Good shear stable oil?

[Gendo]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
It's time for MaxLife 20W-50.


Yeah? Valvoline maxlife is better than gtx hm, or was that a joke?

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: Gendo

Yeah? Valvoline maxlife is better than gtx hm, or was that a joke?


You said you had filled it with GTX HM 10W-40 and topping it off with 20W-50. How about an entire fill of 20W-50 ?

 

[Gendo]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Gendo

Yeah? Valvoline maxlife is better than gtx hm, or was that a joke?


You said you had filled it with GTX HM 10W-40 and topping it off with 20W-50. How about an entire fill of 20W-50 ?


Its pretty much already filled with 20w-50. Top offs have been rather frequent.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: Gendo

Its pretty much already filled with 20w-50. Top offs have been rather frequent.


Maybe it's time to move to straight 60W then.

 

[Shannow]

Pull the fill cap off with the engine running,s and see what sort of blowby you are getting...by the way, how are external leaks ?

Had one Holden V-8 that had been run without a thermostat for 60,000 miles or so (I didn't know when I bought it).

On the highway, it had so much blowby that it burned oil massively, pumping it through the PCV (and out the valve cover gaskets)...

20W-50 and STP didn't stop it.

cheap store brand 20W-50 at least brought costs down.

 

[Gendo]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Pull the fill cap off with the engine running,s and see what sort of blowby you are getting...by the way, how are external leaks ?

Had one Holden V-8 that had been run without a thermostat for 60,000 miles or so (I didn't know when I bought it).

On the highway, it had so much blowby that it burned oil massively, pumping it through the PCV (and out the valve cover gaskets)...

20W-50 and STP didn't stop it.

cheap store brand 20W-50 at least brought costs down.


I will definitely do this. This could be very possible. I replaced the pcv valve, and when I did I found out the barb on the intake was totally caked closed with crud. I used most of a can of carb/intake cleaner spraying and scraping that stuff out. Afterward my oil use actually increased. It seems oil was coming out the breather as well because the throttle body injectors were oily too.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: Gendo
Hi, I have an old beat up 95 Yukon that burns oil like crazy. It also seems to be shearing the heck out (and then burning) of any non-synthetic oil I put in it. I put in 10w-40 Castrol GTX HM at my last oil change, but have been topping off with 20w-50. I tried some Bardahl's No Smoke and it worked really well for about three days before it was sheared into oblivion. I broke down and spent the cabbage on LOS. Don't judge me! I only put about 8-10 ounces in, but it seems to be working out pretty well so far, but its only been two days. We'll see if it gets sheared as quickly.

Anyway, the point of all this is: What is a good synthetic motor oil that is exceptionally shear stable, and preferably comes in some really thick grades most people would never need? I don't have money for a rebuild, and it wouldn't really be worth it on ths 189k mile beater.

The guy who had it before me knew nothing about cars, and didn't want to learn. I found four different brands and three different grades of motor oil floating around the passenger compartment when I got it. He had half a bottle of 10w-40 super tech, striaght 30 PYB, 10w30 valvoline, and some other brand that I forget, think it may have been motorcraft 10w30.

And when I say it burns oil, I mean baaaaad. The first oil I put in it was Castrol GTX 5w30. It used 1 qt every 80 miles. I drive almost exactly 40 miles a day. When I switched to the GTX HM 10w-40 it slowed to 1 qt every 120miles. now it seems to be more like 1 qt every 150 miles since I started topping off with the 20w-50. Hopefully you can recommend a thicker shear stable full synthetic so I can stop using LOS.


You're in Texas, so maybe you can run a straight 40-weight conventional oil. (Straight 50-weight may be pushing it.) Using oil at the rate of 1 qt per 150 miles is a big argument against using any synthetic.

 

[addyguy]

Gendo,

Try a product called "Restore", in the bright silver can. It does help in some badly worn engines, by filling-in scratched cylinder walls.

I think you'll find it will help a lot...I've read a lot of anecdotal evidence that it is one of the few band-aids that works.

 

[mechtech2]

The oil may be getting warm and thinner, but it is NOT shearing in a few days.

 

[Gendo]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
The oil may be getting warm and thinner, but it is NOT shearing in a few days.


It may not be shearing, but its definitely not 'getting warm and thinner.' This was especially true when I used the no smoke. Temperatures were very consistently around 72-73 (Fahrenheit) when I checked the oil at the same time every day. The difference in viscosity was painfully obvious. It was downright syrupy for three days, then quickly thinned out, THEN I added more oil, which obviously didn't help keep it thick. At no point had it an aroma of gasoline.

I'm not an expert, but neither am I an idiot.

 

[superchargedx]

With all due respect......

I fully understand trying to operate a vehicle on a budget, trust me!
But... You are trying to keep alive a 3/4 dead horse that is bleeding to death and very thirsty for fuel!! Not to mention the ridiculous amount of environmental damage coming out of the thing!
You could prob find a decent fuel efficient non oil burning vehicle for what you spend on oil and fuel in a month

I am really not trying to sound like a jerk or a hippy, I just think you have better options that could be looked at.

Sean

 

[Gendo]

Originally Posted By: superchargedx
With all due respect......

I fully understand trying to operate a vehicle on a budget, trust me!
But... You are trying to keep alive a 3/4 dead horse that is bleeding to death and very thirsty for fuel!! Not to mention the ridiculous amount of environmental damage coming out of the thing!
You could prob find a decent fuel efficient non oil burning vehicle for what you spend on oil and fuel in a month

I am really not trying to sound like a jerk or a hippy, I just think you have better options that could be looked at.

Sean


I don't think you sound like a hippy or a jerk at all. I'm working on my PhD in environmental chemistry. I don't live in a smoggy area, so I'm not too worried about the hydrocarbon output.

I'm a broke student with broke student credit, hence the vehicle that was a hand me down from a former broke student.

Believe it or not the LOS seems to be working pretty well (so far). My only issue is that the engine actually feels like it has excessively thick oil. Acceleration isn't as good, and I'm sure its killing my gas mileage. My gas mileage has been freakishly good though. Probably because I'm burning so much oil.

 

[dew]

This sounds way too far gone for any oil to be the solution.

Thicker oil should slow the burning and help you limp by for a while but what it really needs is repair or replacement.

 

[ac_tc]

But still any cheap 15w40 hdeo from the farmstore
or any big-rig garage would work.