1999 Dodge Stratus 2.4L

[SaberBlaze]

So I got a new job, averaging about 2000 miles a month on a '99 dodge stratus 2.4. It has 161,000 miles on it, I figured I better start educating myself on oil care, I've never really paid attention much to oil or oil filters in the past. I didn't think I'd find a forum for motor oil enthusiasts, though I shouldn't be too surprised. I saw a forum that specialized only in levi's denim

.

Anyway, the type of driving the car is subjected to is lots of stop and go city driving, with some highway and freeway driving as well. Not to mention turning the car on and off several times throughout the day, a lot times within minutes of each other. And of course fast accelerations. The car takes 10w30 oil, I think the car manual got lost a while ago so I don't know what other range of viscosities are acceptable for it.

With all this new more severe driving, it seems to be burning more oil. Not surprising, I've heard that old cars burn off about a quart every 1000 miles, which sounds about right. I don't know for how long, but my brother had been putting Valvoline maxlife synthetic blend for a while now, with a Fram Tough Guard filter and around 3000 mile oil changes. So far I add a little bit of oil to it every week. We had a quart of some old Western Family 10w30 conventional oil so I've been using that. I don't think mixing a synthetic blend and a conventional should cause any problems. Anyone have any suggestions for oil that might burn less? I wanna try full synthetic next oil change, for the high amount of miles I'm putting in. Unfortunately every oil company says their oil is the best, and every oil works differently for everybody. The motor oil bible website has this calculator for oil that gives each oil an overall rank, Amsoil seems to rank at the top but they don't sell that stuff at your usual Autozone I believe.

I was thinking using Castrol Edge for my next oil, or maybe Valvoline Maxlife full synthetic because of it's age. I was also thinking of a Mobil1 or Purolator oil filter, based on forum posts on this website. They have this mobil 1 filter for the car at autozone: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/M...er=106092_0_0_.

As far as I know there's no oil leaks, at least none that I've noticed. So I'm assuming it's just burning oil since it's old, so using a full synthetic shouldn't be too much of a problem right? Thanks for input guys.

 

[oggb]

A high-mileage synthetic couldn't hurt.

 

[fdcg27]

If you are driving 2K each month, and if the beast is using a quart each 1K, you've basically got a car changing its own oil.
Maxlife is a good choice for an oil burner, and you might go thicker than 10W-30, depending upon where you live.
If you live in an area where it never gets really cold, you could try Maxlife 10W-40, for example.
You might also consinder that some of the consumption could be due to wear, while some could be due to stuck rings.
A cheap effort at freeing the rings would be a quart of MMO for your oil addition prior to your next change.
A more expensive, and maybe more effective, option would be a couple of ARX clean/rinse runs.
Good luck with this machine, and welcome to the site.

 

[Oregoonian]

MaxLife Synthetic 10w30...should work well...with 5000 to 6000 OCI's.

OR

PYB 10w30... might be a better choice with 3000 to 4000 OCI's

OR

as mentioned above...adding 1 qt. every 1000 miles...you could just do that and you would noy have to change oil at all.

Be sure you get a good filter (like a Purolator PureOne)...and change it out every 7500 miles.
_________________________________________
2003 Ford Focus (2.3L) / 91K
M1 5w20EP / 12k +/- or 1 year
Filter: Mobil 1EP

 

[synthetic_crazy]

Might consider some Pennzoil Platinum to clean things a bit.

By the way,

to BITOG!

 

[J. A. Rizzo]

I don't think you need to change it very often if it's burning a quart every 1000. After 4-5 thousand miles, it's all been changed. It still does need to be drained and refilled to clean out the sump and change the filter, though. I would use the cheapest API SM-rated 5W- or 10W-40 you can get and a decent filter like a Wix or Purolator or AC Delco, almost anything but a Fram, and change it twice a year in the spring and fall regardless of the mileage.

I say API SM because its lower zinc content is less likely to foul up your catalytic converter, and I say cheapest because it's burning so much that premium oils are a complete waste. Synthetic won't buy you a thing, in my opinion, based on the consumption rate and age of the car. A 5W- or 10W-40 or a xW-30 high mileage oil might help slow the consumption, but I would avoid putting any solvents like MMO or ARX in the sump unless you know for sure you've got sludge or ring crud issues. I don't think they will help you with consumption, and who cares what the inside of the engine looks like unless it's causing you a problem?

Good luck and let us know what you do.

