Something does not make sence here.
I own a 2001 Cadillac Catera Sport with a 3.0L V6 under the hood.
The car has roughly 270k miles.
For the last 100k or so I have been driving it with 10W-40 HM Mobil1.
After reading this blog and the University section where it talks about oil viscosities i decided to try 0W-30 and see what happens.
THe CAR:
For the last 100k miles or so it has been smoking blue smoke on start up and i know thats from the exhaust valve seals.
If i regularly drive the car the problem seems to go away but once it sits for a while 3-4 weeks it comes right back.
The reason why I switched from 10W30 to 10W40 is because a long time ago i tried those engine restore [censored] in a can and what that did was cause a near immediate loss of oil pressure we are talking within 20miles of pouring that stuff in.
I replaced the oil immediately but the problem seemed to always come back especially when its warm outside say 80F and AC running on IDLE the oil pressure will bounce down to 0PSI and stay aroudn 5PSI. Normal is 20PSI.
After switching to the 10W40 it seemed that the problem went away.
Now with this -15F weather that we have been seeing i noticed that the OIL PSI on start up will peg at 60PSI and stay there for a long time. once its warmed up it seems to be running at normal PSIs.
The Oil University suggested that thick oil in worn out engine may not always be a good thing due to reduced pathways with sludge.
So I felt adventurous this weekend and went out and bought 0W-30 Mobil 1 Synthetic oil and swapped it.
Imediate resutls... well this is where i am shocked from what I saw.
The valve train noise that i had from the hydraulic lifters went away immediately, the engine just became quiet.
OIL psi on start up with engine cold comes up to about 40 and then rests at 20. It fluctuates nicely with RPMs as well.
Engine is easier to start even at -15F which is no doubt since its 0 weight.
But why in the heck is it working better? Does that mean the engine is not as worn out as i had thought?
Next test will be to see what it will do when its warm out and if the lack of oil pressure returns.
Any suggestions or opinions on this will be very much appreciated.
I own a 2001 Cadillac Catera Sport with a 3.0L V6 under the hood.
The car has roughly 270k miles.
For the last 100k or so I have been driving it with 10W-40 HM Mobil1.
After reading this blog and the University section where it talks about oil viscosities i decided to try 0W-30 and see what happens.
THe CAR:
For the last 100k miles or so it has been smoking blue smoke on start up and i know thats from the exhaust valve seals.
If i regularly drive the car the problem seems to go away but once it sits for a while 3-4 weeks it comes right back.
The reason why I switched from 10W30 to 10W40 is because a long time ago i tried those engine restore [censored] in a can and what that did was cause a near immediate loss of oil pressure we are talking within 20miles of pouring that stuff in.
I replaced the oil immediately but the problem seemed to always come back especially when its warm outside say 80F and AC running on IDLE the oil pressure will bounce down to 0PSI and stay aroudn 5PSI. Normal is 20PSI.
After switching to the 10W40 it seemed that the problem went away.
Now with this -15F weather that we have been seeing i noticed that the OIL PSI on start up will peg at 60PSI and stay there for a long time. once its warmed up it seems to be running at normal PSIs.
The Oil University suggested that thick oil in worn out engine may not always be a good thing due to reduced pathways with sludge.
So I felt adventurous this weekend and went out and bought 0W-30 Mobil 1 Synthetic oil and swapped it.
Imediate resutls... well this is where i am shocked from what I saw.
The valve train noise that i had from the hydraulic lifters went away immediately, the engine just became quiet.
OIL psi on start up with engine cold comes up to about 40 and then rests at 20. It fluctuates nicely with RPMs as well.
Engine is easier to start even at -15F which is no doubt since its 0 weight.
But why in the heck is it working better? Does that mean the engine is not as worn out as i had thought?
Next test will be to see what it will do when its warm out and if the lack of oil pressure returns.
Any suggestions or opinions on this will be very much appreciated.
