What OCI for a oil burner?

[VK56VD]

The oil burner in question is a '97 Saturn SL2. It burns about 1.25 qts. every 1k miles. Since oil is added to this engine so often, I'd assume that by the end of a 4k mile OCI, the oil coming out is in very good condition?

What should the OCI's be on a car that burns so much oil? I know some people in cars like this never change the oil and instead top up as needed with filter changes every 10k miles. I'd assume doing something like this will kill the engine?

The oil this car uses is MaxLife 5w30 with Fram Extended Guard oil filters (top of the line Fram with Synthetic blend fiber). Should the owner of this vehicle continue with 4k mile OCI's or go longer?

People say that Saturn SL's that burn oil, especially need their oil changed often...

 

[JHZR2]

Id might not even change it... just change the filter every 4k.

Id maybe try to bump it up to a 40wt to see if that helps - though I doubt it.

 

[Dave Hess]

Would a 30 weight HDEO help ?

 

[Virtuoso]

Originally Posted By: Spartuss
What should the OCI's be on a car that burns so much oil? I know some people in cars like this never change the oil and instead top up as needed with filter changes every 10k miles. I'd assume doing something like this will kill the engine?


On our old Saturn (that burned a quart every 300-500 miles); I did something close to that. I changed the oil and filter every 10,000 miles. Eventually the engine popped a valvetrain component at 230,000 on the engine - but I doubt the OCI had much to do with that.

With the SL2 burning a quart every 800 miles or so; I would push the OCI to 6-7k. You're adding a crankcase full of oil every 3,200 miles or so.

I did notice a slight improvement in consumption with a 20w-50 but not much with a xw-40 FWIW.

 

[The Critic]

I would still change it often. On my SL2, the oil consumption would increase significantly after about 3000 miles on a oil fill.

 

[jorton]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Would a 30 weight HDEO help ?


Yea, because it doesn't thin like energy conserving 5w30.

Would Mobil 1 10w-40 High Mileage help?

 

[J_Myler]

HDEO? Whats that?

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: J_Myler
HDEO? Whats that?


Heavy Duty Engine Oil

Diesel engine oil such as Delo and Rotella

 

[gnet158]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Id might not even change it... just change the filter every 4k.

Id maybe try to bump it up to a 40wt to see if that helps - though I doubt it.


How do you change the filter without all the oil leaking out?

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: Spartuss
The oil burner in question is a '97 Saturn SL2. It burns about 1.25 qts. every 1k miles. Since oil is added to this engine so often, I'd assume that by the end of a 4k mile OCI, the oil coming out is in very good condition?

What should the OCI's be on a car that burns so much oil? I know some people in cars like this never change the oil and instead top up as needed with filter changes every 10k miles. I'd assume doing something like this will kill the engine?

The oil this car uses is MaxLife 5w30 with Fram Extended Guard oil filters (top of the line Fram with Synthetic blend fiber). Should the owner of this vehicle continue with 4k mile OCI's or go longer?

People say that Saturn SL's that burn oil, especially need their oil changed often...


As an SL owner myself, I know about oil burning. Mine burns about a quart every 3K, which is considered within acceptable limits from GM by the way.

Personally, I do not go more than 5K on my Saturn. I plan on doing the Auto-RX shock treatment to it and that should help knock down the consumption a bit.

I go with a 5K OCI. Saturn S series vehicles will burn some oil, but if you keep them from getting low, they will run a long time.

The top resource for Saturn owners is SaturnFans.com. There you will find videos and how-to help for nearly everything you could possibly do these cars.

Keep your PCV always nice and fresh on these or it will seriously exacerbate things.

 

[Spector]

1.25 every 1000 miles, that is not much more then most manuals say is excessive. Now a quart every 500 or less that is excessive. So, IMO I would go with either the OCI you normally would or slightly more.

 

[D189379]

Wouldn't oil getting by the rings into the combustion chamber also mean that fuel is also getting into the oil? Seems like I'd almost stick with 3K miles.

 

[VK56VD]

BTW, this car went through two cycles of Auto-RX about a year ago with no help or changes.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Spartuss
BTW, this car went through two cycles of Auto-RX about a year ago with no help or changes.

It didn't reduce consumption on mine either. In fact, I think it made it worse.

 

[TallPaul]

Check out my 6100 mile OCI on 1300 mile per quart engine.

This vehicle took as much make up oil as the original fill over the 6100 miles. Lab said okay and could keep running, but I figured that was enough miles and changed it out. Blotter looked amazingly good though.

 

[steve20]

keep topping it up and change filter once a year or 10 000 miles

 

[VK56VD]

The car will follow 5-6k mile as opposed to 3k mile OCI's which should be fine for this much top up.

 

[Thermo1223]

Try running a HD30 weight only, maybe even sythetic if ya can find it.

 

[VK56VD]

I don't know if I would feel comfortable running SAE 30wt oil in the winter. I've tried 10w-40 in this car but that didn't help much. I don't even think a High Mileage oil makes any difference as far as consumption. Right now, the owner is stocked up on Maxlife 5w30 (factory recommended weight) that will go into the engine for a while. The car also uses Fram Extended Guard (top of the line with synthetic media) filters that will be used for two 5k mile OCI's.

 

[harley145000]

Put used oil in it,it's about ready to hit the srcap heap anyway.