Best High-Mileage 0W-20 for Oil Consumption? (updated at post 64)

[JonnyAbs]

I took care of an oil burning fb25 6mt outback for a friend from 200k-280k the original engine consumed a quart every 500 miles until the last 10k it used a quart every 150 miles. The least consumption was with m1 0w40. No flushes or additives, cleanings, driving styles, pcv valve or happy dances changed the consumption rate.
When I pulled the engine at 280k the cylinders had 90% leakage at the rings from leakdown test. Found a low mileage used engine for him and it's done 30k since then with consumption less than a quart in 6k. Also with m1 0w40. My advice is to find the happy oil (which you may have done) and it will run much longer than one might think as long as they keep oil in it

This is great observation and advice. I have a similar issue with my Malibu and Scion tC (with the notorious 2AZ-FE rings that get clogged). The malibu is GDI and super sooty. Either the rings are stuck or worn and it has blow by and burns a quart every 800 miles or so. Same for the tC, except it isn't GDI and those rings are known to clog.

I have tried all kinds of flushes and oil additives, including Auto-Rx, and nothing has really helped. Using a thicker oil MIGHT help slightly, but maybe not even. I have settled on 5w30 oil even though both engines call for 5w20 because I think its mostly calling for thinner oil due to CAFE. IMO, 5w30 is a jack of all trades oil thats great when cold and also when warm, without being too thick or too thin.

I will try one last thing in the Scion. I will try a piston ring soak with something like sea foam or gumout since I have to change the spark plugs anyway. I will remove them and put the seafoam in the chambers and let it sit and soak. We'll see what happens. I'll turn the engine over and do it again. If this doesn't help, I don't think anything will. The rings are either just stuck or clogged or worn and will stay that way until a rebuild, which I likely will never do since these have over 100K and run fine besides the burning oil.

 

[The Critic]

I’m confused. Valvoline went in but Havoline came out?

Are oils changing midstream like a lot of people are these days?

I guess I forgot to update the outcome of using Valvoline, oops. The Valvoline fared no better than M1 or the Genuine Subaru (Idemitsu) oils he had previously used. The Valvoline product still required a top-up after 2500 miles.

This thread was originally started in 1/2021.

To recap:

1/2021, 82.7K: Valvoline HM Full Syn 0W-20.
8/2021, 88.9K: M1 AFE 0W-20
12/2021, 93.3K: Havoline Lifelong 0W-20
4/2022, 97K: Havoline Lifelong 0W-20

 

[The Critic]

For 3700 miles, that oil looks rough!
Maybe try a cleaner to free up possibly stuck rings?
Dirt or bad blow by seems to be mucking up the oil.

I might add some HPL Engine Cleaner when it is due for its first top-up.

 

[The Critic]

I might add some HPL Engine Cleaner when it is due for its first top-up.

After ~2800 miles on Havoline Lifelong 0W20, the vehicle was over a quart low on oil. I added 1 qt of HPL Engine Cleaner and added some PP 0W20 to top off the oil to full.

After driving 1800 miles with the @High Performance Lubricants Engine Cleaner, the oil level has only dropped 1/4 qt. So, I am happy to report that HPL's Engine Cleaner appears to have some efficacy.

I will probably change the oil in the next 500 miles and cut open the filter for review.

 

[addyguy]

The HPL engine cleaner is a 30-weight oil, so thickening the oil is reducing consumption possibly.

 

[The Critic]

The HPL engine cleaner is a 30-weight oil, so thickening the oil is reducing consumption possibly.

I don't think that's the case here.

Havoline Lifelong 0W20 is 8.0cst (per PDS) and the HPL EC is 9.4cst (per VOA)

 

[BigShug681]

After ~2800 miles on Havoline Lifelong 0W20, the vehicle was over a quart low on oil. I added 1 qt of HPL Engine Cleaner and added some PP 0W20 to top off the oil to full.

After driving 1800 miles with the @High Performance Lubricants Engine Cleaner, the oil level has only dropped 1/4 qt. So, I am happy to report that HPL's Engine Cleaner appears to have some efficacy.

I will probably change the oil in the next 500 miles and cut open the filter for review.

