Another Youtuber trying HPL trying to stop Oil Consumption

True. I also wonder if break-in plays a role? Oddly enough I babied those two engines from day one. The 2005 Ram I had with the Hemi, and Mazdas consumed no oil and I broke them in more aggressively.

Or could it be the manufacturing process or even the type of rings each manufacturer is using?
I think there are a lot of variables beyond ring tension that have considerable impact on how that plays-out.
 
For best results, use HPL oil early and exclusively.

buster is right. It's the rings in this notorious engine.

TiGeo is right. This Corolla is in dire need of a strong flush.

Bullseye by OVERKILL. Those poorly designed, tiny oil holes must have the good stuff.

A high end, high price oil, and consumption at this level are obviously a bad, bad match.
 
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I've never understood why people try to fight oil consumption with magical mechanic in a bottle when it is pretty clear that most oil consumption is caused by wear . The really funny thing about oil consumption is until you reach the point where you have to add oil before you have to add gasoline, it really shouldn't be a big deal..
I would not say it is “most” consumption that is caused by wear. Often, perhaps, but not the preponderance of cases.

In many cases, the oil consumption is caused by something simpler like a failed PCV system. It’s a classic Volvo problem for example, and with repair of the PCV system consumption goes from excessive to normal.

Not really a wear issue, those engines are known for very little wear.

Frankly, this engine is known for relatively good wear, but sticky rings. So not really a wear issue, though mechanical repair is often required for remedy.
 
Is there actually anyone, anywhere, that has had ring issues causing oil consumption that has shown/proven that using XYZ oil did a thing for it w/r to cleaning/freeing them up? Not talking about increasing viscosity to reduce consumption. I'm going with no but who knows.....
I put about 125k miles since 2007 on my junkyard 350 Oldsmobile V8, using all kinds of various full synthetic changed every 3k miles or so. It used to be all highway driving. Initially it used about a quart in just under 2k miles if I remember right. Eventually that dropped down to a quart or less in 3k miles.
However, this engine had sat for probably 10 years before I pulled it from the junkyard. Freeze plugs in the block all leaked shortly after running it, but the engine was spotless internally. It may have just needed exercise. All I can say for sure is oil consumption got better over time.
 
When I purchased my 04 Civic a little over a year ago as a commuter vehicle, I was quickly disappointed within the 1st week of owning it to find that she consumed a lot of oil. The used car dealer had a mechanic on site, & the oil was clearly fresh change, whether they did or previous owner is hard to say. I didn't notice any visible smoke from the tail pipe while idle or during test drive, nor any leaks. I was focused on looking over so many components with my time, that a possible oil burner never raised any flags. It would have been nice to have a second set of eyes with me.

Long story short, I was stuck with it. Trade in value was less than half of what I paid, & didn't have any more money to put into another vehicle. The rest of the car is in fantastic condition for its age, & decided to try various methods to stop or reduce oil consumption. That's when I started lurking BITOG, & came across this DIY Dave guy on YT. He has numerous videos on different chemicals & methods used in his experience with his poor Corolla. I was in the same boat, & willing to take a chance using a lot of his & other online methods to bring down my burn rate of 1qt/200mi. Cheap engine flushes, expensive engine flushes, piston soaks, expensive BG 2 part dynamic engine restoration kit, expensive Pro Maintenance Additives FTC Decarbonizer/ Flushing Oil Concentrate, air intake hot soaks, thinner oil for short runs, you name it. The car became an experiment.

The one thing I was actually going to try as a last resort before swapping the motor was the method that one guy did on YT using a mixture of motor oil & LA's Totally Awesome as a flush followed by a few flushes with regular oil to remove the crazy emulsion created. Oh, & as he says a little bit of MMO to "polish" the internals. Ha! Basically, a last experiment I was saving for when I actually got my JDM motor prepped & ready to go, knowing that must surly kill the poor motor. If not, see how long it would go while ready to do the swap at any given point. Unfortunately, it didn't make it, & the motor blew unexpectedly before I could do that experiment. As how it usually happens I guess.

