Well--its been a few weeks--and I still have NOT been able to nail this down. I took the car to a guy who specializes in Foreign car repair. He had the car for the day--- but was just as puzzled as I am. In fact, he was so puzzled he refused to offer any recommendations until he talked up this problem in his own professional internet forums. I have yet to hear back from him. He told me that he HAD wondered if PCV was the problem. He pulled the value cover to see if the inside buffer area was plugged etc. He saw what I had seen. VERY CLEAN. He did say that the pressure coming from the oil filer hole was usually high--in his opinion--which i guess was the reason he pulled the cover.

One of the things he said in response to me telling him that compression was good across the board on all four cylinders --- 210-220 psi. was that sometimes oil actually masks bad rings. he did tend to agree--that it was probability value guide seals. He just did not want to do that job-- and NOT have it solve my problem.. A very strong credit to him-- I would say..

So--it leaves me with nothing --actually-
So.. (in lieu of a leak down test) I repeated the compression test-- but added a slight amount of oil to each cylinder to see what reaction I could get. Results: each cylinder reacted in about the same way. Increase of about 15% compression for each cylinder.

Before I did the wet compression test-- I had the oil level to the top mark on the dip stick. After cranking the engine for for these tests--- I get the engine ready to run again--but did not restart it. But looked at the oil level about one hour later.. it had only returned to about 3/4 of the way to the top mark.. Where did that 1/4 of a quart go while cranking the engine without starting it for the test? At any rate, this business of the oil level NOT returning to the same point after brief engine runs is most troubling.. amsoil-- []Oil Consumption - Troubleshooting has a nice chart of reasons for oil consumption. One of the things they mention is plugged oil passages ways--trapping oil away from the oil pan--thus fooling the dip stick.. and the owner into adding more oil.. oil that then makes the engine too full of oil.... which then burns off... causing the pipe to get black..

As I have said before- i've prematurely declared the engine good after driving 50 miles and not seeing any difference in oil level-- only to see oil level drop by one quart during the very next 50 mile trip? Which is why I've drained the oil several times and carefully replaced it with 4.5 quarts and watching the dip stick.

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After I blew out the oil from the last wet compression test--- I swapped plugs around until I had a nice clean plug to install in #2 cylinder-- by the looks of that plug-- installed in number 2 is where the oil is getting into the combustion cycle. Then I ran the car for a few miles and pulled plug number 2 out. The plug was NOT black universally. But black on only one side. Turns out only the back side of the ground lug was covered in black scoot. This tends to indicate (in addition to all the compression tests i've run) that oil is not not getting by the rings--but coming in via one of the four (or all) values. This could be value guide seals (hopefully) or guides-- or both.

According to plugs--- number 2 cylinder has a problem.. at this point-- however, i am not sure it has enough of a problem to explain all of what is happening here.
This is a very strange case. I am beginning to question exactly how much oil i could possibility be burning through number 2 and not see smoke. But since cars that consume quarts in 500 miles usually smoke like all get out--- I am beginning to think that the car does burn some oil because of previous over pressureation of the seals from overfilling.. That the oil scoot i see at the pipe may be consistent with that of what I see on the plugs-- BUT that does NOT EXPLAIN WHERE 1 quart (APPEARS TO) to go in 62 miles.

So-- at the risk of being a bore over this-- I ask for any suggestions I can get

Thanks..

 

It really sounds like you know what the answer is but just do not want it to be true.

It seems that valve seals on #2 have gone bad.

 

I've been in same position on several projects over the years. Problem appears to be X, but requires a long, expensive repair w/ no assurance of success when you've completed. I wish I could say I never regretted going ahead, but that would not be the case. Since you are not sure and have relatively limited and equivocal information, there is a significant probability you (we) are wrong!

What to do?

One suggestion I have done w/ success on several occasions. If car will drive acceptably, keep driving for a while. Experience and future observations may reveal another cause, confirm your first diagnosis, or best case the problem resolves itself!. I did this w/ a fuel level indicator that was going to require major access work. Problem disappeared, returned once or twice over long intervals and then never. In short, my advice is "wait and see".

This advice is not particularly appealing to some "action folks" who want satisfcation now. A little patience can save a lot of work.

good luck