Thicker oil to reduce consumption

[MIAMI-DADE]

As i recall the dealer said the cams.

I wouldn't buy any car with a 4.6 that somebody ran 15w40.But thats me.To each their own.Actually i don't think i would buy any late model car that was using 15w40.After time it will take it's toll.

A few years back a 10 min place i was using put 20w50 in my 88 Crown Vick without telling me.The car sounded like a broken washing machine ready to blow up.I drained it out the next day and all was well after that.

 

[wileyE]

If engine clearances were so tight that they would starve on the difference between a 30w and a 50w, I'd be suprised that they were even able to be broke in new without seizure.

 

[MIAMI-DADE]

The clearances on a 4.6 are very tight.Most of the cars i saw were taxis who were buying the 20w50 in bulk and didn't want to change it untill they saw what was happening.

The dealer told me don't even think about 20w50.I know some people using 10w30 in the 4.6 and so far so good but they also use 5w20&5w30 at other times.The dealer said use only 5w20 or 5w30.Thats all.I have been doing that for over 100k now.

I also surprised to see so many people of ALL ages who have no idea of what oil to use in their vehicles.They simply say they use whatever the jiffy lube puts in and they haven't a clue.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Miami-Dade you will never be able to show us a vechile that went to the bone yard simply becasue someone used 20W50! Most of the vechiles in bone yards are their because people are to careless about driveing.Accidents are the main reason for vechiles in the salvage yards. Age of the vechile ie it is worn out and then fires would have to be next.

If your ambient tempatures are in line with the viscosity being used you will never have a problem based on viscosity alone. Now I will concide that their are exception to every rule but I have yet to come across a single vechile that 20W50 would casue premature wear in it tot he point of shorten life cycle!!!!! It has been my experince that 15W40 is good in most cases down to 15°F and 20W50 is usualy ok down to about 20°-25°F. I generaly like to switch from a 15W or 20W to a 5W or 10W once frost is a regular visitor on my lawn! I also live in an envirment though that gets down -20°F so I ttake the cold weather seriously.

Miami-Dade, I ran 5W40 Redline wich is a fairly stout and thick 5W40 down to -18°F. I have run 15W50 and 15W40 in the same 2003 Camry in the warm months. My mother and father have ran 20W50dureing the warm months and 10W30 or 10W40 dureing the cold months since the 1970 until they switched to synthetic in 1991. THen they went to 15W50 from M1 and 10W30. THey did this in Michigan,Kanas,Texas,Georgia,California, and Germany. We have never had an engine in any vechile we have owned since new wear out,smoke, or consume excessive oil. You would think that in 34 years of useing a 50Wt. for warm months and a 10W40 or 10W30 for winter we would have had some issues by now!We have never scraped a vechile. Friends and family practicly climb over each other to buy our high milage used vechiles!

This has been mostly Toyota's but their were a few Fords,a Buick and a Plymoths in that mix over the years! I used to try to buy American when ever I could and it always bit me in the rear. The same practice has been followed with Motorcylcesand lawn mowers as well!

 

[haley10]

I'm confused. This engine shouldn't consume oil and 135K is not all that much.

1997 Chevy Lumina shouldn't do this, especially after ARX.

Castrol GTX in 10w30 or 10W-40 is worth a try, imho. If your drinking it, then you'll have to address the issue. Are you sure you have no emmission control issues??

 

[LVHospiceRN]

quote:

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Originally posted by CJH:
I have given the car 2 Rx treatments with no improvement.

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You, of course, got your money back from Rx, right?

darrell
sin city

 

[CJH]

Hi Drew,

Yes...back in the day. One of the moderators started moving my posts around and I got disgusted with the whole board and just left for a while. Now (with the exception of this post) I just post in the rebates and free stuff thread. They seem to leave my posts alone there.

The 5W40 worked fine, but what I initially thought was major success was predominantly due to warming springtime temps. Pretty weird, but consumption goes up in the winter, down in the summer.

