Grimmy oil at 8500 miles

[trooper99]

Just changed my oil after only 8,500 miles, M1 10-30, with about 7 qts makeup during the run! The oil very black and had a grimmy/soot like substance in it. When draining the oil from the catch pan, after the initial oil drained out, another lighter layer of soot type grim slowly drained off. After completely letting it drain there was still a light gray layer on the bottom of the pan. Anybody know what may have caused this? Will it hurt my engine?

About the 7 qts, this is a 99 trooper and I've tried 2 ARX treatments, LC, short Sync cycles, nothing seemed to help. I decided to try a long M1 OCI, but it doesn't look good. I'm trying Shell Rotella-T now which somebody said had cured their trooper consumption. If not, I may just go back to super short dino OCIs.

-Thanks, Mike

 

[hominid7]

I'm betting you have a serious mechanical problem that no oil, additive, or cleaner will help. Until you do identify and fix the problem save yourself some money and go back to dino.

The crud you saw coming out is from the mobil1 cleaning your seriously gunked up engine.

Clogged CAT, busted rings, valves gone south, it's hard to know where to start, but with that high a usage and that much gunk, your engine may not be able to go on much longer without some serious attention and $$.

 

[bighead]

Sorry, but it sounds like all hope is lost.

*que Star Wars music*... "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope".

 

[bighead]

(sort of)

I can just see GoldenRod now.. "The Mobil 1 did it!

"

 

[Winston]

Did you get a UOA? How about a Dyson analysis? A long M1 OCI would not have been something I would have tried.

 

[trooper99]

The oil consumption is from the design problem on the rings. Tailpipe is very black, so I guess my cats could be clogged as well. Looking under the filler cap, I don't see any sludge, just alot of varnish. I would hope with 30K synthetics and 2 cycles of ARX I hope that I wouldn't have much sludge still in the engine. I just don't know what this black film stuff is and if shorter OCI's is all I need. At this point, should I just pull the valve covers to get a good look? Take it to a garage? Or do an oil analysis?

 

[bighead]

...get a new engine j/k. Seriously, there's something pretty serious going on there. I don't know if I'd even try running a high mileage oil, due to the higher cost of the oil, considering you're having to top off every 1K miles. I'd try running a thicker dino on 3K OCI's and hope that thing don't decide to spring an even worse leak.

 

[hominid7]

Hopefully the Rotella is 15w40. If you are still burning oil, i'd start dumping some dino 20w50 in there.

 

[farrarfan1]

quote:

---

Originally posted by bighead:

(sort of)

I can just see GoldenRod now.. "The Mobil 1 did it!

"

---

 

[TR3-2001SE]

I think the smartest thing you could do is to do a 3000 mile change and hire Terry Dyson to analyze the problem. I had some heavy soot in my 8000 change on Mobil 1 and I think it was just cleanning out a lot of old junk from 150,000 miles. This was after an auto-rx double clean also. Get this stuff analyzed.

 

[trooper99]

Yeah, it's Rotella 15w40. I've tried some M1 20W50, but it didn't seem to help. But this was shortly after switching to sync + I've heard to initially M1 does experience consumption. Haven't tried any dino 20w50 yet.

I'm just curious what would cause the film in the oil. I'm guessing combustion gases getting down into the oil or something.

 

[farrarfan1]

Like TR3-2001SE said send some to Terry.He doesn't guess or speculate.

 

[trooper99]

Guess I'll put 3000 on this oil and send in a sample.

 

[newtoncd8]

It is truly a design flaw with that engine design.

On our 98 Trooper, a mixture of 3 qts Mobil 1 15W50 and 2 qts 5W30 reduced consumption from 1 qt every 1000 miles to about 1 qt every 2500 miles. I totalled the vehicle about 6 months after putting in that mixture, so I can't speak for the long term part, but it might be worth a shot to see if it cures things.

 

[BlazerLT]

Trooper, ever changed the PCV valve?

 

[trooper99]

Yeah, changed the PCV, but not till 60K, then again at 80K, 95K and about 110k. Going that first 60K might have done some permanent damage? Don't know. I'll see how the Rotella does, then maybe I'll try the M1 15W50.

Just for kicks, I called the St. Charles Isuzu dealer for prices. $250 for all new rings and $250 for full set of engine gaskets. I've never torn an engine apart but I might be willing to try. Otherwise, $1,000 - $1,500 extra in labor to have a shop do it. If it keeps running, cheaper to dump even syn oil in every 1,000 miles.

 

[m2200b]

What's a used engine cost? Can be cost effective on some since the install labor of the motor may be less than the motor rebuild . But I'd guess about $1000 on install another motor too.

PCV valve failure more likely to carbon heads
and lead to head gasket failure and rings sticking. Maybe just stuck rings but I guess you've ARXed the snot out of this too.

 

[BlazerLT]

Could also be a fuel control problem.

O2 sensors sending in too much fuel which is then not being burnt which will imprenate the oil with gas and allow it to burn off faster.

 

[orlzx6r]

I had a 2001 Trooper with the same consumption problems.... Use Seafoam in the crack case and drive it for about 500 miles. This reduced my oil consumption from 1qt/1000 to 1 qt/3000 miles. Go over to www.automotiveforums.com and check out the Isuzu Trooper section. Everybody is having the same problem. Good Luck

 

[trooper99]

I tried seafoam for about 100 miles. The oil was soooo thin and got so hot I scalded my hand pulling the oil plug out. Thought it should have been cooled down

I would be worried that doing 500 miles on that thin of an oil might do more damage than cleaning? What base oil did you use w/ the sea foam?
Guess that may be my next test. I also haven't done the overnight cylinder soak w/ LC yet, but its on my list to try.