasket didn't mate properly or got nicked going on.
>
> I always match the new filter to the old, and it matched, but it went
> on hard, so it might be nicked...
>

Like I said, clean the engine. Then after the next drive
it will be very apearent where the leak is. There may be
minor leaking from the HG. But that isn't necessarly a
sign that change is needed.

If these problems apeared right after an oil change then
I would suspect the filter. And what do you mean aftermarket
I always used Fram filters. As always; when installing
the new filter; wipe the filter seat, put a film of new
oil on the gasket, don't over torque.

Although I once used a different brand of filter and it
didn't fit quite right. The fit was so bad that I stripped
the mounting threads and had to have the car shopped so the
threads could be rethreaded. Wot a PITA. Never used that
brand again.