95 Stratus 2.0L SOHC -- 3951 km -- Mobil 1 5W30

[mechjames]

Could have went on a while longer, but I got this M1 with a trade from a friend, and installed it almost right away not knowing the oil change history. Oil level seemed alright the first couple weeks after changing the oil. I checked it a few weeks later, looked down about half a quart. Didn't have the time to go get some more M1 so i waited a week or two more and it was down almost 2 quarts. Took 1.8 quarts to bring it back to full. So its consuming oil, but my explorer drips on my driveway but doesn't consume this much. The stratus doesn't leave its mark though, and it doesn't burn any blue. Oil pan looked a bit when I changed it out though. The reason I changed it so early in M1's life (3951 km, 2455 miles) was due to it being down another two quarts of oil about a month later. I didn't feel like puttin in an expensive oil (its about 9-11$ a quart here depending where you look). Also Mobil 1 showed a bad UOA in my friends 94 shadow 2.5L with excessive iron and wear from the bearings, and that thing made a lot of noise during cold starts. Now its on SSO and doing just fine. Thats what I plan to do with this car in the future. Now its on Valvoline maxlife since April 3rd and i've put almost 2500 km on it, and its still looks between 7/8 to the full line or at full on the dipstick, depending if you let it sit overnight or not. I'm kind of sold on the seal conditioners. Engine seems slightly quieter on the maxlife then on the M1. It looks like a great canadate for extended drains. I'm planning to run the maxlife to 6500 - 7000km, and then run another diet of maxlife, then possibly switch to AMS in this car (now that I have a vehicle that isn't wearing excessively, like my explorer, found a chunk of a piston in the oil pan, still runs though. Pennz Plat keeps that happy)

 

[addyguy]

Sounds like the Maxlife is a good fit for your engine - I'd stick with it. Much cheaper, and slows consumption. Seems like a win-win.

 

[Jaymus]

Under 2500 miles and the iron is at 10ppm. I'll shut up. Everyone on here always says Valvoline Maxlife is great at stopping leaks and/or consumption. Nice to see that it is working on your consumption issue, even if it's just in the weight or oil type. My mom's LS1 would use half a quart of M1 5W-30 every 1500 or 2000 miles, but with GC 0W-30, it's went to less than half of that. My truck used a little oil (no smoke, no leaks) with Castrol GTX 10W-30, but completely stopped using oil on my first change to Rotella-T Synthetic 5W-40. I wonder if it would be a good idea to run some Maxlife in her LS1 for an OCI or two. I am curious to see your next UOA. That is, if you are planning on another.

 

[mechjames]

 Originally Posted By: Jaymus

Under 2500 miles and the iron is at 10ppm. I'll shut up. Everyone on here always says Valvoline Maxlife is great at stopping leaks and/or consumption. Nice to see that it is working on your consumption issue, even if it's just in the weight or oil type. My mom's LS1 would use half a quart of M1 5W-30 every 1500 or 2000 miles, but with GC 0W-30, it's went to less than half of that. My truck used a little oil (no smoke, no leaks) with Castrol GTX 10W-30, but completely stopped using oil on my first change to Rotella-T Synthetic 5W-40. I wonder if it would be a good idea to run some Maxlife in her LS1 for an OCI or two. I am curious to see your next UOA. That is, if you are planning on another.

Yup, my next uoa will be at 220000 km, a little over 7,000 km. If i continued to do a full mobil 1 uoa, iron coulda been at 40-50ppm! and my 10ppm is with two quarts of fresh m1. anyway who knows why it irons up like that. Still a good uoa for an engine with 213,000 kms. I should also add that i changed the air filter when i added the maxlife. it was filthy while the m1 was in there. 12ppm for 3900km's.

 

[OVERKILL]

 Originally Posted By: mechjames

 Originally Posted By: Jaymus

Under 2500 miles and the iron is at 10ppm. I'll shut up. Everyone on here always says Valvoline Maxlife is great at stopping leaks and/or consumption. Nice to see that it is working on your consumption issue, even if it's just in the weight or oil type. My mom's LS1 would use half a quart of M1 5W-30 every 1500 or 2000 miles, but with GC 0W-30, it's went to less than half of that. My truck used a little oil (no smoke, no leaks) with Castrol GTX 10W-30, but completely stopped using oil on my first change to Rotella-T Synthetic 5W-40. I wonder if it would be a good idea to run some Maxlife in her LS1 for an OCI or two. I am curious to see your next UOA. That is, if you are planning on another.

