Hi all,
New user here. Seeking advice for oil viscosities; still trying to understand them.
My car was losing a lot of oil this past month. It probably lost a quart in a couple of hundred miles. The PCV valve, intake gasket and valve cover gasket were all replaced and I have not noticed as much consumption.
My car has over 200k miles, so I know the piston rings are probably worn. While I can't afford new ones, I know that thicker oil can help slow the consumption with the cost of MPG and power.
When I first noticed I was losing oil, I had been using the recommended 0W-20 for my engine. I had just kept topping it off to ensure he wasn't bone dry. When I did my oil change a couple of weeks ago, I switched to 5W-30. It wasn't much help considering that there were leaks and faulty parts contributing to the loss of oil.
When the above PCV Valve and Intake gasket were replaced, oil was topped off with Valvoline Synthetic ML 5W30. The valve cover gasket was done another day, so there was still a leak but the consumption/loss significantly changed. It was still occurring but at a much slower rate.
I plan on topping the oil off since everything has been completed and monitoring the oil usage. The oil level has changed since topping it off the first time since the job wasn't all the way done. I'm hoping that I will see better results now that it is.
If I don't see results, what viscosity can I move to? I was thinking 10W-30 or 10W-40 but wasn't sure which would slow the consumption (I'm by no means car savvy). I live in Kentucky where it almost never gets below 0, and the winter is usually a high of mid 40's F. I was considering adding Lucas Synthetic, but after looking around on here, many don't recommend it. Why do that when I can just get thicker oil, I guess?
What are your suggestions? Others told me to replace the rings, but there is no way I can afford that kind of work.
My engine is the 2.5 AR-FE, not the 2.4 AZ-FE which was prone to excessive oil consumption.
New user here. Seeking advice for oil viscosities; still trying to understand them.
My car was losing a lot of oil this past month. It probably lost a quart in a couple of hundred miles. The PCV valve, intake gasket and valve cover gasket were all replaced and I have not noticed as much consumption.
My car has over 200k miles, so I know the piston rings are probably worn. While I can't afford new ones, I know that thicker oil can help slow the consumption with the cost of MPG and power.
When I first noticed I was losing oil, I had been using the recommended 0W-20 for my engine. I had just kept topping it off to ensure he wasn't bone dry. When I did my oil change a couple of weeks ago, I switched to 5W-30. It wasn't much help considering that there were leaks and faulty parts contributing to the loss of oil.
When the above PCV Valve and Intake gasket were replaced, oil was topped off with Valvoline Synthetic ML 5W30. The valve cover gasket was done another day, so there was still a leak but the consumption/loss significantly changed. It was still occurring but at a much slower rate.
I plan on topping the oil off since everything has been completed and monitoring the oil usage. The oil level has changed since topping it off the first time since the job wasn't all the way done. I'm hoping that I will see better results now that it is.
If I don't see results, what viscosity can I move to? I was thinking 10W-30 or 10W-40 but wasn't sure which would slow the consumption (I'm by no means car savvy). I live in Kentucky where it almost never gets below 0, and the winter is usually a high of mid 40's F. I was considering adding Lucas Synthetic, but after looking around on here, many don't recommend it. Why do that when I can just get thicker oil, I guess?
What are your suggestions? Others told me to replace the rings, but there is no way I can afford that kind of work.
My engine is the 2.5 AR-FE, not the 2.4 AZ-FE which was prone to excessive oil consumption.