Help there is gas in my oil!

[driver123]

Checked the oil on my malibu today, and it's almost a 1/4 of a quart over full and smells of gas. I changed the oil on 10/10/12, and there is 2200 miles on the oil. I had this problem once before and wrote it off to overdosing on fuel additive, but I suppose I was wrong.

The cel is on, it's throwing an Egr code, I replaced it in june of this year with a duralast part, but I guess that was another mistake, the light came back on a month ago.

The car runs well, a little rough the other day, almost like slight miss, but generally runs well. I've noticed that sometimes it does run rich, and when I get on it, I notice black smoke in my rearview mirror, but it's done that for a long time. I've had people tell me it's the quietist 3.1 they have ever heard, so I'm confident my oil pressure is good.

It does have the common intake gasket leak, but only outwardly as I've never noticed coolant in the oil.

Well that's it guys, any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[ls1mike]

Could be leaky injector. How many miles on it? Might be time for an injector service.

 

[driver123]

It has 119k

 

[KD0AXS]

First thing first, get the known problems taken care of. Fix the intake gasket and whatever is causing the CEL to be on. (the two could very well be related) Also, an EGR code doesn't necessarily mean the EGR valve is bad.

 

[ls1mike]

I was just going to ask, what is the car throwing any other codes?

 

[driver123]

I admit, I have been putting off the intake gasket, and threw my hands in the air the CEL came on again with an EGR code, but could either of these cause the engine to run rich? I did just fill up the tank and added 4 oz of MMO after the pump clicked.

 

[driver123]

No the guy at autozone just said it was an EGR code

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: driver123
I admit, I have been putting off the intake gasket, and threw my hands in the air the CEL came on again with an EGR code, but could either of these cause the engine to run rich? I did just fill up the tank and added 4 oz of MMO after the pump clicked.


Even if you overfilled the tank that didn't get gas into your oil. I'd check the fuel injectors and replace the intake gasket.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: driver123
No the guy at autozone just said it was an EGR code


I'd recommend picking up your own code reader. They can be had for a pretty reasonable price these days, they even sell them at Walmart. Then you will know exactly what codes you have, and you can get more info on exactly what they mean. Plus you can clear the codes yourself too.

If you happen to have an Android smartphone, it can become a code reader (and much more) with a $30 Bluetooth adapter and an app called Torque.

 

[Hirev]

Sounds like fuel pressure regulator is bad.... except for the part
Quote:
but generally runs well
it should not be running good at all.

 

[driver123]

This car does use oil to the tune of 1qt every 2000 or so miles, so I do add several qts in between changes, so I'm pretty sure my tbn remains pretty solid. There is no ticking or any engine noise what so ever to indicate I have a lubrication issue, but should I change the oil? Like I said I only have 2200 miles on qs defy and a napa gold.

 

[bigjl]

If you have black smoke surely that indicates rich running. If it runs rich all the time it will end up with unburnt fuel in the oil, much like a car driven a mile then parked up all the time will.

Could it be due to an issue with the cold start system.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: driver123
This car does use oil to the tune of 1qt every 2000 or so miles, so I do add several qts in between changes, so I'm pretty sure my tbn remains pretty solid. There is no ticking or any engine noise what so ever to indicate I have a lubrication issue, but should I change the oil? Like I said I only have 2200 miles on qs defy and a napa gold.


You said the car is almost 1/4 qt over filled in your first post, and the oil smells like gas. I'll [censored]ume you didn't overfill it with oil when you changed it? Keep in mind it still smells like gas. Why would you leave that oil in there? Get the issue fixed and change the oil, that's what I'd do. Mix enough fuel into the oil and you'll spin a bearing, or cause lots of excess wear if you don't.

 

[bigjl]

Indeed.

The reason for the Fiat sourced 1.9 cdti engine fitted to Opel/Vauxhall/Fiat/Alfa/Saab was fuel (diesel) getting into the oil after failed DPF regens.

If caught in time you had Vaseline instead of oil and excess wear on the camshafts.

If you didn't then the engine would grenade in spectacular fashion, one 3000 mile old Zafira being driven by a mate went bang and one rod came out the front and took out the rad, condensor and infercooled and one went out the back and left a dent in the firewall.

One of the fitters seen me a few weeks later and asked if I did it! Cheeky sod!

If diesel which has some lubrication capabilities can do this much damage in so few miles I would be very concerned to leave petrol contaminated oil in there for long.

Surely it will start to cause damage within a few hundred miles?

 

[toneydoc]

My dad had a similar problem in one of his cars. Turned out his fuel return line was clogged and this somehow allowed fuel to get into his oil really quickly. He had fuel lines replaced and gas tank removed and examined. It worked fine after that.

 

[Seventh]

A plugged/collapsed/kinked fuel return line would cause pressure at the rail to skyrocket. A vacuum leak @ the intake manifold gaskets would make the car run lean, for which the ECU would attempt to compensate for by driving the fuel trims up. Sometimes they can overcompensate.

I've seen cases where a severe intake manifold gasket leak adjacent to the vacuum supply for the FPR causes a double whammy effect. The ECU is trying to compensate for fuel trim irregularities, but is trying to do so with the fuel pressure pegged due to lack of vacuum at the FPR. Imagine the ECU trying to make sense of this mess when a significant amount of it's consumed air mass doesn't go through the air mass meter to be accounted for.

Just thinking out loud here, I don't have much experience with late model 'Merican stuff, I prefer it that way. However I've heard horror stories about their EGR systems causing awful carbon buildup problems and melting plastic intake manifolds.

 

[flstffxe]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
First thing first, get the known problems taken care of. Fix the intake gasket and whatever is causing the CEL to be on. (the two could very well be related) Also, an EGR code doesn't necessarily mean the EGR valve is bad.


Agreed. I have often found the EGR passage get loaded up with carbon and plugged. A little manual labor picking it out a new EGR gasket and all is good.

 

[driver123]

The egr passage where, on the manifold side or the exhaust side? I had the same idea, afterall it's a new part, and while the servicd guys at work are giving me greif about using a duralast chinese part, it can't be too bad compared to a AC Delco mexican part.

 

[yonyon]

Exhaust gasses cool in the intake side, that's where they leave the deposits. If you're going to be pulling the plenum off to fix the intake gasket leak, you might as well clean it out at that time. Less total work. Also, do yourself a favor and replace the thermostat at that time.

In all the years I've been turning wrenches I've only ever seen one non-vacuum EGR valve go bad. One.

Edit:
If you want to confirm it's clogged, just take the EGR valve off. It'll be a tiny (or no) vacuum leak if it's clogged and pretty much idle almost normally. If it weren't clogged it would run about the same as if you yanked the brake booster hose off, which is to say it'll barely run and won't idle on it's own.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: flstffxe
Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
First thing first, get the known problems taken care of. Fix the intake gasket and whatever is causing the CEL to be on. (the two could very well be related) Also, an EGR code doesn't necessarily mean the EGR valve is bad.


Agreed. I have often found the EGR passage get loaded up with carbon and plugged. A little manual labor picking it out a new EGR gasket and all is good.


+1 I cleaned up two of them with Amsoil Power Foam, it worked very well, but they weren't totally plugged up. Certainly something worth looking into.