I just asked for people's experience with thick oils to reduce consumption...thats all...I dont want to revisit the reasons why the car uses oil, what heppened with Auto Rx treatment and the like. Been there, done that!

Drew, nice hearing from you again.

quote:

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Originally posted by Drew99GT:
CJH, I remember you on here back in the day! Didn't you have good luck with Rotella 5w-40?

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[CJH]

I tried to let this go but I couldnt.

No disrespect intended, but you don't know what you are talking about!

Of course an engine should not consume this much oil! On the other hand, consumption at the rate of 1 quart in 750 to 3,000 miles is not going to hurt anything, particularly emission controls. Most new car manufacturers consider 1 quart / 1,000 miles acceptable on a brand new car!

When I first raised the issue on here, some people (like you) were predicting all kinds of doom and gloom...it's gonna kill your catalytic converter, you need to have the engine rebuilt, etc. etc. I have been driving it like this for 65,000 miles using all kinds of different oils and nothing bad has happened. The consumption has not gotten worse. There are no idiot lights on and the cat is just fine. The car does not smoke at all.

You say I will have to address the issue. I disagree. The car has a book value of maybe $2,000...so why would I address the issue? It starts and runs perfectly normal. I have known people who have spent lots of money trying to "address the issue", and got poor results for their money. Getting quality results from a rebuild is always a bit iffy. Adding a quart every couple weeks is no big deal. I expect the car will easily hit 200,000 miles without any engine work.

I stated the oils I have tried...5W40, 10W40 HM, 20W50 HM...Castrol 10W30 is not going to be any improvement over those. Why would it?

Auto Rx is (according to people on here) an effective cleaner. It is not going to fix a mechanical problem.

You dont even have a clue so you shouldnt be offering advice. Sorry man.

I am going back to the rebates thread.

quote:

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Originally posted by haley10:
I'm confused. This engine shouldn't consume oil and 135K is not all that much.

1997 Chevy Lumina shouldn't do this, especially after ARX.

Castrol GTX in 10w30 or 10W-40 is worth a try, imho. If your drinking it, then you'll have to address the issue. Are you sure you have no emmission control issues??

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[Drew99GT]

Calm down my friend; everybody's just throwing in their $.02.

I think the posetr to which you're refering too doesn't know the history of your Lumina.

Look at the bright side: your getting an oil change every 4-5,000 miles by just topping off! Like you I've tried a bazillion oils to curb consumption and I've yet to find the silver bullet.

 

[buster]

Did anyone read widman's post? Interesting...

 

[haley10]

Sorry, CJH. I did not mean to offend. I didn't know your Lumina had a long history on bitog. I have several friends and relatives who are GM techs. I wasn't implying that oil consumption was hurting your emission system. On the contrary, many things can cause high consumption, especially failed emission control components; things that can be a low dollar fix and not a complete rebuild. Again sorry to offend.

I was only trying to be helpful. Didn't mean to rattle your cage. I had a 1979 Corolla with an 1188cc engine. Ran it for 10yrs. until I sold it with GTX 20W-50 only. Ran fine. I only sold it because the interior fell apart along with the paint.

Castrol isn't necessarily the best oil. I wasn't implying that, but it has a good NOACK for dino and I've sucessfully reduced consumption dramatically with it. Why, I don't know. 70 yr. old retired GM tech said to dump the Valvoline 10W-40 and run Castrol. I did and it worked.

This was in an old Ford 390.

Pennzoil, Valvoline, etc. may be better in other respects, but if you have an oil burner, I've found that Castrol "may" reduce consumption. Just past experience and it may not be true with the SM oils. It a whole new world with SM/GF-4.

[ June 22, 2005, 11:12 AM: Message edited by: haley10 ]

 

[Luke]

quote:

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> From CJH < On the other hand, consumption at the rate of 1 quart in 750 to 3,000 miles is not going to hurt anything, particularly emission controls.

As a rebuttal, usage of oil in the range of 750 - 1,000 will result in the EGR valve becoming carboned up, and thus, will jar in an open position; This will result in a poorly running engine, particularly noticeble below 2,000 rpms on 4 cylinder engines.

