Oil burning Civic needs heavier oil

[VolvoBruce]

Should I try some Mobil 1 15W-50? Synthetic, diesel-rated xxW-40 oil is blowing through the engine.

'97 Civic is spec'd for 5W-30. Anything but 15W-40 Diesel seems to get shredded within a couple/few hundred miles, and just blows right through the engine.

I was using 15W40 Rotella this past summer. Now using 5W-40 T6 Rotella full synthetic, because weather is colder + winter coming to New England. But the 5W-40 is blowing through the engine.

Added 8 oz Valvoline 20W-50 syn. blend and oil burning is now tolerable. Not sure what I should put in, OCI is coming up very soon. Maybe go back to 15W-40 conventional, never mind that it will be zero degrees outside.

I have a 50 mile commute each way so mostly the engine is running warmed up. If it's burning, I think it must be happening when warm, with oil behaving at its "summer" viscocity.

 

[hounddog]

Do a re ring in the car. Pull head,oil pan,pistons.hone,new rings and rod bearings.A decent tech can do in a day or make it a weekend project. Did many Nissan Sentry's that way.May still use a little oil but it gets you some more life out of the car. No boring and such,just a re ring.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Hounddog beat me to it. I was going to go the cheaper route/method of giving Auto-RX a try to clean up potentially stuck rings to see if that helps. But doing the job mechanically may be the best option.

 

[fdcg27]

How many miles on this beast?
If it really has some miles, the problem may simply be wear, and a re-ring may be in order.
If it hasn't passed 200K or so, though, it shouldn't be that badly worn, and it may simply be a matter of stuck rings.
In that case, you could try a couple of runs of ARX, or you could start with a couple of MMO runs, which would be cheaper than ARX.
If you go to the Oil Additives forum, you'll find some folks who report good results with MMO, although I've never tried it myself. Rislone is also reported by some as being effective in freeing sticking rings.
The chemical approach would be much cheaper than what amounts to a field overhaul, and if it is merely a matter of stuck rings, the chemical approach should work.
Finally, to answer your original question, I've used M1 15W-50 in various Hondas over the years in warm weather, and it certainly caused no harm. I just drained M1 EP 15W-50 out of our '99 Accord yesterday, since it is geting to the point that a thinner oil is appropriate to the morning temperatures.
The last tank on the 15-50 (filled it Friday) yielded 468 miles on 15 gallons, so fuel economy doesn't appear to suffer all that much with it either.

 

[nuskool]

I had a 93 Geo Prizm that was burning a good amount of oil. This was before I knew about AutoRx. I tore it apart and re-ringed it. Lot of work, but I think the Auto Rx would have done the job. There was very little wear. Just sticky rings.

I would try a couple of treatments of Auto Rx first.

 

[bullwinkle]

If it has ever been run hot-the oil control rings are probably stuck on it. A few years ago I had a '90 Civic wagon that I bought for next to nothing ($100) that had been run hot, warping the head & ruining 2 valves-had the head redone, pulled the oil pan (full of sludge/cleaned), pulled all 4 piston/connecting rod assemblies-the oil control rings were full of little tiny carbon chunks-looked like charcoal! Cleaned out the grooves, rehoned the cylinders, used .001 oversize rod bearings, new rings & gaskets-slammed 'er back together, still runs (AFAIK) good today!

 

[Zaedock]

Originally Posted By: VolvoBruce
Added 8 oz Valvoline 20W-50 syn. blend and oil burning is now tolerable. Not sure what I should put in, OCI is coming up very soon. Maybe go back to 15W-40 conventional, never mind that it will be zero degrees outside.


Try some Castrol Syntec 5W50.

 

[Tortured_Soul]

GTX High Mileage 10W-40

When my 02 SE-R started burning about a quart of that every 2 weeks I gave up. I was wasting money on oil for a junk car.

 

[hate2work]

I agree with some of the others, try one or more of the products that may clean your OC rings which may simply be stuck from carbon. Maybe use an engine flush right before you change the oil, then put in a quart of MMO with the new oil, and go from there.

 

[TurboJim]

Change your PCV valve if it hasn't been replaced on a regular basis. That could be part of your oil burning problem.

 

[addyguy]

VolvoBruce,

I would try a product called 'Restore' - it's in a bright silver can. I've read many, many times that it can reduce excessive oil consumption in older engines. I'd put a can of that in with your next fill of Rotella 15W-40, and see how it does.

