Patman
Staff member
Here is a post from Ls1.com from a friend with a Corvette who solved his oil consumption
problems by mixing 4 quarts of Mobil 1 10w30 with 2.5 quarts of 15w50:
problems by mixing 4 quarts of Mobil 1 10w30 with 2.5 quarts of 15w50:
quote:
As some of you know, between the '99 SS and my 'Vette, I've tried just about every fix out there for the oil
consumption problem including PCV valve mods, using the "new, improved" PCV valve, changing the PCV valve every
few thousand miles, using a Metco oil breather, etc, etc, all with limited success.
Well, a few weeks ago I tried a new angle. I drained my oil and added a mixture of 4 quarts of Mobil 1 10W30 to 2.5
quarts of Mobil 1 15W50 (the 'Vette holds 6.5 quarts total). This past weekend we went on an overnight trip to the
Finger Lakes region of NY and put about 500 miles on the car. The temperatures were in the 90s all weekend long
and on the drive home I pushed the car pretty hard with quite a few WOT passes on two lane highways. Always in
the past this set of circumstances (hot weather and hard driving) would have guaranteed a loss of a quart or two
of oil. I'm happy to report that when I checked my oil level yesterday I hadn't lost a drop! Yeah, baby!
My conclusion? As others (including Patman) have already stated, the 5W30 motor oil that is recommended for our
cars is just too ****ed thin for a performance car/engine especially when driven like one.
For those of you that are concerned about mixing oils/viscosities, I recently spoke to a friend of mine who is a
former research engineer for Mobil and the current technical support provider for Penske Racing's NASCAR and CART
programs. I told him exactly what I did and asked him if it would cause any problems.
This was his response:
Steve,
Other than a slight loss in fuel efficiency or power, there is no problem in mixing the 10W-30 with 15W-50. You
probably end up with an oil around 10W-40. However, since GM does not reccomend the use of 15W-50, it could
cause some warranty concerns.
My response to that was, "You mean these cars come with a warranty?!"
Anyway, for those plagued with oil consumption problems, you may want to give this remedy a try.
Good luck!
__________________
Steve
NJ State Trooper #3936 (retired)
Life Member of: Veterans of Foreign Wars & Vietnam Veterans of America
2000 Millennium Yellow Corvette Convertible, black leather, A4