I noticed on my moms 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan 4.0 that no matter the oil it would burn a qt almost every 1500-2000 miles I did 2 things this last change including going to a 15w40/ 5w40 mix of primarily Amsoil Marine and Diesel and 1 qt of Valvoline PBE 5w40 plus one qt of HPL EC 40 were at 500 miles and the oil level hasn’t dropped at all, to many variables to say it’s one or the other but I believe I’ve used a 40 wt in the past to no effect so I’d like to believe the EC is doing some work after this run at 5k miles I plan to dump it and go to a 5w30 HPL flavor for winter so I guess if the consumption drops off then I can at least say one of the 3 products fixed the issue

 

[K20FA5]

After ~2800 miles on Havoline Lifelong 0W20, the vehicle was over a quart low on oil. I added 1 qt of HPL Engine Cleaner and added some PP 0W20 to top off the oil to full.

After driving 1800 miles with the @High Performance Lubricants Engine Cleaner, the oil level has only dropped 1/4 qt. So, I am happy to report that HPL's Engine Cleaner appears to have some efficacy.

I will probably change the oil in the next 500 miles and cut open the filter for review.

I’m seeing the same thing in my daughters oil burning Kia. I was running 10w-30 and went with PP 5w-20 and we’ve burned almost 1/2 quart in 2000 miles. Was burning over a quart per 1000 miles before. It’s definitely doing something!

 

[Stanley Milgram]

After ~2800 miles on Havoline Lifelong 0W20, the vehicle was over a quart low on oil. I added 1 qt of HPL Engine Cleaner and added some PP 0W20 to top off the oil to full.

After driving 1800 miles with the @High Performance Lubricants Engine Cleaner, the oil level has only dropped 1/4 qt. So, I am happy to report that HPL's Engine Cleaner appears to have some efficacy.

I will probably change the oil in the next 500 miles and cut open the filter for review.

High Mileage oils, Engine cleaners, You live in California…All this mucking about year after year on this lost cause engine that is destined for a shortblock or engine swap. Don’t you ever get the urge to just try a 30 or 40 to see if you could plug ‘er up some and move on?

 

[The Critic]

High Mileage oils, Engine cleaners, You live in California…All this mucking about year after year on this lost cause engine that is destined for a shortblock or engine swap. Don’t you ever get the urge to just try a 30 or 40 to see if you could plug ‘er up some and move on?

I mean, adding oil is just an inconvenience. In the grand scheme of things, none of these fixes are truly necessary.

 

[Stanley Milgram]

I mean, adding oil is just an inconvenience. In the grand scheme of things, none of these fixes are truly necessary.

If the owner is letting the light come on, then its an inconvenience they don't want to deal with. I know these cars don't have easiest dipsticks to read. In the field I rarely see them with the proper amount of oil. I didn’t mean that the engine needs a shortblock today or a swap tomorrow. But if we can assume the ring seal is compromised, how is running it at 80% of an oil that got it in this mess going to help keep consumption at bay?

 

[The Critic]

But if we can assume the ring seal is compromised, how is running it at 80% of an oil that got it in this mess going to help keep consumption at bay?

Not sure if I follow. Once the oil was low, I topped it off with the Engine Cleaner.

 

[The Critic]

After ~2800 miles on Havoline Lifelong 0W20, the vehicle was over a quart low on oil. I added 1 qt of HPL Engine Cleaner and added some PP 0W20 to top off the oil to full.

After driving 1800 miles with the @High Performance Lubricants Engine Cleaner, the oil level has only dropped 1/4 qt. So, I am happy to report that HPL's Engine Cleaner appears to have some efficacy.

I will probably change the oil in the next 500 miles and cut open the filter for review.

Interesting update. Sort of.

The vehicle has been driven another 800 miles (5400 miles on the fill, 2600 miles with HPL Engine Cleaner). The oil level is now just over 3/4qt low. To be fair, the measurement taken in post #64 was done at a different location than today’s measurement, but both locations should’ve been equally level-ish.

Point is, consumption increased during the last 800 miles. Is it due to oil breakdown? I don’t know.

We did an oil and filter change today and installed @High Performance Lubricants 10W-20. Will continue to monitor consumption go-forward and see how it does. Their 10W-20 product has a base oil that is thicker than most 5W-30’s and supposedly has no VM’s, so we shall see if it improves consumption.