i have a 1996 chevy corsica with a 2.2l in it that burns alot of oil.i have to pull the head anyways to change a bent valve cause by a tentioner that broke and that caused the chain to beak and jump time.i was wondering what are the common things that cause a car to burn alot of oil so i can try to fix them while i have the head off

Usually it is valve guide seals.

Does it have any leaks?

How much oil is burning?

How many miles on it?

no leaks and probably about a quart a week.183000

How many miles does it get driven in a week?

about 50 to 100.it just depends o how many days i work

Okay then yeah a quart in 100 miles is pretty profuse. You should be seeing oil smoke a lot of the time.

If it is valve guide seals then you'll see a lot of oil smoke at idle and when you start driving right after idling for a bit.

If it is rings, it might burn the most oil when it is revved up so you might not notice oil smoke.

Does it have an oily filmy dirty residue on the body work near the exhaust pipe?

it smokes the worst when accelerating.but does smoke a little while idling..whats you guess rings or valve seals

does have sooty looking exchuast pipe and im probably going to need to change the cat pretty soon to won't i?wouldnt burning that much oil ruin the cat

Are you seeing leaks when you have the car parked?

My guess is valve seals.