93 using oil

[need4spd]

I have a 93 rt/10 with under two thousand miles on it. Since I don't drive it much I really didn't realize it was using oil. I just always changed it every six months or so no matter how little I drove it. I might add I have owned it a little over two years. Then I started suspecting it was using oil. I put about 200-250 miles on it and it went through three quarts of oil. Yes, three. I have three questions. I don't want to sound too ignorant, but what is most likely the problem? Is it most likely the rings have gone bad? Can I get some help from Dodge? It is out of warranty, but with such few miles on it. Could they possibly help me out with paying for some of the parts or labor? Who would I need to talk to about it? I've already gone to the dealer and they suggested doing what I'm doing now, ask someone else. Should I take it to my local dealer who does have a viper technician, but who rarely ever sees one or take it to a dealer who does this kind of stuff all the time. Would they be cheaper? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I guess that was more than three questions wasn't it? Oh well, Thanks, Kyle

 

[Ulysses]

Whoa!! I need to take a break every few questions. There are two possibilities: 1) the rings are bad 2) the valve stem seals are bad or missing.

Help from Dodge is probably futile if you expect it for free. In other words, your warantee is likely expired and your gonna have to pay for it (unless it's a recall issue).

You need to talk to the good folks at Dodge who handle warranties.

You should take it to a dealer with an experienced Viper tech.

Nothing having to do with a Viper is cheap. (Only the labor, and that's if you do it yourself and time isn't money)

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">need4spd;

I too have a low mileage Viper, in my case a 3,400 mile '96 GTS. When I bought it new last September, the car had 1,400 dealer "personal" miles on it, so theoretically it was broken in before I took the 700 mile drive home. I ended up burning 2 quarts in the first 600 miles. Not quite as bad as yours, but still way too much. About 500 miles ago, I started keeping a weekly record of dipstick measurements, taken the morning of the day after a drive. You'll find that if you check the oil level say 12 hours after shut down and then 1 week later, the oil level increases slightly because of cooler drain down so it is important to check at the same time. Anyway I'm finding that usage has finally started to decrease. I'm probably at 1 quart per 1,000 miles now and hopefully it will improve further as usage increases.

I can only guess that an engine that is not run often perhaps develops cylinder corrosion, dry valve stem seals, etc. that increases oil usage, hopefully temporarily. (anyone have any theories on this?) I would do as mnichols says, and get some mileage on the car before you do anything drastic.

He is also right about the missing valve stem seals. Everyone that has had the problem (quite a few actually) found that it was only the drivers side that was missing. Time obviously will not improve this one, so if your consumption doesn't decrease with some mileage you should pull the cover and see if they're on. Visable through the springs if you know what you are looking for.</FONT f>

 

[Vip-RT10]

Sorry to hear your problem. I have a '93 RT-10 with 6050 miles and it gave me a similar problem. I never had any oil on the floor, but the front timming cover gasket was bad and replaced it. It cost something like $400 bucks for the whole thing. I never had a problem since. The tech told me it was from underdriving it. So i started to drive it more, hence the 6050 miles. We had it since new, and did all the regular oil changes and mainteance, but still had the problem.
Let us know how it turns out.

 

[FikseGTS]

I had the same problem when I bought my low milage 1996 GTS.... it was 2.5 years old and had 5,000 miles on it...

within a month of ownership, I noticed the oil consumption problem.... about one quart per 100 miles.... then I noticed all of these black spots on my driveway... when the car was first started it would spit out oil through the exhaust.... I had a friend drive behind me when I went through the gears at WOT, and he said my car had a james bond-like smoke screen feature between shifts...

You must be registered for see images

I was lucky to still have 6 months left on the warranty, and got a rebuild from dodge... they said it was blowing oil by 3 rings....

Maybe this is a common problem with low milage cars that are allowed to sit dormant for extended periods of time?

I bought my car from someone in detriot, so it was probably only driven the 2 months out of the year that the weather would allow....


Brooks


http://viper.miamisci.org

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Kyle, try using a premium oil, such as Royal Purple or Red Line. I had the same problem back in 94-95 while I was using Mobil 1. I switched, and have never had the problem again.

BTW. My Viper also runs 10-15 degrees cooler when I use the Royal Purple.

Hope this helps.