Consumption seems to have slowed.

[RamFan]

Some of you may recall that when I first bought my Charger last January I posted a thread of its seemingly high rate of consumption, about 1 quart every thousand miles. I changed the pcv valve and that didn't help any so I knew faulty pcv function wasn't the culprit. Anyway, I did my first change in March with 10w30 Ultra, during that oci consumption rate stayed the same. However, in May I started a cross country trip leaving Decatur, Illinois I traveled to Jacksonville, Florida with a stop overnight in Chattanooga, TN. The trip was about 1k miles and I needed 1 qt make up by the time I reached Florida. The car sat there until mid July while I flew back home to GTMO. This is where the big leg of the trip started. In the next two weeks my mom and I drove from Jacksonville to Chattanooga to Decatur to Chicago to some town in South Dakota to some town in Montana to West Yellowstone where I had an oil change done by a local shop, they used a NAPA filter and Mobil conventional. From there we continued to Seattle to Salt Lake City, to Chayenne, and finally back to Carbondale where I did an oil change with my current fill shortly after.

Here's the point, along the trip I noticed my consumption started slowing down, could the 6-10 hours of non-stop driving over the course of those two weeks freed up some stuck rings? When I purchased the car it had 26k miles, I'm currently just short of 42k.

 

[chubbs1]

I am sure it is possible but it would be hard to tell, at least in the short run, since you used so many different kinds of oils. Time will tell. A good long drive is good for the lubrication system.

 

[RamFan]

What would the multiple oil types have to do with unsticking the rings? The biggest factors that I'm focusing on are the long driving durations, and good "fresh" oil consistently being in the sump since I've taken ownership.

 

[ltslimjim]

^Some reasoning may be that different quality oils with varying formulation may help shock the problem areas and generate a different response from cleansing than sticking with the same oil. That is an area I don't know the real terms but it's along the lines of the metal reacting differently with a previously unused lubricant with a radically different oil base and additives package is used.

I'd imagine a stuck ring would have spiked wear, have you ever had a used oil analysis done?

 

[RamFan]

Originally Posted By: ltslimjim
^Some reasoning may be that different quality oils with varying formulation may help shock the problem areas and generate a different response from cleansing than sticking with the same oil. That is an area I don't know the real terms but it's along the lines of the metal reacting differently with a previously unused lubricant with a radically different oil base and additives package is used.

I'd imagine a stuck ring would have spiked wear, have you ever had a used oil analysis done?


Never had a used oil analysis done, I might with my next change though. The car would consume but never displayed blue smoke, no leaks anywhere, no rough idle. It still uses oil but not nearly as much as it did. Mechanically it ran and continues to run great.