 

[pastmaster]

Give Marvel Mystery Oil, a try. It won't hurt anything at this point.

 

[CJH]

No probs with EGR valve on my car.

quote:

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Originally posted by Luke:

quote:

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> From CJH < On the other hand, consumption at the rate of 1 quart in 750 to 3,000 miles is not going to hurt anything, particularly emission controls.

As a rebuttal, usage of oil in the range of 750 - 1,000 will result in the EGR valve becoming carboned up, and thus, will jar in an open position; This will result in a poorly running engine, particularly noticeble below 2,000 rpms on 4 cylinder engines.

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[CJH]

OK, so that others can learn from my experience, I am going to post this information.

After running the 20W50 for about 1,200 miles, I noticed some oil marks in my driveway. I traced it to the Lumina. Took it to a GM dealership owned by a relative of mine. Service manager said the lead was at the oil pump drive around a plug on center top of housing. They didnt have a replacement part in stock, so they put some sealant on it. I switched the car back to Maxlife 5W30. So far the leak seems to have stopped but it is still too early to tell.

quote:

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Originally posted by CJH:
I have a car that uses some oil...varies with temperature from about 1 qt/700 miles at 0 degrees F to about 1 quart/3,000 miles at 85 degrees F.

The car calls for 5W30, but I have experimented with various oil grades ranging from 5W40, 5W50, 10W40 and most recently 20W50 (no - didnt try 15W40 or 15W50). I have not noticed any significant reduction in drivability, starting or fuel economy with the 20W50, but I wouldn't doubt some could be measured using accurate measuring devices...still...not enough to worry about.

Since varying temperatures seem to cloud the consumption rate, I am wondering if any others have experience using thicker oil to reduce consumption.

Please don't explain to me that thicker oil doesn't fix worn engines and that I should have the engine rebuilt. The car is only worth $1,500 or so, it starts and runs perfectly and there is no smoke...so I am not anxious to spend money on engine work that may or may not correct the problem. I am just making a hobby out of experimenting with my rolling oil laboratory.

What I would like to know are others' experiences with using thicker oil to reduce consumption. Does it work and are there any adverse side effects?

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[darkdan]

Everyone talks about clearances being so tight on the modular V8s. However, I have yet to find someone that can tell me what they are.

FWIW, I switch my Aspire (1.3L I4...yes, 1.3L) to Syntec 5w50.

Last OCI I used 2.5 quarts of AMSOIL ASL 5w30 over 8300 miles. So far I've used 2 quarts in 4000 miles on the 5w50. No clue what happened. At 1,000 miles I was fine. At 2,000 miles I was a half quart down. I didn't check at 3,000 (oops). At 4,000 miles I was 1.5 quarts low....***!?

So obviously there's more to oil consumption then just weight. I better replace my PCV valve soon. It's been a while.

 

[Idrinkmotoroil]

I'd recommend a good high mileage oil, I switched to Castrol HM on my 88 Town car and it reduced consumption by at least 50%, I was very pleased with it, the results were dramatic, the oil worked as advertised and I only had to run 10w30, didn't even change viscosity.

 

[1sttruck]

"Everyone talks about clearances being so tight on the modular V8s. However, I have yet to find someone that can tell me what they are."

Evidently only the US gets the tight clearance engines, they must have a separate assembly line where they use specially selected parts, and they must have 'clearance police' who make sure that none of the tight engines leaves the US, as outside of the US they seem to use heavier oils.

 

[darkdan]

quote:

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Originally posted by 1sttruck:
"Everyone talks about clearances being so tight on the modular V8s. However, I have yet to find someone that can tell me what they are."

Evidently only the US gets the tight clearance engines, they must have a separate assembly line where they use specially selected parts, and they must have 'clearance police' who make sure that none of the tight engines leaves the US, as outside of the US they seem to use heavier oils.

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LOL!

There's no emoticon in the world to express the laughter.