where did 4qts of oil go?

[stumpedinstuart]

Friend of mine has a 96 legacy OBW and today he calls me and says he is overheating when he comes to a stop. I told him to check the fans. Fans are fine. Check the coolant..coolant sprayed from tank and/or radiator. Filled/burped fluid, drove around some more, still doing it. He says at slow speeds the temp gauge would go up high and then drop back down to normal. He gets home, checks the oil... BONE DRY! He just bought the car and has only put 1.5K on it. He took it to a shop when he bought it to get all the fluids changed, make sure everything was fine. I asked him if he is leaking on his driveway. He tells me no. Asked if there was any on the back of his car....nope. Now I am stumped in Stuart, FL.

Where do we go from here?

[Matt Monson]

For a lawyer?

[Arctic Assassian]

Did he bother to check the oil when he bought it? is he sure the shop put oil in it? Does it smoke blue?

[evolutionmovement]

Did the shop comment on a lack of oil? I know if I changed someone's oil and little to nothing came out, I'd let them know. That assumes they changed it. But, the dipstick can appear dry and be down a little under 2 qts. It is possible to use that kind of oil and if he's got overheating issues, that could use more oil. Blue smoke isn't obvious in my experience: in the couple days preceding my melted exhaust valve, I ate a quart a day and never saw anything in the exhaust despite looking for it.

Is the fluid circulating? Does the heat come on and blow hot? Did the shop replace the coolant as well? Sounds like air bubbles possibly. These cars can be a PITA to burp - I have to do it several times after every fluid change. Sometimes the air can collect in the water pump pocket and cause it to not circulate (usually from a bad head gasket), but it can be an intermittent issue that clears with changes to engine speed until just too many collect. Steady speed will exacerbate the problem. Other times, the air can collect in the water jacket at the top of the block. There are two temp sensors there - one for the gauge, the other for the ECU. The air pockets could collect by the gauge temp sensor and give a false hot reading. Does the car run like a dog? The ECU will put the car in limp-home mode if it sees the engine running hot.

[Arctic Assassian]

when burping I usually hit 5k a few times and that does the trick.

[stumpedinstuart]

Sorry for the test. I am having issues posting.

I borrowed his car today to try and figure out the cause of the overheat. Checked all the fluids before leaving his house and everything was fine. I drove approx 20 miles with no sign of overheat but just as I get to my home it starts doing it. Shoots up, then drops back down real quick. Thinking it is an air pocket I burp the isht out of it. One more time around the block...still doing it. I get to thinking the T-stat is sticking so I go to the store get a new one with gasket. Go to install it and there isn't even a t-stat in the car. New T-stat is installed and system is filled and burped. I am leaning towards head gasket because the water looks on the brown side and when I shut the car off there was air bubbling thru the cooland reserve tank as if compression was getting past therefore creating all the air in the system.

[evolutionmovement]

Wow, that definitely sounds like a HG. None of the ones I've seen on the 2.2 have shown such obvious signs. That's good, I guess, as at least you know what the problem is.

[tris91ricer]

Where the hell is stuart, FL?

[asc_up]

Where the hell is stuart, FL?

here