Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
True. We are talking about a potential cumulation of issues here, the main one being the engine's issue with oil control. Add extended OCI's with a non-syn to it, and the results are predictable.
This isn't at all unlike Cadillac's Northstar engine. Driven conservatively, it'll start to smoke and consume oil (usually consume oil before any other symptom). The fix, if you can catch it in time, is the good ol' Italian tuneup. Later versions of the car had a different piston ring design, as the earlier engines were particularly prone to oil cake-up like what happened with that Infinity engine.
And if it's not already well-known, the Northstar was GM's first large-scale use (if I recall correctly) of their OLM, recommending as high as 12,500 miles on conventional oil.
It seems to be a classic case of engine mis-application really. Put a fairly high-performance engine (especially for its time), one that can and does thrive on high-load and high-speed operation, into a vehicle that typically sees conservative duty cycles and this is often the result.
