After 77,000 miles, the dealer tells me that it is OK but my local shop tells me that something is wrong. Neither the dealer nor the local shop could find a leak.

The dealer checked the PCV valve and said that was OK.

What should I do?

 

At only 77000 miles? It might be just burning oil. Could be valve seals, could be piston rings.

So there's no obvious oily mess on the block anywhere?

 

1 quart every 1000mi is getting pretty bad especially if you dont have an SI. If there aren't any external leaks, its likely that your oil control rings (different than your compression rings) have stuck in their lands. It only takes one long oil change interval to build up enough gunk to stick them. You can live with it and religiously check your oil, or try several MMO piston soaks to try and free the control rings, or have a rebuild done.

Your engine can run fine with bad oil rings, but if you let it go it may burn up your cat converter, but maybe that's a cheaper option than a engine rebuild. Hopefully you dont live in a state that has emissions testing.

 

Remove the oil cap look into the engine and see if there is sludge. If so, someone didn't change oil often enough.