 

[crazyoildude]

Welcome to the board a high mileage oil would probably help although a hm oil is sometimes blended on the thicker side and although it would be good for the summer maybe not the winter Max life Pennzoil hm or castrol are all good oils

 

[SaberBlaze]

Thanks for the welcome guys

Unfortunately I don't know that much about cars, just basic maintenance like oil changes, transmission fluid change, coolant, changing tires, etc. I didn't know there was so much info on just motor oil, such as additives and whatnot. I can why people look to "UOA's" to get an idea of how well their oil has been performing. A company's oil may meet all the specs on paper, or may seem to have good levels of all those additives, but it's how they hold up in actual use that matters in the end I suppose.

As for the viscosity, I think I'll just stick with the base 10w30 viscosity. Where I live, it the temperature range for the hot months could be anywhere from 85F to a little over 110F during the day. As for the cold months they're usually 50's F-60's F during the day and around 30's during the night. I wouldn't want the engine working harder by pumping thicker viscosity oil if I put 10w40. Although I think the motor oil chapters on the homepage of this website say it should be fine for engines with excessive wear.

I should probably clarify that I wasn't paying that much attention to the extra oil I was putting in to replace the burnt one, but I'd still say a new quart in the range of 1000-2000 miles. Reason is that when I started the job I was still running the car with previous oil, then we did an oil change so we didn't notice that any oil might have been getting burnt. It was only until I checked the oil one day and it was a little bit below the min line on the dipstick lol. I'll keep better track of everything in my next oil change. So far it's been about 3600 miles since the last oil change.

My family has always followed an oil every 3000 miles, or at least ideally anyway. But after reading a lot of posts on here and additional info elsewhere it seems the general consensus with newer oils and decent filters you can go much longer on oil changes, like 5000 seems to be a good number. I know some newer cars specify to change the oil every 7500 or similar, but I'm assuming that even older vehicles in which the manual states 3000 mile oil changes are recommended can go much longer with these synthetics and good oil filters right?

I think buying the cheapest synthetic that meets specs would probably be best. I don't think it makes any difference if I buy it from Walmart or AutoZone right? I think I saw some Mobil1 fully synthetic for around 18 bucks at Walmart. Castrol Edge was 26.50 I believe. I'll have to see about the Maxlife. The autozone website didn't show any purolators, so I don't know if they sell them but I'll take a look around. That m1 filter should be good I hope. I'll probably try a 4-5000 change interval next time, still not used to longer oil intervals yet haha. I don't think I'll have any time this week to change the oil, so by the time next weekend rolls around it'll have been 4000 miles since the last change. I'm not too sure if I'm too comfortable changing the oil and filter twice a year, that'd be around 12,000.

I realize that using synthetics might be somewhat of a waste, but I do get gas reimbursement for however many miles I put in for work, and since comes out being a little more than what I actually put in for gas, I can use the some of the extra to invest in decent oil and filter I'd say. Hopefully I can get some more miles out of this car before it all breaks down eventually. It already broke down on me once, but it turned out with was the alternator. Good thing my brother got that one at autozone with a lifetime warranty or whatever.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[SaberBlaze]

Finally got the oil change done today. I couldn't find Maxlife full synthetic anywhere, just the synthetic blend. Walmart however had Mobil 1 10w30 high mileage full synthetic, and after reading some of the responses on here about it, I decided to go for it. I put in a Purolater PureOne filter.

Although the car's not leaking oil on the ground, the oil pan seems to be covered partially with dried oil and dirt. That and it has a couple dents from over the years. Maybe it's time for a new pan? Anyway, I think later on I will take the suggestion and use 10w40 viscosity since the mobil makes a 10w40 high mileage oil as well.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted By: SaberBlaze
Finally got the oil change done today. I couldn't find Maxlife full synthetic anywhere, just the synthetic blend. Walmart however had Mobil 1 10w30 high mileage full synthetic, and after reading some of the responses on here about it, I decided to go for it. I put in a Purolater PureOne filter.

Although the car's not leaking oil on the ground, the oil pan seems to be covered partially with dried oil and dirt. That and it has a couple dents from over the years. Maybe it's time for a new pan? Anyway, I think later on I will take the suggestion and use 10w40 viscosity since the mobil makes a 10w40 high mileage oil as well.


SaberBlaze-IMHO,
Where you could experience some waste with the Mibil 1 HM(or any expensive synthetic) is, if your engine continues to burn/loose oil at the rate of 1qt/1-2K and you continue to pour back in single qts of the Mobil 1 HM. If the Mobil 1 HM slows down or stops the oil consumption, then your golden and should be able to put on miles per/OCI appropiate for the cost of the Mobil 1 HM. Otherwise, I'd stick with regular conventional motor oil in you climate(from the tempurature ranges that you mentioned,
sounds like you live in the south or out west).

And yes,(in case you were wondering), you can switch back and fourth between conventional and synthetic motor oils.