High Mileage oil with oil consumption

[GMBoy]

Hey guys. Saturn 1.9's are known to burn oil. Dealing with a really nice 2001 SC2 I got just for commuting to work where I changed the oil and put in Valvoline Maxlife 5w30. Within just 500 miles of use, the motor actually stopped smoking and runs really strong. After 600 miles of pretty high speed interstate drving I noticed it burned almost a 1/2 quart. I will monitor this and see if the consumption slows down as the car gets miles on the Maxlife.

My question is, if this car turns out to burn oil at a rate of say a quart to 1000 miles would it just be better to use a cheaper high mileage oil like Supertech? Or perhaps I should keep using Maxlife but go up to a thicker grade?

What are your thoughts? The car just may get better as it runs the maxlife, but if not and I change to supertech will the benefits be less (smoking etc) than what I see with the Maxlife which has been very impressive. FYI - I used the regular semi-syn maxlife version.

 

[bigt61]

In Texas, you'd be fine going to 10W-40 MaxLife. Give the 5w30 some time though, I'm betting consumption goes down. If MaxLife won't slow it down, just go to the Supertech High Mileage 10w40 to save $.

 

[charbaby]

I agree with using ML and possibly going to 10W40(as bigt61 mentioned) over time. But wait to see if the 5W30 works for you and too, this isn't going to happen over night. Infact, may take several OCI's before you notice less oil consumpiton.

Switching to other High Mileage oils such as W*M's Super Tech High Mileage may indeed be an option to $ave $ome money if the consumption continues. But too, look for sales on High Mileage oils such as Quaker State DEFY High Mileage oil, which I personaly like.

One High Mileage oil may work better than another but it's all of them that may potentialy help and you'd/we'd never really know which did the most for you. I certainly don't know as I have used both ML X3 & DEFY X1 and it was the DEFY where I noticed the lesser consumption. But, it was probably the ML that started the whole procss of less oil useage(drips/blowby).

Purchace the High Mileage oils on sale!

 

[Falcon_LS]

Can you get an ACEA A3/B4 rated variant of MaxLife for that engine?

 

[AKhan87]

every situation would be different and depends on the condition of your engine.

I am not sure if my experience helps much but, my 96 civic started to burn oil like crazy after a very hilly HIGH RPM trip from west virginia. It started to consume oil randomly and would sometime consume 1 quart in 300 miles then go another 300 without consuming. The car had 2 OCI on SuperTech Full Synthetic 5w30 without any oil burning between 3k OCI, then on the 3rd OCI with supertech Full Synthetic 5w30 the hilly trip came and it started to burn oil. I added suptertech 5w20 for top off as I had some on hand and it continued to burn oil.

Last oil change I tried maxlife 10w40 because it was 12.97 at walmart with coupon, the car in the last 900 miles hasn't burned any oil at all.

I'm curious about 1 thing though, will maxlife be good for a 7500 OCI without any top off? I know UOA is the only way to double check but, I want to attempt it then do an UOA on it, any thought anyone?

 

[actionstan]

Me and you are in similar situations with similar cars, my daily driver is a 99 sl1, burning oil at about the same rate as you.

I tried Maxlife 5w30 for 5-6 oil changes, never noted a difference. roughly a quart every 1000-1200 miles. Your experience may be different, so I'm NOT saying don't try Maxlife, as it may work better for you. However.. I have recently changed to Pennzoil High Mileage. So far the results seem promising.. and seems to be slowing down consumption slightly.

I honestly think Pennzoil High Mileage/Quaker State defy is superior to Maxlife in older cars, since they are not resource conserving, and I also believe a little bit on the thicker side. Thats just my 2 cents, and mostly speculation, if I do notice any continued drop in consumption I'll probably make a post about it here.

 

[charbaby]

I think you may be right! As I don't think that ML is the optimal(for all engines) choice on the market...just the most popular!

 

[Drew99GT]

Why not try a piston soak to see if the issue is gummed up oil control rings? It's worth a shot.

 

[99Saturn]

I don't mean to hijack, but is QS Defy a liability in a car that is known to be a burner like the S-series. I seem to remember reading the high level of one additive (zinc?) can be problematic to the cat? Or maybe I'm just imagining it.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: 99Saturn
I don't mean to hijack, but is QS Defy a liability in a car that is known to be a burner like the S-series. I seem to remember reading the high level of one additive (zinc?) can be problematic to the cat? Or maybe I'm just imagining it.



It can be, but Defy only has like 10% more zinc over GF-5 limits.

 

[A_Harman]

If the car has been burning oil for a long time, the cat is probably shot anyway.

 

[GMBoy]

ALL great answers thanks! I think I will just let the maxlife go for a complete OCI and top off as needed and then try all the suggestions here over time. I will 1st do another oil change of Maxlife and monitor. If no difference, then I will try the Pennzoil recommendation and if that doesn't work than buy the cheapest High Mileage oil on sale as suggested and go from there.

The car is in great shape mechanically and the cat converter is also fine and performing as intended so it has not been comprised yet.

I also like the idea of the piston soak! I've read about that a lot and I plan on doing that at the next oil change. It is also a true statement made that by doing all this I may never know what actually worked.

I can deal with 1000 miles/quart consumption and it doesn't smoke. Another option may be to not do as many oil changes and just top off as needed which will keep the additives in there and just change the filter every 7500 miles or so and perhaps change all the oil at 20k mile increments. Just thinking random thoughts. But then again - with oil and filter changes only costing $20-25 why not just change it every 5000-6000 miles, right?

 

[99Saturn]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: 99Saturn
I don't mean to hijack, but is QS Defy a liability in a car that is known to be a burner like the S-series. I seem to remember reading the high level of one additive (zinc?) can be problematic to the cat? Or maybe I'm just imagining it.

It can be, but Defy only has like 10% more zinc over GF-5 limits.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[A_Harman]

Defy 5w30 is labeled as an API SL oil, so it has a max zddp content of 1000 PPM.

 

[Jaymus]

I'm interested to know what experience you have. I just want to say that Rotella T6 5W-40 has done miracles in old, leaky, oil burning vehicles for me. It must be something to do with the extreme add packs for HDEO's. My 86 F150 used to consume oil at the rate of a quart every 400 miles, and now, I can go 1500 miles without using a full quart.

So, just saying that if you try one or two "high mileage" oils and don't get the results you were expecting, give the ol' Rotella T6 a shot. I'm also NOT saying that a high mileage oil wouldn't have done the same for me, I've just actually never used any in my life.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: Jaymus
I'm interested to know what experience you have. I just want to say that Rotella T6 5W-40 has done miracles in old, leaky, oil burning vehicles for me. It must be something to do with the extreme add packs for HDEO's. My 86 F150 used to consume oil at the rate of a quart every 400 miles, and now, I can go 1500 miles without using a full quart.

So, just saying that if you try one or two "high mileage" oils and don't get the results you were expecting, give the ol' Rotella T6 a shot. I'm also NOT saying that a high mileage oil wouldn't have done the same for me, I've just actually never used any in my life.


Thank you for your honesty and actually pretty good idea. I have used HDEO's in the past and they are robust.

 

[Dallas69]

I think Maxlife is a blend and will go 7500 easy