How bad for your engine is burning oil?

[AdrianH]

A 2nd way to do the trick way of changing valve stem seals without removing the heads: with plugs out, feed a (new) nylon rope into the combustion chamber through (very clean) plug threads. Tighten up the crank with a wrench to compress the rope. Work very clean with this method!

When cars had carburetors, worn valve stem seals would present a puff of smoke after idling at a traffic light. Since your vehicle isn’t doing this, I suspect stuck rings, you can consider a piston soak and Valvoline Restore and Protect.

An additive that might help is Liquiy Moly Engine Resealer.

On my Tiguan, the rings was stuck so bad it had a fine oil spray on the tailgate.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Sounds like California… only people I’ve ever heard call it smogging

HaHaHa,,so true. East Coasters call it just emission testing. By the way, thanks California for the insanely strict emissions, ( or smogging as you call it ). New York adopted the same California standards eons ago. The cost of a Cal-Cat, ( as in California Catalytic Converter), is triple the price due to extra precious metals in them to reduce emissions. You really have to make sure you're engine is in tip top condition, along with the 3 or 4 - 02 sensors to pass emission inspection. My 13' Pilot had ruined all three Cal Cats by 100K due to cylinder de-activation. I bypassed that right after the new CATS went in. Meanwhile, the thing ran fine, except for the CEL that said the Cats were bad. Finicky Cal Cats were really expensive. Was not happy. Sold that gas guzzlin pig not too long after the Cats went in.

 

[PandaBear]

What’s that?

I remember there are "clips" that you can clip on to the valve stem to hold it up while you replace the seal. There are also people who try to turn the engine to a valve close position then run compressor air into the spark plug hole to "push" the valve up.