Hello all. I am new here i recently aquired a 1998 Olds Achieva. The "Low Coolant" light is on all the time and i changed the oil, it looked dark and not milky. It had not been changed in some time. This car darkens its oil quickly.
Im having had it for three months and aside from wanting to fix the Low Coolant light, i also want to go as thin as I can on the motor oil. I am thinking Blue Devil as a fix for the light, the level is not low. I have flushed it and considerably monitored its level, its not an external leak that drips to the ground.
Reading Motor Oil 101, i want to try out the 5W-20 of a high-moly oil "Nextgen" (the one that says "Maxlife" on it, i know the normal Nextgen does not have moly.) I have no idea my oil pressure. I put 5w30 in the last OC to clean it out, and also put in some moly in a can i bought at NAPA. again after reading here. Half a can i used. It runs well. I drove so much i want to give 5W-20 a show. Is this adviseable?
There is no smoke on this car. However, it does have an odd issue, i have manual control of the cooling fan. AC on = Fan On. AC Off = Fan off, if i leave it run for ~10 minutes the gauge is closer to 3/4 than 1/2 and comes down when I either 1) drive the car away, or 2) put the fans on. This is not normal operation, however i am used to it.
My goal is fuel economy,preserving my engine not ruining it, and having peace of mind over the Low Coolant light (read: Fixing it right, within my budget.)
Here is from Wiki about my engine.
My tires are inflated high ~36psi, closer to 40psi hot
No excess weight in my car, just me
Needs tune up and new spark plugs Engine more sludged than not sludged, can post fill hole in time, its not horrible but it blackens oil quickly.
No "White ring" in Oil fill cap, but had some "Black mayonnaise" in Coolant cap. it has stopped after the flushing, which apparently had never been done. Refilled with 50//50 Dexcool, Orange coolant, as it said to do so in engine bay. "Special fill procedure" was not followed.
Other than that.. Can i try 5W-20? And about that Coolant light, what am i looking at to make it stay off?
? Thank you.
From WIKI RE: My engine.
Generation IIIThe third generation of the 60° engine was introduced in the 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. It was still an iron block/aluminum head engine, but the heads were redesigned for better air flow and the flat-tappet cam of the generation I and II motors was replaced with a roller lifter cam.
From the mid-1990s to 2003 these engines had failure prone intake manifold gaskets which could cause coolant leakage often leading to engine failure. A series of class action lawsuits, implicating deterioration of the nylon/silicone material of the gasket are pending on this issue. Tell-tale signs of such eventual related damage are a white foam that appears on the inside of the oil filler cap and the gradually increasing loss of antifreeze coolant (due to seepage into the intake passages which will lead to engine lock up failure in such cases). External seepage is also found near the valley edge of the lower intake manifold.
[edit] 3.1L/3100[edit] L82The L82 ("M-code") was an updated, SFI version of the MPFI LH0, produced from 1993 through 1999. It featured a structural oil pan, a stiffer redesigned engine block, and sequential fuel injection. Output for this version was up 20 hp (15 kW), over the previous Gen II LH0, to 160 hp (119 kW) at 5200 rpm and 185 lb·ft (251 N·m) at 4000 rpm. Compression Ratio for the L82 was 9.5:1 and the bore measured 89 mm (3.5 in) while the stroke was 84 mm (3.3 in) giving it a displacement of 191 CID (3,136 cc).
Applications:
1994–1999 Buick Century
1994–1996 Buick Regal
1994–1996 Chevrolet Beretta
1994–1996 Chevrolet Corsica
1995–1999 Chevrolet Lumina
1997–1999 Chevrolet Malibu
1993–1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (1993 received both LH0 and L82 3.1 L motors)
1994–1996 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
1994–1999 Pontiac Grand Prix
1994–1998 Pontiac Grand Am
1994–1998 Buick Skylark
1994–1998 Oldsmobile Achieva
1995–1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Im having had it for three months and aside from wanting to fix the Low Coolant light, i also want to go as thin as I can on the motor oil. I am thinking Blue Devil as a fix for the light, the level is not low. I have flushed it and considerably monitored its level, its not an external leak that drips to the ground.
Reading Motor Oil 101, i want to try out the 5W-20 of a high-moly oil "Nextgen" (the one that says "Maxlife" on it, i know the normal Nextgen does not have moly.) I have no idea my oil pressure. I put 5w30 in the last OC to clean it out, and also put in some moly in a can i bought at NAPA. again after reading here. Half a can i used. It runs well. I drove so much i want to give 5W-20 a show. Is this adviseable?
There is no smoke on this car. However, it does have an odd issue, i have manual control of the cooling fan. AC on = Fan On. AC Off = Fan off, if i leave it run for ~10 minutes the gauge is closer to 3/4 than 1/2 and comes down when I either 1) drive the car away, or 2) put the fans on. This is not normal operation, however i am used to it.
My goal is fuel economy,preserving my engine not ruining it, and having peace of mind over the Low Coolant light (read: Fixing it right, within my budget.)
Here is from Wiki about my engine.
My tires are inflated high ~36psi, closer to 40psi hot
No excess weight in my car, just me
Needs tune up and new spark plugs Engine more sludged than not sludged, can post fill hole in time, its not horrible but it blackens oil quickly.
No "White ring" in Oil fill cap, but had some "Black mayonnaise" in Coolant cap. it has stopped after the flushing, which apparently had never been done. Refilled with 50//50 Dexcool, Orange coolant, as it said to do so in engine bay. "Special fill procedure" was not followed.
Other than that.. Can i try 5W-20? And about that Coolant light, what am i looking at to make it stay off?
? Thank you.
From WIKI RE: My engine.
Generation IIIThe third generation of the 60° engine was introduced in the 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. It was still an iron block/aluminum head engine, but the heads were redesigned for better air flow and the flat-tappet cam of the generation I and II motors was replaced with a roller lifter cam.
From the mid-1990s to 2003 these engines had failure prone intake manifold gaskets which could cause coolant leakage often leading to engine failure. A series of class action lawsuits, implicating deterioration of the nylon/silicone material of the gasket are pending on this issue. Tell-tale signs of such eventual related damage are a white foam that appears on the inside of the oil filler cap and the gradually increasing loss of antifreeze coolant (due to seepage into the intake passages which will lead to engine lock up failure in such cases). External seepage is also found near the valley edge of the lower intake manifold.
[edit] 3.1L/3100[edit] L82The L82 ("M-code") was an updated, SFI version of the MPFI LH0, produced from 1993 through 1999. It featured a structural oil pan, a stiffer redesigned engine block, and sequential fuel injection. Output for this version was up 20 hp (15 kW), over the previous Gen II LH0, to 160 hp (119 kW) at 5200 rpm and 185 lb·ft (251 N·m) at 4000 rpm. Compression Ratio for the L82 was 9.5:1 and the bore measured 89 mm (3.5 in) while the stroke was 84 mm (3.3 in) giving it a displacement of 191 CID (3,136 cc).
Applications:
1994–1999 Buick Century
1994–1996 Buick Regal
1994–1996 Chevrolet Beretta
1994–1996 Chevrolet Corsica
1995–1999 Chevrolet Lumina
1997–1999 Chevrolet Malibu
1993–1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (1993 received both LH0 and L82 3.1 L motors)
1994–1996 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
1994–1999 Pontiac Grand Prix
1994–1998 Pontiac Grand Am
1994–1998 Buick Skylark
1994–1998 Oldsmobile Achieva
1995–1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