I realize the amount of money wasted in doing all this, as nothing helped at all. I could pinpoint it to cylinder head #2, as the others were very clean & dry. It was very apparent it was a badly stuck or failed piston ring, & I was willing to try all this before mechanical intervention. I believe it also highly contributed to its demise. It would probably still be running on the original motor had I just stuck to feeding it oil. Then again it was bound for failure. The oil would be gritty, & jet black after 2 days from a fresh change. The blowby was insane. Bearings eventually wore down, & crank failed. However, experimenting was adventurous, & I was preparing for its death anyway.

That time period sparked my infatuation with learning about oil, & eventually led me to creating an account here. While I'm curious as to whether DIY Dave's Corolla will ever stop burning oil without mechanical intervention, I have my doubts given what he's already done. There was an article I came across about that particular motor having design flaw for the pistons & rings used causing abnormal wear on the cylinder bores. Apparently, Toyota acknowledged this & changed the design for the next gen.

Maybe he'd be willing to try the LA's Totally Awesome experiment now that he's posted several videos & made a side hustle out of it. He's already dedicated the car to "science" no matter the outcome. I'd get a good kick seeing someone else try it. I really wish I could have. Now my car runs so reliably, it's boring. At least I'm making up for money lost in the meantime, & saving up for my 1st oci with HPL without having to worry about it burning up like he is. 🤣
 
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I would not say it is “most” consumption that is caused by wear. Often, perhaps, but not the preponderance of cases.

In many cases, the oil consumption is caused by something simpler like a failed PCV system. It’s a classic Volvo problem for example, and with repair of the PCV system consumption goes from excessive to normal.

Not really a wear issue, those engines are known for very little wear.

Frankly, this engine is known for relatively good wear, but sticky rings. So not really a wear issue, though mechanical repair is often required for remedy.
its worth asking if the PCV system is malfunctioning, do you think mechanic in a can would repair it, or would repairing the PCV system ?
 
I've never understood why people try to fight oil consumption with magical mechanic in a bottle when it is pretty clear that most oil consumption is caused by wear . The really funny thing about oil consumption is until you reach the point where you have to add oil before you have to add gasoline, it really shouldn't be a big deal..
Maybe, but considering that gasoline is gal in most places (for the time being) and oil is ~$20/gal even for the lower-tier stuff… that’s a false economy
 
True. I also wonder if break-in plays a role? Oddly enough I babied those two engines from day one. The 2005 Ram I had with the Hemi, and Mazdas consumed no oil and I broke them in more aggressively.

Or could it be the manufacturing process or even the type of rings each manufacturer is using?
Exactly! When a person buys the vehicle it should be broken-in.
 
its worth asking if the PCV system is malfunctioning, do you think mechanic in a can would repair it, or would repairing the PCV system ?
I replaced the PCV valve on my Honda the 1st week I had it & noticed the oil burning. Even if you don't know much about cars, it usually is one of the 1st recommendations you'll find in a simple Google search for burning oil. I'm pretty sure DIY Dave on YT mentioned that he did this in his earliest videos of the series.
 
My 2014 Accord 4 cylinder stopped losing ~1 quart per 7000 miles. It's been doing that for many years. Now, after a few thousand miles running HPL, the level is holding right on the 1/2 way mark on the stick at 120,000 miles on the odometer. So, I assumed HPL had perhaps cleaned the rings to the point they were sealing better. The past 25,000 miles I had begun to notice wet edges on the valve cover seams, but, it was still only losing about 1 quart every 7000 miles. (I changed the PCV about 20,000 miles ago with no change in oil loss and no change in valve cover seam wetness...thought the PCV could be contributing to the slight leakage). After about 3000 miles using HPL, the oil loss stopped as measured by the dipstick. at about 7000 miles total with HPL, I notice the wet valve cover edges are now staying dry. Are the esters swelling the gasket a bit? Not sure, but, it has been very interesting to have the oil loss stop (admittedly, 1 qt per 7000 miles was not bad by any means) plus have the wet valve cover edges dry up. 🤷‍♂️ Something has changed coinciding with the use of HPL. It's only anecdotal observations. I'm going to run this until the Maintenance Minder says to change. Looks like that will be at somewhere a bit more than 9000 miles. New HPL is going right back in...that's for sure.
 
