[Road Runner]

My 2007 Cayman S has 195,000 miles. It has started using more than a quart of oil in 500 miles. My thoughts are that this could be a valve seal or valve guide issue. I'm thinking of pulling the heads and having them rebuilt. When I inquired about this with a local shop they indicated that doing this without redoing the bottom end of the engine would be a waste of money since redoing the heads will put added stress on the rest of the engine. Any thoughts?

 

[Poorsche x]

A leak down test should tell you where the oil is going. I'd do that first. 195k is a lot of miles.

 

[Brian C in Az]

I agree with the shop's advice even though their logic is completely flawed. At 195,000 miles, if doing either the top end or the bottom end, you may as well do the whole thing because of the labor required to pull the engine and the fact the the other half will need rebuilding sooner than later. You may as well bite the bullet once and pay the labor once. Doing half now and half next year is an expensive waste of money.
Just doing a valve job does not put added strain on the bottom end; their justification is wrong even if their advice was correct.

 

[sjfehr]

If you're lucky, it's the AOS. Any symptoms that might help pinpoint the loss? How do the plugs look?

 

[Road Runner]

If you're lucky, it's the AOS. Any symptoms that might help pinpoint the loss? How do the plugs look?

AOS has been replaced twice. Most recently about 10,000 miles ago. As far as symptoms, there are no leaks, plugs were not fouled when I replaced them this spring. Have a slight ticking sound coming from the left side of the engine. I recently had P0306, P0305 and P0304 following a run up a hill recently where the car was held at about 6,000 rpm for about 10-15 seconds. Dark blue smoke at startup after the car has set for a few days.

I need to replace the headers because the cats have failed, (I'm assuming they are clogged with oil) so I'd like to get to the bottom of this prior to replacing them.

 

[Boiler Inspector]

Get a borescope and inspect the cylinders on 4-5-6 side.

 

[Gordy748]

My '05 BS spat out its IMS bearing at 98k miles, leaving me with a few choices. While I've opted for a full rebuild and bigger bore, there are quite a few M97 engines available for sale with well under your engine's mileage. I thought about going down this route, as it's a cheaper option, but decided I'd rather have an engine I'm confident could go another 100k.

I agree with Brian C in AZ. Once the engine comes out of the car, you may as well spend the money on a full rebuild.

 

[bmw_e30]

i think you might have record for highest mileage 987? if so congrats