So, I will be asking a few questions here.
1) My mother has the vehicle specified in the title. It has 225K miles on it and uses quite a bit of oil, unfortunately, but runs fantastic otherwise. From what Ive heard from other mechanics, these engines are known for this in this generation. This is from worn valve guides from what I hear. I had the idea that running a thicker oil would slow the oil usage down some. It calls for 5w-30, but I stepped it up just about a month ago to Shell Rotella T6 15w-40. I understood from the resident diesel mechanic in my family that HDEO diesel oil can be run in a gas engine without issues. Now reading through some posts on this forum and others, that could do damage to the catalyst used on a gas engine if the HDEO doesn't have an S or "spark" rating because of high ZDDP and other additives in the oil. Is this something I need to be concerned about? So far, it doesn't seem to have slowed it down much. I am adding about a quart of oil every week or two which may correlate to 100-200 miles of driving or less.
2) Is stepping the viscosity of the oil up like this risky as far as engine wear or damage goes? There seem to be conflicting opinions on this from what I've read on here and other forums. I live in Wisconsin where temps are regularly 75-90 F in the summer and -20 - -30 F in the winter. Knowing that I would think I would want to change it to 5w-40 at least before the cold weather hits so the oil can be pumped better at those cold temps.
I may start running HDEO that also has an SN or better rating on it (such as Chevron Delo 400) in all of our vehicles as they all have 200K+ on them and want them to run as long as possible.
1) My mother has the vehicle specified in the title. It has 225K miles on it and uses quite a bit of oil, unfortunately, but runs fantastic otherwise. From what Ive heard from other mechanics, these engines are known for this in this generation. This is from worn valve guides from what I hear. I had the idea that running a thicker oil would slow the oil usage down some. It calls for 5w-30, but I stepped it up just about a month ago to Shell Rotella T6 15w-40. I understood from the resident diesel mechanic in my family that HDEO diesel oil can be run in a gas engine without issues. Now reading through some posts on this forum and others, that could do damage to the catalyst used on a gas engine if the HDEO doesn't have an S or "spark" rating because of high ZDDP and other additives in the oil. Is this something I need to be concerned about? So far, it doesn't seem to have slowed it down much. I am adding about a quart of oil every week or two which may correlate to 100-200 miles of driving or less.
2) Is stepping the viscosity of the oil up like this risky as far as engine wear or damage goes? There seem to be conflicting opinions on this from what I've read on here and other forums. I live in Wisconsin where temps are regularly 75-90 F in the summer and -20 - -30 F in the winter. Knowing that I would think I would want to change it to 5w-40 at least before the cold weather hits so the oil can be pumped better at those cold temps.
I may start running HDEO that also has an SN or better rating on it (such as Chevron Delo 400) in all of our vehicles as they all have 200K+ on them and want them to run as long as possible.