Q: Can I temporarily fix a burnt exhaust valve seal on my 2002 Subaru Legacy

asked by on April 10, 2017

My exhaust valve seal is burnt. I know I am getting oil in cylinder #1. It's making me misfire. What can I do for now, until I find a mechanic or shop

My car has 165000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

Hi there. If you have a failure in one or more valve seals then that can cause the engine to burn a lot of oil. If this is the case then the valve stems need to be replaced and possibly the valve guides. There really is not much that you can do to keep this from occurring without properly fixing it. You can try using a thicker oil in the engine but that will typically not help either and can cause some other issues. It sounds like the cylinder heads will need to be removed and rebuilt.

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