FCI strategy

[trekvana]

hi everyone, i would like some thoughts on this.

in its current state, my engine burns about 2/3 quart of oil a month (and has a 4 qt capacity). given that its burning so much oil, my F/OCI is about every 3-4 months, depending on how much i drive it. i just use fram filters since they are dirt cheap and easily accessible. but i was thinking of changing up this strategy to this:

what if i buy a good filter that will last 15K miles and just keep filling the engine up with oil. this would definitely increase my FCI. but is there any drawbacks to doing this (e.g. since the engine is burning so much oil adding a longer lasting oil filter would be pointless, the filter would be getting contaminated too quickly, etc).

 

[99Saturn]

What does 2/3 quart of oil a month convert to in mileage? In other words, how many miles does it take to burn 1 quart?

 

[trekvana]

Well I just drove a round trip of about 800 miles (full oil before leaving) and had to add a little over half a quart to top it off. So I would say 1500-1700 miles per quart of oil

 

[ZeeOSix]

If the engine isn't sledged up and pretty clean inside, this strategy would seem to make some sense. I'd try a FRAM Ultra and change it out at 10~12K, cut it open to make sure things aren't loading up too bad.

 

[Oregoonian]

What vehicle, whae engine, mileage? What oil are you using...and which Fram filter.

If using that much oil, I think your idea to change to a long OCI synthetic filter merits consideration. Change to a FRAM ULTRA, and change the filter out between 15K and 20K, if your still burning a quart every 1500 miles or so.

 

[trekvana]

98 honda civic 1.6L 166K miles currently running 5w30 max life with extra guard. ive had the car for little over 2 years now. can't say much about the previous owner but i have been regularly changing the oil for as long as i owned it. oil still gets black after a 2 months use but im assuming its because of all the carbon soot contamination from the excessive burning that is going on.

given that im burning so much oil i just keep the maxlife jug in the trunk. im hesitant to switch to mobil 1 high mileage only because it would be too expensive to keep buying all that oil and i dont think the ROI would even be there.

im thinking maybe i should just start buying cheap dino oil (whatever 5w30 is on sale at the moment) and keep that in the trunk. but given that maxlife has been working good all these years maybe ill just stick that that

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

Originally Posted By: trekvana
98 honda civic 1.6L 166K miles currently running 5w30 max life with extra guard. ive had the car for little over 2 years now. can't say much about the previous owner but i have been regularly changing the oil for as long as i owned it. oil still gets black after a 2 months use but im assuming its because of all the carbon soot contamination from the excessive burning that is going on.

given that im burning so much oil i just keep the maxlife jug in the trunk. im hesitant to switch to mobil 1 high mileage only because it would be too expensive to keep buying all that oil and i dont think the ROI would even be there.

im thinking maybe i should just start buying cheap dino oil (whatever 5w30 is on sale at the moment) and keep that in the trunk. but given that maxlife has been working good all these years maybe ill just stick that that

You should know the answer right away then. It's a Honda. Honda recommends 5681 OCIs on the same filter, no matter what brand.

Seriously, my sons 96 Corolla, 201K miles, loses a qt. about every 800-900 miles. He still changes the oil AND filter every 5K miles. He doesn't make a lot of money, but then again, a new oil filter at every OCI won't break him either.

 

[99Saturn]

if I read correctly, you are doing 3,000 to 4,500 mi. changes and IMO could easily extend from there if that is the case. The oil is constantly getting refreshed with the new oil added anyway.

My question would be if the oil reaches some contamination level that is not filtered out due to the nature of some portion burning off - I don't know the answer but am curious about the same thing myself with my Saturn (heavy consumer) and haven't read a definitive answer.

FWIW, if you haven't already change the PCV, it may help with the consumption and the discoloring.