Yup, my next uoa will be at 220000 km, a little over 7,000 km. If i continued to do a full mobil 1 uoa, iron coulda been at 40-50ppm! and my 10ppm is with two quarts of fresh m1. anyway who knows why it irons up like that. Still a good uoa for an engine with 213,000 kms. I should also add that i changed the air filter when i added the maxlife. it was filthy while the m1 was in there. 12ppm for 3900km's.

If you've read Doug Hillary's article on UOA's (which it sounds like you may have) you would know that the 10ppm is basically inconsequential.

 

[addyguy]

With an engine this old, with unsolved consumption 'issues', I'd stay away from long-OCI's on synthetic. It'll just get hellishly expensive. Maxlife is much cheaper than M1 or Amsoil; and if it slows the consumption, just stick with it for 8-10,000km OCI's (5-6k miles).

 

[Jaymus]

It's not that 10ppm is bad, it's that 10ppm in under 2500 miles could be lowered by using another oil. The averages show that, too. Not to mention he had 2 quarts of make up oil. Let's get real, if you love Mobil1, fine. But let's stop denying that Mobil1 5W-30 gives higher iron wear than other oils.

 

[OVERKILL]

 Originally Posted By: Jaymus

It's not that 10ppm is bad, it's that 10ppm in under 2500 miles could be lowered by using another oil. The averages show that, too. Not to mention he had 2 quarts of make up oil. Let's get real, if you love Mobil1, fine. But let's stop denying that Mobil1 5W-30 gives higher iron READINGS than other oils.

Fixed that for you. Redline's article on why certain chemicals in certain oils can cause elevated readings in single-pass oil analysis has been posted many times on here.

 

[Jaymus]

What chemicals are these, and are they even used in Mobil1?

 

[OVERKILL]

 Originally Posted By: Jaymus

What chemicals are these, and are they even used in Mobil1?

Doug Hillary seems to think they are used in Mobil 1, and I would have to find the article from Redline. Buster has posted it on here a few times.

 

[tig1]

It seems to me that most people switch oil brands from one OCI to another.By doing so is it possible that M1 oils pick up iron left behind by the former brands of oil and hold it in suspension to be shown in post M1 UOAs? It's been my experience for three decades that engines ran only on M1 last a very long time and remain very clean like OVERK1LL has posted the PICS of his Lincoln. Just asking.

 

[ilh]

 Originally Posted By: mechjames

Also Mobil 1 showed a bad UOA in my friends 94 shadow 2.5L with excessive iron and wear from the bearings, and that thing made a lot of noise during cold starts.

oh please! (by the way, fellow BITOG'ers, this is my car we're talking about) this is the UOA james mentions sure 24ppm is a bit high on iron, but it's not the end of the world and there definitely isn't enough info to call it a trend...

 Originally Posted By: mechjames

...that thing made a lot of noise during cold starts. Now its on SSO and doing just fine

not true... still noisy... and the SSO hasn't been analyzed yet. james, you're just an M1 non-believer!!

 

[mechjames]

 Originally Posted By: ilh

 Originally Posted By: mechjames

Also Mobil 1 showed a bad UOA in my friends 94 shadow 2.5L with excessive iron and wear from the bearings, and that thing made a lot of noise during cold starts.

oh please! (by the way, fellow BITOG'ers, this is my car we're talking about) this is the UOA james mentions sure 24ppm is a bit high on iron, but it's not the end of the world and there definitely isn't enough info to call it a trend...

Thats true, I believe there was gtx in it when i first got it, and it was a quart down, so I added some motormaster formula 1 synthetic blend (probably made my shell to it), and who knows what the original owner mixed in while it was consuming before.

 Originally Posted By: ilh

not true... still noisy... and the SSO hasn't been analyzed yet. james, you're just an M1 non-believer!!

Well an expensive synthetic leaks, and a inexpensive dino oil doesn't. I thought the piston slap quieted down in the shadow? At least you said it was quieter then the M1 in the wintertime.

 

[tig1]

Will somebody get their story straight.

 

[ilh]

 Originally Posted By: mechjames

I thought the piston slap quieted down in the shadow? At least you said it was quieter then the M1 in the wintertime.

that's true, but its not 100% gone... the noise is still present on startup. it quits after a couple minutes so i'm not concerned. anyways, im not here to steal your thunder... the stratus looks good!