Hello, I've had my 88 formula for about a year and a half now. When I bought it I knew it burnt oil. Just like everyone else, I have a 3800 SC sitting in the corner of the garage ready for freshening up that will replace the oil burning 2.8. The car only has 89k miles and I believe the guy I bought it from put new plugs in it close to the time of my purchase. It recently started running bad and it was the plugs. Oddly enough the only two plugs fouled were from cylinders 5 & 6 the two closest to the distributor. Since the 3800 swap isn't happening as fast as expected (ha!) I thought I would pose the question here: is there a common leak point from the oil area to cylinders 5 & 6 on the 2.8? Maybe my oil burning 2.8 might be able to be cleaned up with a simple gasket replacement?
Check your PCV valve. The vacuum port for the PCV is on that end of the intake. I can't think of anything else that would cause just those two cylinders to burn oil.
Are you sure the plugs aren't gas fouled? If the cold start injector is sticking, it's on that end of the engine, too.
Admittedly, a shot in the dark, but it's not expensive to check or fix.
Gall, I mostly see smoke at 2500 and up rpms. Oddly enough I think it smokes more when I make left turns. It burns about one quart every 150 miles. Doesn't seem to burn as much in colder weather than hotter weather, I'm guessing a heat related viscosity thing there, hotter thinner oil leaking into the cylinders easier than cooler thicker oil.
Raydar, I will check the PCV. Don't think it is gas fouled, it is definitely burning oil plus fuel consumption is actually still pretty good at ~24 mpg city.
Cylinders 5 and 6 get the least cooling water to them. At some point in the car's life it may have gotten hot enough to seize the rings on those pistons which will allow the oil usage. A quart in 150 is quite a bit. Larry
