Extending OCI in Oil Burner

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My 284k miles Corolla is burning 0.8 quarts every 1k miles. I usually do 3k OCI on conventional oil so I add 2 quarts of oil between oil changes and in the last 300 miles I let the oil level drop to the middle, which is the lowest that I´m confortable with.

If I adding that quantity of oil between oil changes could I safely extend the OCI? The make up oil should replenish the additives, but I´m concerned that there could be fuel dilution caused by the blowby the engine must have.

An oil analysis isn´t possible for me, down here in Venezuela it costs 40$ and a oil change cost less than 10$ so I would rather do frequent oil changes that doing a oil analysis.

I don´t consider my car a pretty bad oil burner, I think that 0.8 qt (and sometimes 0.65 qt) every 1k miles is pretty decent for its age and mileage. I´m currently using a 15w40 HDEO with CI4/SL rating.
 
Yes, you are correct.

You can change the oil at 15,000 (or more) miles,
no harm will come to your engine since you are often adding fresh oil.
 
I would have no problem extending the OCI, I did this on my last prius that burned about as much oil as your car and I would just change the filter every 5k miles and do a full change at the 10k mark (though you could probably go longer!)
 
I decided to stretch the OCI on my oil burning Chrysler mini-van the last time. It burns about the same amount of oil as yours. I put a Fram Ultra on it and ran it 20,000 miles while adding a quart whenever it reached the low mark. I started with synthetic and added whatever leftover synthetic I had on hand from the $2.00 per quart stash. The car ran great and the oil actually looked pretty good when I drained it at 20k. This is going to be my plan going forward on the Dodge Grand Caravan.
 
Originally Posted By: Emanuel
My 284k miles Corolla is burning 0.8 quarts every 1k miles. I usually do 3k OCI on conventional oil so I add 2 quarts of oil between oil changes and in the last 300 miles I let the oil level drop to the middle, which is the lowest that I´m comfortable with.

If I adding that quantity of oil between oil changes could I safely extend the OCI? The make up oil should replenish the additives, but I´m concerned that there could be fuel dilution caused by the blowby the engine must have.

An oil analysis isn´t possible for me, down here in Venezuela it costs 40$ and a oil change cost less than 10$ so I would rather do frequent oil changes that doing a oil analysis.

I don´t consider my car a pretty bad oil burner, I think that 0.8 qt (and sometimes 0.65 qt) every 1k miles is pretty decent for its age and mileage. I´m currently using a 15w40 HDEO with CI4/SL rating.


As mentioned above, use a very good filter and perform a normal oil change every 15000 miles. There are several oil burners on here doing the same thing, and I have seen an analysis that looked good at that distance.
 
In 3k miles you'd have added at least 2 quarts. That's probably half the sump capacity? I'd do as the others have said and go many more miles considering how much fresh oil is going in.
 
I'd change to a cheaper high mileage oil like MaxLife red bottle. Should slow the burning and is still cheap. Don't know what's a valuable to you down there, but I'm sure there is some high mileage oil available to you.
 
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My car is using a quart every 4,000 miles and I have run the oil [with top ups] out to 12,000 miles. The problem is the filter comes out black and I find carbon/soot at the ends of the pleats in the oil filter. I am guessing that blow by is dumping soot into the oil at a high rate. UOA tells me everything is fine but I don't like the situation. 3,000 miles seems like a short OCI, I would go at least 5,000 miles but not to far.
 
I don't think it's a bad oil burner either. Burning 0.8 quartz in 1000 miles in a car with that many miles is quite reasonable. Some new car manufacturers would claim it was normal on a new car today - though I think that's a bit of a stretch. It would have been quite normal in any engine 40 or 50 years ago.

Topping up regularly and changing a quality oil every 5,000 miles would be just fine. Only thing I'd change is to a more modern oil, something with an SN rating. Though a 10W-40 would make for easier starting. I would stick with a dino (non synthetic) oil too; no point in going through expensive oil (6 or 7 quartz over 5,000 miles) when you don't need it.
 
I agree with ecotourist that 0.8 quarts in 1000 miles is not bad consumption. Running a 15w40 HDEO, you should easily be able to exceed 6000 mile change intervals with no problem, probably even stretch it to 10k miles.

How much sulfur is in the fuel in Venezuela? That might effect the OCI.
 
That´s true, the sump holds 3.8 qts, and if I want to keep to oil level in the full mark I have to add 2.5 qts every 3k miles.

Right now I´m in the first 1k miles of my last oil change and I have noticed lower oil consumption with this 15w40 HDEO than with Conventional 20w50, I hope this consumption rate doesn´t increases as the OCI gets longer (it shouldn´t).
 
Venezuelans don´t know anything of Oil Science so the only available High Mileage Oil is a 20w50. I used to use that oil but now I´m testing a HDEO 15w40 and I think the oil consumption is now lower (that has been the case in the last 1k miles).

I also gonna try adding TCW3 Outboard Oil in the gas tank to see if that helps the oil rings to seal better and it can help lowering the oil consumption.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
It may be the oil pump gasket leaking and not burning. Oil pump leaks generally happen when the engine is running.


The car doesn´t leak a drop of engine oil when I park it, it doesn´t smoke when I start it or when I drive it hard. Wouldn´t a oil pump leak let drops of oil fall into the ground when the car has been stopped?
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
How much sulfur is in the fuel in Venezuela? That might effect the OCI.


Is 0.06% (600 PPM) of Sulfur considered High Sulphur?
 
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Do you have access to BG products? I'd throw a can of BG-109 EPR in there with the HDEO and see if it does not free up the rings a bit. Might lower your consumption a bit ...

HDEO is always good for high mileage motor
smile.gif


Adding oversized filter will help with volume of system (cooling, cleanliness, etc.). Can't hurt, and is usually same cost
smile.gif
 
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