Maybe, but considering that gasoline is gal in most places (for the time being) and oil is ~$20/gal even for the lower-tier stuff… that’s a false economy
depends on how much it costs to repair the engine.. does it not? its debatable if repairing an oil consumption problem will change fuel economy... so lets leave it out of the equation.. whereas 5 quart jugs of Walliemart oil are 16 bucks or so.. or 320 a quart... so a quart of oil every 500 miles has a cost of 6/10ths of a cent per mile... divide that into a cheap 2000 dollar rebuild..so about 300,000 miles of driving you equalize the cost of that 2000 dollar rebuild . :)
 
One other point, it may be that oil consumption goes down with HPL simply because it is less volatile.

Less of the oil will evaporate off through the PCV system.
 
its worth saying most companies selling things make claims that are hard to prove.. :)
Just look at the oil additive section and see the flame wars that go on there depending on the product mentioned and the results if any, either positive, negative, or none. ;)
 
You mean .64 cents/mile & $2000/3,125 miles of driving?
no I do not... 6 tenths of a cent is $.006. round it up to a penny a mile... 100 pennies = 1 dollar... those 100 pennies will take you 500 miles of driving at a penny per mile worth of oil.... so how far will 2000 dollars take a person at a penny per mile?
Just look at the oil additive section and see the flame wars that go on there depending on the product mentioned and the results if any, either positive, negative, or none. ;)
my take on it too. At this stage of development, I believe all motor oils that meets the same specs are essentially going to perform the same, and they all have varying mixtures of the same chemicals... and they all perform similarly, and burn similarly... its just all nonsensical hairsplitting at a given point... but alot of what is discussed on this forum is hypothetical blather that has little to do with the real world where a difference makes no difference.
 
no I do not... 6 tenths of a cent is $.006. round it up to a penny a mile... 100 pennies = 1 dollar... those 100 pennies will take you 500 miles of driving at a penny per mile worth of oil.... so how far will 2000 dollars take a person at a penny per mile?

my take on it too. At this stage of development, I believe all motor oils that meets the same specs are essentially going to perform the same, and they all have varying mixtures of the same chemicals... and they all perform similarly, and burn similarly... its just all nonsensical hairsplitting at a given point... but alot of what is discussed on this forum is hypothetical blather that has little to do with the real world where a difference makes no difference.
Doh! I was too quick with my math & posted without review. You had 320 not 3.20. I realized my mistake & took it down. It's my day off & still in bed with coffee & some bitog stimulation before doing my front brakes.
 
no I do not... 6 tenths of a cent is $.006. round it up to a penny a mile... 100 pennies = 1 dollar... those 100 pennies will take you 500 miles of driving at a penny per mile worth of oil.... so how far will 2000 dollars take a person at a penny per mile?

my take on it too. At this stage of development, I believe all motor oils that meets the same specs are essentially going to perform the same, and they all have varying mixtures of the same chemicals... and they all perform similarly, and burn similarly... its just all nonsensical hairsplitting at a given point... but alot of what is discussed on this forum is hypothetical blather that has little to do with the real world where a difference makes no difference.
I believe there is good, better, and best, in everything. Determining how much better it is from good to best is the rub, and with very little factual data to back it up. Someone who wants to extend an OCI to the max maybe because they drive a lot as an example would see value in an extended drain product. OTOH someone like me would rather get the oil with the contaminants that aren't filtered out sooner rather than later. I'd rather not have them traveling around my engine in the oil hanging in suspension waiting to be drained. Even minute particles that don't get filtered out can cause wear and possible damage over time. As a result I follow a severe service interval and change oil more often than many on the board. JMO
 
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