15/40w diesel engine in a car

[CATERHAM]

How many miles are on the Saturn?
From what I've heard, the main cause of high oil consumption in your model is clogged oil control rings. If that's he case I'd try to rectify the problem first. An engine soak through the plug holes with a product like Seafoam might be worht trying and'or running a syn' oil like PU 5w30 for a while to see if that works.

My experience in running a cheap heavy dino, even diluted with a lighter oil, is that the problem will just get worse.
Lets try an fix the problem first instead of masking it.

 

[sirgerman]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
How many miles are on the Saturn?
From what I've heard, the main cause of high oil consumption in your model is clogged oil control rings. If that's he case I'd try to rectify the problem first. An engine soak through the plug holes with a product like Seafoam might be worht trying and'or running a syn' oil like PU 5w30 for a while to see if that works.

My experience in running a cheap heavy dino, even diluted with a lighter oil, is that the problem will just get worse.
Lets try an fix the problem first instead of masking it.


the Saturn has 155000 miles on it , according to the majority the Saturn sl has the famous clogged oil control rings , the only way to fix it is rebuilt the engine (which I am not going to do ) , so I want my car to last as much as possible , some people recommended using diesel oil to clean and reduce the consumption , but I am afraid this diesel oil can damage the engine more , I don’t know

 

[CATERHAM]

As I mentioned there are ways to clean the oil control rings without disassembling the engine.
Have you owned the car since new?
What oil have you been running?

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Sorry but it's utter nonsense and seriously I thick you know it.
With all the variables that affect fuel economy, an oil's viscosity is just one. The difference in fuel economy between a 5w30 and a 5W-50 (the low VI 15w40 could be worse) is about 4%. That's just over 1 mpg on a car that averages 30 mpg. Can one accurately measure that themselves? I know I can't.


That's a Freudian slip right there. Subconsciously you're desperately wanting
to try thicker oil, but your daytime awake self won't allow you to.

 

[2004tdigls]

if the rings are clogged, a diesel rated oil 15w40 or sae 30 can only improve the situation

at least its worth a try, far easier than getting a hoist and yanking the block out

the high detergency DEO may loosen up some of the [censored] that has collected in the motor

 

[sirgerman]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
As I mentioned there are ways to clean the oil control rings without disassembling the engine.
Have you owned the car since new?
What oil have you been running?


I was using normal 10/30w but the consumption was too much , so i change to a 10/40w (120.000 miles) which it help, and then I change to 15w40 during the hot summer which it help even more , right now In my town, temperature wont go below 40f in the mornings , I am using a combination of 50/50 mix of 15w40 and 10/40 and topping off with 10/30w

 

[CATERHAM]

My advice is first a top end piston soak. That should help.
Then start using a synthetic oil such as PP or PU 5w30.
Stick with the syn oil for at least 10,000 miles and you should notice a major reduction in you oil consumption.

 

[Highline9]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Clevy
You can go one grade thicker with no real ill effects,other than perhaps less fuel economy.


Sometimes you'll even get better fuel economy with the thicker
grade if it lubricates better. I've had that experience before.


My challenger is getting better fuel economy with 5w40 than 5w20.

 

[CATERHAM]

Another one who doesn't mind embarrassing himself.

 

[artificialist]

I used to browse Saturnspot.com when I had my 2003 ION. There is great Saturn specific advice there.

 

[Highline9]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Another one who doesn't mind embarrassing himself.


Engine will run up some hills in 4cyl mode with 5w40 t6 oil that it wouldn't with 5w20 ultra. I don't get it either. Used the T6 to see if would help my hemi tick and it helped a lot with that. Also engine more quiet in general. Im not not embarrassed. These are my facts.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Highline9
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Another one who doesn't mind embarrassing himself.


Engine will run up some hills in 4cyl mode with 5w40 t6 oil that it wouldn't with 5w20 ultra. I don't get it either. Used the T6 to see if would help my hemi tick and it helped a lot with that. Also engine more quiet in general. Im not not embarrassed. These are my facts.