 

[tgferg67]

I had a similar problem with my 97 Saturn SC1. It went thru a quart of oil every 200 miles. Prior to the re-ring I used Chem-Dip with Methylene Chloride for a piston soak for about a week. The car still burned the same amount of oil and when I pulled out the pistons for a re-ring they were very clean from the Chem-Dip soak. Cleaning the ring packs did nothing and was a waste of time.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1863175

Re-ring the engine, you will be glad u did.
Oil is getting more expensive and the oil burning affects your gas mileage.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
VolvoBruce,

I would try a product called 'Restore' - it's in a bright silver can. I've read many, many times that it can reduce excessive oil consumption in older engines. I'd put a can of that in with your next fill of Rotella 15W-40, and see how it does.


Tried this product years ago in a Chevy 305 V-8 that was damaged by a thoughtless oil-change monkey. It didn't do a thing in my particular situation, so I sent in my receipt and got my money back very quickly. It may work for you though. My point is if it doesn't, it seemingly is from a decent company that stands behind their guarantee.

 

[nitehawk55]

Originally Posted By: hounddog
Do a re ring in the car. Pull head,oil pan,pistons.hone,new rings and rod bearings.A decent tech can do in a day or make it a weekend project. Did many Nissan Sentry's that way.May still use a little oil but it gets you some more life out of the car. No boring and such,just a re ring.


Balony . Reringing without making the cyls round again by boring them oversize is wasting your time and money . Picture putting new perfectly round rings in an oval shaped cyl , it will likely have worse blow by and burn /leak even more oil . If you plan on keeping it or feel the car is worth it get a low milage engine or do a proper rebuild .You can try a heavy grade oil or some mechanic in a can but in the end if the engine is worn it's worn....period .

 

[tgferg67]

Originally Posted By: nitehawk55

Balony . Reringing without making the cyls round again by boring them oversize is wasting your time and money . Picture putting new perfectly round rings in an oval shaped cyl , it will likely have worse blow by and burn /leak even more oil . If you plan on keeping it or feel the car is worth it get a low milage engine or do a proper rebuild .You can try a heavy grade oil or some mechanic in a can but in the end if the engine is worn it's worn....period .


I think this all depends on how long one plans on keeping the car. Why rebuild to 300k specs if one wants to keep the car another 100k or less?

I re-ringed a 97 Saturn with 200k that was burning a quart of oil every 200 miles. $400 in parts, rebuild in frame and the bores had ridges that required a ridge ream to get the pistons out. Bores were out of spec. I put 10k on the vehicle since July and there is no perceivable loss of oil in 3k oci's.
Surely the engine will last at least a 100k.
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1646014#post1646014

Without the poormans rebuild I would have to add 50 extra quarts of oil since July.

 

[VolvoBruce]

Thanks people.
I may try the Castrol Syntec 5W-50.

Already ran several cycles of Auto-RX and a Gunk internal motor flush (thin stuff; you idle it about 5 min before changing the oil). So I think the innards are about as clean as they're going to get without tearing it down.

 

[VolvoBruce]

5W-40 Rotella full synthetic diesel wins the day again.

On a rotten cold rainy day I had a quickie lube shop change the oil, and had them put in my 5W-40 synthetic Rotella diesel oil.

Worked out fine. The fresh oil seems to be hanging in there as usual - burning about 24 oz. per 1000 miles. Not ideal but workable. The old stuff had been burning like crazy - it must have had the viscosity broken down thus getting into the cylinders and burning.

Something about these Civics, or at least this Civic HX. Seems to just shred the viscosity of dino and budget synthetic oils, then they leak past whatever rings and seals like crazy. But diesel rated oils hold up well. 15W-40 dino Rotella was good in summer but I need a thinner " -W" base for cold New England winters.

 

[addyguy]

It's not that the engine 'shreds the viscosity' of the oil - it's that the rings wear down a lot in these engines, and oil gets past.

 

[shrooms]

Originally Posted By: VolvoBruce

Something about these Civics, or at least this Civic HX. Seems to just shred the viscosity of dino and budget synthetic oils, then they leak past whatever rings and seals like crazy. But diesel rated oils hold up well. 15W-40 dino Rotella was good in summer but I need a thinner " -W" base for cold New England winters.


Have the same HX but 2001. Current fill is PYB 5W20 GF5 that claims 40% more cleaning. So, I'm hoping the cleaning would help the rings....IF the rings are stuck.

 

[HangerHarley]

Originally Posted By: shrooms
Originally Posted By: VolvoBruce

Something about these Civics, or at least this Civic HX. Seems to just shred the viscosity of dino and budget synthetic oils, then they leak past whatever rings and seals like crazy. But diesel rated oils hold up well. 15W-40 dino Rotella was good in summer but I need a thinner " -W" base for cold New England winters.


Have the same HX but 2001. Current fill is PYB 5W20 GF5 that claims 40% more cleaning. So, I'm hoping the cleaning would help the rings....IF the rings are stuck.


How much do "Ring Jobs" cost, if you wanted to open up the engine and not do Hoodoo-Voodoo dances with A-Rx?