Burning too much oil.

For the past month my oil levels seem to be dropping low very quickly. I'm topping up an extra 100ml every week. I'm booked in for a service next week, will this sort the problem out or is there possibly something seriously wrong. Any help or advice would be most appreciated.

It sounds like your piston rings are on the way out (minimum) Especially if you can't find a leak

[Scoobs]

Are you seeing oil smoke coming from the exhaust? If not it would suggest a leak. Common place for this to happen is from the bottom of the clutch housing. It is made of plastic and sealed with an O ring.

[northwind]

Or likewise the top of the alternator cover...

You said 100ml per week, how many miles is that for you? And are you absolutely sure it's not leaking (park it up on some newspaper to check- remember if you've got a bellypan it might just pool in there instead of dripping out)

I'm doing on average around 100 to 150 miles a week. White smoke comes out the exhaust when I start her up but that soon stops when she's warm. I can't find no initial leak anywhere, I really am fearing the worst. I've been told to mention when I have her serviced next week to ask for a compression test, will this help find my problem? If it is the piston rings about how much would that be to get sorted, I only started my new job Monday and don't get paid for a month.

100ml that's like 1/10th litre right, that's not much.

the oil consumption varries quite a bit on my 105,000 mile engine, barely noticable sometimes like when I am floggin it in the twisties, most noticable on continuous highway miles, I have used a quart and a half in 1000 miles before,

What colour is your oil? Black indicates combustion products getting into the oil. This often means oil can get back the other way too. White smoke immediately on starting indicates oil burning, but if it only appears *after* starting and running for ten seconds or so, it's generally water vapour.

[northwind]

Have you had a look in your airbox to see if there's more oil than usual in there? I know there won't be enough to account for it all but it can pool in there then go back into the intakes if there's a lot...

Mine is a bit leaky around the clutch housing, is there any way to fix this? New O-ring? The design seems pretty poor to me as using a plastic case means that the case oscillates in time with the variations in crankcase pressure, which isnt ideal for trying to seal it. Ive tried nipping up the bolts but they are all tight.

Is it a simple matter of a new O-Ring, or would I simply be better with an ally case?

Dan.

[northwind]

New ring should do the job I reckon, mine's on its first and it's done 15000 miles quite happily. Billet cover'd be nice but there's no guarantee it'll even be better than stock...