Using oil two quarts in Five Hundred miles

GRUMPY1200

MEMBER
2000 DODGE VAN
3.8L
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
105,000 MILES

I have white smoke and water coming out of the tailpipe. The smoke is worse when cold and also when I rev the engine when it is hot I can see white smoke from the tailpipe. I am not losing coolant. The van runs fine just uses oil. No stalling. The PVC sensor is good, checked for vacuum which is good. Wondering if I should have a compression test? I took out five of the spark plugs and looked at them they are all dry and look the same. The other three are tougher to get to will try to get to them today. From what I can find out it may be the plenum gasket or I may need a compression test? This is a 2000 Dodge Roadtrek 3500 van with the 3.8L? Not the 5.9L. The white smoke is noticeable but not like some videos I have seen where it is clouds of white smoke. The smoke goes away after warming up but I can still see it when I rev the engine and water is always coming out of the tailpipe even when hot.

1 Reply

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

You may have a head gasket problem because of smoke but could be broken by oil pressure feed inside block causing problem. Or valve seals/guides etc. If it runs fairly well I would not bother with compression test as you do not have a lot of knowledge so would not know what it meant. There is chemical product you can get at auto parts it goes in water but try that anyhow as you say you are not using coolant. If you want go ahead and do compression test if there is a 20% variance between any cylinder then that is the one you need to go to. Also if PCV valve does not work it will use oil as well.