Need Help!

[98_DSM]

Wow get one tiny thing fixed and get a bigger issue... Gotta love Mitsubishi, but I personally have no clue as to what could be going on so I hope somebody on here can give me a few ideas before I start spending money I really don't have. I have a 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS with the 420a engine and a automatic tranny, the car has 137k miles on it.

First off I changed my oil a week ago, started using 10w30 Valvoline Max Life 3.5q of it and 1qt of Lucas Oil Stabilizer. I decided to check my oil earlier today and noticed that my oil had a green tint to it. The first thing that pops into my head is a head gasket getting ready to go out or has gone out. So I check my car's coolant level and it is fine there is plenty of coolant in the car, and the car has never overheated on me before. I was also told that with a blown head gasket the car will blow white smoke, but the car does not smoke at all. I also checked my heater for an antifreeze smell and after a few minutes nothing at all. Then I opened up my radiator cap and ran the engine until it got to optimum running temp, reved up the engine a few times while at the same time looking for bubbles in the coolant and there was nothing no bubbles, and no signs of oil in the coolant. The car has not lost any performance that I can tell, but I don't hot rod the car very often at all I kind of baby it most of the time because of gas prices. But when the car is at optimum operating temp, and I go down the road for a mile or so and come to a stop at a traffic light. The engine will idle a bit low about 500RPM and the engine will shake the car a bit. If I put he car in neutral it will idle back up to around 900RPM.

Now the things that I did find, when I had the car running the exhaust has a really rich sweet smell to it, but there is no water, unburnt gas or any kind of fluid exiting my exhaust. When I take the oil cap off there is more green colored oil on the bottom of the oil cap, and I'm not sure what oil mixed in with antifreeze smells like but the oil smells normal to me, and nothing like antifreeze. I was also told that if coolant was mixing with oil the oil dip stick would have a murky brown color and have bubbles on the dip stick. I ran the car for a bit checked the oil and nothing, it was still a green color and there were no bubbles. One guy I spoke to that is a huge gear head thinks that my head gasket it just fine, that it sounds like to him that the coolant is getting into the oil from below the pistons. Like a crack in the block, which I really hope is not the case. He also asked me if I had changed the PVC??? I have no clue what is but he said that could cause issue as well, or maybe even a bad water pump. I'm at a loss here and would love the some but do not have the money to take it to a mechanic. This is also my daily driver and I need it to get back and forth from work. Any and all help would be great I'm in great need of assistance and would like to have this figured out before any major damage happens to the car. Thanks everybody.

 

[ivan300]

well start with replacing the head gasket, get the head milled and pressure checked and go from there

 

[eclipse10288]

I wonder if the additive might have anything to do with the tint.

 

[ivan300]

well ive used the lucas oil stabalizer and it never changed the color of the oil. Thought i wouldnt recommend using it at all.

 

[dsmpat95]

my first talon was a 420a, theirs a oil passage in the upper right side of the block, towards the firewall, it likes to leak oil out on the back side(very common int the dodge neon) it is very possible when the is engine is up to temp coolent is slipping into this passage, this was about 3 years ago tho, i had a leak from there and my compression test showed nothing was bad,

 

[Slippi84]

Any kind of leak even minute would eventually lead to lower coolant levels and if your water pump or anything in your cooling system was bad you car would run atleast a little hotter. My suggestion would be completly flush your oil system then refill with regular motor oil include no lucas stabilizer even though I sell lucas and have never heard of this less variables the better. Then run the car for about ten minutes keep an eye on the coolant and oil level. It wouldn't hurt to drain and flush the coolant system too.

 

[98_DSM]

Wow, thanks for all the fast replies. But I guess I was worrying over nothing what so ever, the place I work at is a diesel shop. I'm the network admin and I had the head mechanic look at my engine. He checked everything over and looked at my oil and what not. He said everything looked good to him even the oil. He said the oil was real clean and not green, just clean. To me it looks a bit green on a paper towel but he had a couple other mechanics look at it and they told me I was worrying about nothing. That there is not coolant in the oil what so ever. One of them is brining me a compression tester just to check out my compression later. So I guess a false alarm on my half, I was worrying about nothing. But I'm really greatful for the fast responses and the clues that could of clued me in on a possible bad situation.

Is there any reason as to why I should not use Lucas Oil Stabilizer? Before using it I had lifter noise and the car would burn a tiny bit of oil and smoke sometimes. After using it my lifter noise has gone away and the car no longer smokes.

 

[Slippi84]

Is there any reason as to why I should not use Lucas Oil Stabilizer? Before using it I had lifter noise and the car would burn a tiny bit of oil and smoke sometimes. After using it my lifter noise has gone away and the car no longer smokes.

No but just in your case it was a variable that was worth trying to take out of the equation.

 

[Defiant]

Is there any reason as to why I should not use Lucas Oil Stabilizer?

Well, the oil manufacturers would say not to, because of course they all make Perfect Oils. And the insiders here say not to:

What about Additives?

But you see your anecdotal "evidence" tends to make it seem like a good thing:

Before using it I had lifter noise and the car would burn a tiny bit of oil and smoke sometimes. After using it my lifter noise has gone away and the car no longer smokes.

One of the things you can run into with lubricants is that sometimes the additives will fight one another. If it's working for you, you've pretty-much found your own answer.
The only additive I've ever recommended is Restore, because it similarly quieted the lifters in my '93. In my experience with close-to-dead motors, I and my cohorts have tried everything from Motor Honey to Motor Mender Pellets, and one of the things we found out for ourselves was that STP (ragweed oil) would leave a hideous dark coating on everything.
Motors are going to wear out. Often, in DSMs, a part of the ancillary workings (water pump, balance shaft bearing, timing belt) will fail before the engine otherwise would, and take the rest of the motor out with it. I don't know if putting thought into additives is worth the synapse-snapping.