I've been told one of my car cylinders is burning oil, through either valve stem seal or piston ring leaking

Question

what exactly does this mean, and is it still safe to drive, how long will car last me before engine dies,

what do these terms mean

NSF wheel bearing

OSF seized in caliper

what exactly is a wheel bearing kit

i had three fan belts replaced, i know of obviously the main one , but what are the other two

Answer 1

I'd fix the wheel bearing and the ???brake caliper?? and run the rest till it quits or you get cited for polution. Fan belts on older cars (74, - 78) were a mess. Envirnmental concerns put a belt powered air pump, an air conditioner compressor, water pump-alternator, and a power steering pump on seperate belts. Now with the serpenten  belt, they do all that in one belt a 12 yr old can install. You just have to find that 12 year old to do the job.

Answer 2

near side front [passenger side]

offside front

water pump belt

power steering belt

dont thrash car and it could last 2 years.....it may only last 5 minutes.....scrap it

bearing kit ....you know that funny noise when you go round a corner ? .................blah     blah

Answer 3

You know about the cylinders because you have a gray or blue cloud coming out of your exhaust. You are losing some of the power of the piston stroke because the rings are letting the gas slip around them.   You can drive for another 5,000 miles.

Wheel bearings may or may not need to be lubricated so they spin freely.  Worn bearings may squeak or squeal when rolling. Very bad to ignore them.

Seized caliper is a part of the brake that clamps down to slow the car.  It is frozen and no longer  doing its job.

We used to pull off the tire and pull out the bearings. Then knead grease thru the bearings. After a while the "clean" grease would start sliding out the other side.  We were done.  The kit will replace the bearings or show you how to grease them.  

There are many belts under the hood.  They all need to be replaced in 5-10 years.   Most are replaced every time the car is sold and no sooner.

Answer 4

Year, make and model would get you more specific answers.  "...my car..." doesn't tell us much.

NSF can be national science foundation, or non-sufficient funds.  I don't know how it would b applied to a wheel bearing.  OSF is a health care provider, and a hospital.

Answer 5

If the stem seals were faulty it would only smoke for a few minutes after standing overnight, when started. If one of the spark plugs is oiled up, this will pinpoint the culprit, confirm this with a compression test on all 4 cylinders and compare the results, follow this up with a cylinder leakage test, the valve clearances should be checked first, if not hydraulic.

Answer 6

If your engine is burning oil, it simply means it is using it. By checking your oil level weekly and topping up if neccessary, your car will last you for as long as you want it.

NSF wheel bearing means the bearing in your passenger side front wheel.

OSF seized caliper means that the drivers side front brake  caliper is stuck and needs to be sorted by a mechanic.

A wheel bearing kit is a kit that contains all the parts you require to replace a wheel bearing.

There are not three fan belts on your car. The belts I think you mean are

1. Timing belt/Cam belt

2. Alternator belt

3. Fan belt

Answer 7

Assuming you are in the U.K. NSF refers to the left front of the car,and consequently OSF is the right.

The wheel bearing kit is  simply, all the parts you require to replace a wheel bearing.

The smokyness issue.

Valve stem seal....Not a huge problem unless you let too much oil burn away!

Piston ring....A bit more serious but difficult to say how long it will last!

Both problems will cause excessive smoke from the exhaust and may therefor attract the attention of the Police re: emmissions.

The 3 belts are probably, Fan/power steering and Alternator. Is it safe? I would make sure you get the Caliper and bearing attended to soon one of these items is a brake part!  

Good luck

Hope this helps!

Answer 8

The car is safe to drive.

How long it will last is anyone's guess.  It depends upon how many miles it has now and the general condition.

To determine which of the above it is, you'll need to go a mechanic.  Generally, the mechanic will throw a little oil in the cylinder and check compression (see if it goes up or down).

The bottom line is, it's fine.  Depending upon the answers above...I probably wouldn't put much $$ into it.  I'd just ride it till it dies.  That could be years.

As an illustration:  One of my boys drives a used police car.  One of the cylinders is completely dead (zero compression).  It's been like that for 3 years.  We always think it's just about to die; but we haven't had any downtime on it for 3 years.  Naturally it's got huge V8 so you don't see the difference much.

One of the other fellow here has the right definitions to the other questions.

Good Luck.

Answer 9

If a valve seal or piston ring is worn, oil can come up from inside the engine and escape into the exhaust (not good).

NSF - near side front

OSF - off side front

Near side is nearest the kerb (left when you are driving), think of it that way. Off side is the other side (right when you are driving).

The wheel bearing is the bearing that makes the wheel turn without seizing up - simple as that. A wheel bearing kit is all the parts required to replace it, including seals.

The belts could well be for air conditioning and something else (maybe servo assisted steering) - depends on the car.