advice on an oil burner...

[fuel tanker man]

My 1993 Ford Escort is coming up on 200,000 miles. The only problem I've ever had with it has been a harmonic balancer went bad. Other than that, change the oil and gas it up and go. No electrical problems, original CV joints, no tranny problems (it's a 5 speed), and it's still on the original clutch. Amazing car, really...

But now it's using about a quart of oil every 1000 miles. That's not bad consumption, and I'm really not worried about it. In the summer, I go to 10W40 and that cuts the consumption a bit.

But I've lately been wondering... Since every 4000 miles (approximately) I'm actually rotating an entire new crankcase of oil into the engine (the engine holds 4 quarts)... why should I bother with ever changing the oil?

Why not just replace the oil filter every 4000 miles... or even go with a higher capacity filter and change it even less often.

This has probably been asked here before, but I couldn't find anything on this subject.

What do you guys think?

Dan

 

[unDummy]

UOA will answer the question. More then likely, with the high consumption refresh rate, and current oil tech compared to what was available in 1993, 10k+ OCIs are very possible especially if you switch to a synth, like any 0w40 or 5w40. Even a full synth 10w40 should work well enough year round and should cut year round consumption.

If you use the ATF calculator in the ATF forum, you'll can calculate the affect of 1 quart drained/refilled(consumed/topoff) every 1k miles in your sump.

I've seen plenty of Escorts go 200k-300k miles with minimal maintenance. Great car from Ford. Only thing I didn't care for was the instant head gasket blowin'. Keep an eye on the cooling systems. Low antifreeze or bad thermostat = new headgasket always.

Your engine is also a perfect test candidate for Rislone, MMO, or ARX.

1.9?? FL1a could be trial fitted.
1.8?? Hit the oil filter forum for the 20mm overisized options.

200k on clutch shows alot about your driving style---no stress.

 

[alanu]

I'd change the filter at your regular oil change interval.

 

[mechtech2]

You are also contaminating you oil at a faster rate, due to the engine problems.
How long you intend to keep the car would b the deciding factor in utilizing a perpetual oil change.

 

[JTK]

I'd do a good throttle body and PCV hose/valve spray cleaning and run the lowest cost 15w-40 I could find. House brands, Supertech, etc. Like you say though, 1qt/1000mi is not bad at all given the circumstances. Most manufacturers call that normal for a new vehicle.

Joel

 

[Vilan]

I wish it took me 1000 miles to burn a quart. I do it in about 300 miles.

I've been thinking the same as you. Just change the filter every so often. But the oil stays pretty dark despite the constant refreshing, so there may be stuff in there that refuses to burn out.

My current plan is to still change the oil but just once a year. Got a Maxlife "high capacity" filter on so I figure it'll hold up. Further bulletins as events warrant.

 

[Dr_No]

Try Restore for a test run, just to see the results.
Oil burning may be reduced if the rings are your problem

 

[levi]

IMO, its time for you to explore the wonderful world of Rotella T 15w40, year round. Don't like the shape/color/style of the Rotella jug? Try any flavor 15w40 that suits your fancy or pocketbook. And enjoy a little less oil consumption!

*

 

[jorton]

If fuel economy has also gone down you may have fuel dilution in the oil due to high fuel pressure(bad fuel pressure regulator.)

 

[Boyce]

All engine come with oil that is good for the life of the engine. Of course, getting the engine life you want may be a challenge...

After 28 years and 325,000 miles, I learned that letting the engine change its own oil is not a good idea if you want to keep the engine from going down hill a lot faster. If you take your engine apart, I think you will find that some of the piston rings are stuck. Or, it could be valve guide seals. My oil control rings were completely caked in. The oil drain back holes behind the oil rings were filled with carbon that could not be pushed out and was not that easy to drill through. 28 years means a lot of cold starts. So is 14 years.

Engines that do not use a little oil tend to have shorter ring life and not as good fuel economy as the could have. Big disagreement on what "a little" is. Honda seems to walk that line better than most. The old Nova used a quart every 1200 miles from new.

Do you really love that car enough to rebuild the engine? If you do, I would not want to be around you when you're drinking, but would love to help with the car. Old cars can teach you things about an old marriage. You know, tires and shoes, head lights and glasses, ball joints and knee replacements, and no warranty... I will let you young fellows talk about boring and stroking...

 

[Merkava_4]

SAE 40

 

[Cutehumor]

auto-rx?

 

[Gary Allan]

If it was leaking a quart a 1000 I would say ..sure..but using a quart per 1000 assumes that the whole quart was exiting in the consumption.

That is, you may have "what's leftover" ..in fact, you surely do. Keep changing it as you have been. Don't use Auto-Rx because it's like UOA ..you can do (probably) 3 more oil changes for the same money (that's, IIRC, your argument against UOA).

You've gotten this far by doing what you're doing

 

[Merkava_4]

You guys are underestimating the supreme power of straight HD40 for worn out engines; it's the ultimate Band-Aid.

 

[Crusader]

Quote:

---

You guys are underestimating the supreme power of straight HD40 for worn out engines; it's the ultimate Band-Aid.

---

Why wouldn't any of the 15w-40 HDEO be just as good? Ever wonder why we never see a high mileage HDEO?

 

[Crusader]

Another thought . . . not trying to be a pusher for Mobil 1 High Mileage oil but you might try it in the 10w-30 weight during the winter and if consumption doesn't drop after 3 quarts or so - go with 10w-40 version & in the summer. Mobil is making a tall claim on cleaning up crud in the motor. They claim short OCI of 3 - 5k at first to helps the oil clean out the crud. No other HM oil makes this lofty claim. China Mart has it @ $20 a 5 quart jug. Not a huge investment but worth a try. Cheaper than Auto-Rx. UOA & VOA are turning up very solid numbers. My China Mart can't keep the 10w-30 stuff in stock.

My 93 Civic has over 250,000+ miles on it. I will be very disappointed if I can't drive it all the way to 700,000+ and beyond. As long as you don't have bumpers dragging, heavy rust or other glaring issues detracting from the car just keep it. IMHO it's not what the car is worth now but what would it cost to replace it.

 

[fuel tanker man]

Some great comments... thanks for all of the attention to this thread.

Maybe I'll stretch the OCI out to around 5000 miles, sort of splitting the difference between no changes and 3000 mile changes...

Dan

 

[PandaBear]

How long do you plan to run this car for? If more than 4 years then it is probably worth doing a compression/leakdown test and see what is wrong and fix the root cause. If not, just use an oil with low burn rate and be done with it.