MMO longevity question

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wallyuwl

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I put a quart of MMO into the 03 Vibe (113k I think - I don't drive it) about 2k miles ago. Been 3k since I changed the oil in August (I took out a quart before adding MMO). I checked the oil a few days ago (MaxLife blend 5w30) and it was pretty dark. Darker than normal at this point in the OCI. It's seen a steady diet of Valvoline blend (either DB or ML) since 45k at 4-6k OCI, and Goodwrench dino 3-4k OCI before that.

I noticed that it is making a fairly loud ticking noise until it warms up. I don't know a lot about engines, but maybe it is valve noise. It hasn't done this before that I can remember, though the weather has just gotten a lot colder than it was (again, not my daily driver, my wife's, so I don't have a good feel for everything with the car). PCV valve was replaced about 25k miles ago.

I've got some extra time after voting tomorrow, should I change out the oil? I plan to go with Quaker State Ultimate Durability and a P1 next OC.
 
if you were using valvoline for this long i would stay with it, use 5w30 and a new filter and just drive it,,,hopefully that noise you hear is a tick and not a knock although generally it is a ticking noise if it goes away after it is warm but could also be bearings i would have to hear it...could you post the noise?
 
Change the oil. 2000 miles is long enough for whatever you were trying to do with a whole quart of MMO in the oil.

Okay, I gotta ask. I've heard of people using it to thin the oil in the crankcase in the winter time, and people adding it for the last several hundred miles before an oil change to do some cleaning. Why did you add a whole quart of MMO only 1k miles into an OCI in the summer heat?
 
Thanks guys. I think I'll change it tomorrow. Only meant to keep it in 1000-1200 miles for cleaning during a short OCI (so I could do the winter OC before it got too cold) but other things had priority the last few weekends. Wasn't worried about thinning the oil really, it wasn't that hot and this car doesn't get severe service (90% hwy, 450 miles a week or so). Got some Quaker State Ultimate Durability cheap and want to try some syn in it; also have Synpower but am saving that for another vehicle with DI because of the low NOACK.

Not sure how to post audio/video of the noise?
 
With that kind of service, just change the oil with oil only and forget about it. Your oil choice and interval are far from anything that might cause sludge or deposit buildup, IMO.
 
Not sure why you put in MMO for so long. If I used it, it would just be there for say 500 miles of gentle driving.

I bet the noise you hear is due to the filter.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

I bet the noise you hear is due to the filter.


My first thought was that it sounded like the engine was not fully oiled, or not circulating through the whole engine at that point. But the filter has a ADBV. Hmmm...
 
If you've been taking care of this car like you said you have, I'd be willing to bet there's nothing of interest in the filter.
 
Could possibly be filter noise, I've heard of this occurance quite often both here and other forums.

The MMO should "quiet it down" a little bit by thinning down the oil a bit.

But I'll tell you, with my old 07 Kia Rio 4cylinder, I always had a noise at startup, always used purple cans (before I was educated), and I saw Seafoam at Walmart and then did research on it and read that it can quiet valves/lifters....there's various speculation "how" exactly it quiets it.....if it's "cleaning up" gunk, or if it's just hte "thinning" of the oil that allows the oil to flow better at start-up....who knows
smile.gif
It's anyone's guess, but the car was low mileage so I couldn't imagine the internals be too "gunked up" with less than 50k on it; and to add some icing to the cake, the car was a rental/lease vehicle, I hear they keep tight maintenance records on the vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Not sure why you put in MMO for so long. If I used it, it would just be there for say 500 miles of gentle driving.

I bet the noise you hear is due to the filter.


How could a filter cause a loud ticking noise? Did you mean the lifter?

MMO is 75% Stoddard solvent, why anyone would put that in their engine is beyond me. Just goes to show that you can do almost anything to a modern engine with no apparent ill effects.
 
I started the vehicle up cold this morning (37 deg. F outside) and it only made the noise a few seconds. I got a better listen this time because I was listening for it. Almost seems like it was external to the engine. I'm still going to change the oil this evening.
 
Originally Posted By: wallyuwl
I started the vehicle up cold this morning (37 deg. F outside) and it only made the noise a few seconds. I got a better listen this time because I was listening for it. Almost seems like it was external to the engine. I'm still going to change the oil this evening.


Make sure you cut the filter open... don't throw it out. Put up pictures so we can see too.
 
Last edited:
Changed the oil about an hour ago. Runs very smooth with the Quaker State Ultimate Durability (of course I forgot to shake the bottle like I normally do to mix up addatives). I did notice that the rattle I was noticing might have been a plastic shield under the front end vibrating. A couple plastic gromets were loose, so I punched them back in, and one gromet is missing. When I tapped it, it sort of sounded like the noise. Will keep an ear out for the noise when the vehicle and temp. is cold, though.

I'll see about cutting open the filter. I've never cut one open before, what do you guys use? I don't have sheet metal shears or a manual hack saw (electric one, but don't have a vice to hold it). Could I just use a bread knife?
 
Lifter tick is almost expected when thinning the oil so much .
MMO is very light, and unless you compensated with heavier oil, you thinned your net oil substantially.
 
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