I think the only possible way the 5W40 is helping power wise, is it might be adjusting the variable valve timing? Does the hemi even have vvt that has a hydraulic component? Other than that its all in your head, just like after changing the oil. Any difference in power or mpg isn't going to be significant enough to notice without some serious monitoring equipment.

 

[Highline9]

The engine has vvt, my drive to work is low traffic 90 miles round trip,4 miles of town and I use cruise control the whole time. I also get my fuel from the same gas station and the same pump. When I fuel car I Use lowest flow setting till it clicks off when tank is full. Traffic is minimal,my drive is very boring. I guess I need some serious monitoring equipment. Or my results would be not even remotely accurate. Last tank was 27.1 mpg.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Highline9
The engine has vvt, my drive to work is low traffic 90 miles round trip,4 miles of town and I use cruise control the whole time. I also get my fuel from the same gas station and the same pump. When I fuel car I Use lowest flow setting till it clicks off when tank is full. Traffic is minimal,my drive is very boring. I guess I need some serious monitoring equipment. Or my results would be not even remotely accurate. Last tank was 27.1 mpg.

Well that is good mileage, and you seem to have a very consistent repeatable drive. But to be reasonably certain of a change in mileage with your methodology, I think you need to have sample sizes of 30 tanks or more of basically the same drive in the same weather. I forget all my university statistics and error analysis classes but it is possible to figure out how many samples/tanks are needed. I think with just a normal commute you'd need a year or 2 of data running each oil to be able to say one gives better mileage than the other... And you might find that the variability of your normal driving still would hide any differences between the oils...

 

[Highline9]

Well hemi sure seems to run well. Your right on variables. The wind can change a lot on this commute too. The hills that car climbs in 4cyl mode is repeatable.

 

[partspro]

Doesn't this Saturn use a hydraulic timing chain tensioner ??

If it does do not use the 15w40, the tensioner is prone to failures even with the recommended weight oil, 15w40 could result in a broken chain and bent valves.

 

[Highline9]

Originally Posted By: partspro
Doesn't this Saturn use a hydraulic timing chain tensioner ??

If it does do not use the 15w40, the tensioner is prone to failures even with the recommended weight oil, 15w40 could result in a broken chain and bent valves.


well that sounds like a problem you wouldn't joke about..

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
partspro - You said this:
"If it does do not use the 15w40, the tensioner is prone to failures even with the recommended weight oil, 15w40 could result in a broken chain and bent valves."

Can you substantiate this statement?

 

[partspro]

I sure can. I have dealt with both retail and commercial customers who have experienced failures. The one retail customer comes to mind because he had just paid almost $3000 for repairs to his engine. The mechanic indicated on his bill that the failure was due to incorrect viscosity oil and or failure to change the oil at the required interval. Here's the issue, he had always had the oil changed by the same dealer and NEVER exceeded the mileage interval. When he pointed this out to the service manager, they wanted to change the comments, which he refused to allow them to do. I advised him to seek a financial settlement but his wife convinced him to let things be.

On the commercial side, i don't get as much info but when i'm asked for Timing Chain, Tensioner, Timing Cover gaskets, . I usually strike a conversation, 'Timing chain broke hey', yep and the tensioner is wasted.


I fully understand that this is 'anecdotal' but when you deal with commercial accounts, day after day, you build a solid relationship with them, that's what we do. We get to know the 'shade tree' guys and the top notch guys.

 

[fraso]

I also had a concern about tensioner lubrication on my parents' 98 & 01 Saturn SL2s. Previously, they were using dealer-supplied PC 5w30 with 5000 km OCIs and I switched them over to Esso XD-3 Extra 0w30 with 10,000 km OCIs almost 3 years ago. I was also hoping that the HDEO's add pack would help to keep the ring grooves clean. So far, so good - minimal (~1L / 10,000 km) oil consumption in both. The 98 SL2 is now approaching 200,000 km, while the 01 is approaching 130,000 km.

If you're considering a 40-weight oil in a Saturn, it's because your oil consumption is too high and I'm with Caterham on this one. I think it would a lot better to work on freeing up the oil rings and using a 30-weight HDEO.