Seriously I would obviously try dino change and see what happens. That would be the very optimistic approach but there must be a serious change with the engine to either consume or leak that amount of oil over 3000 miles. Or a new trend started since burning a quart/1000 is not out of ordininary nor out of manuf spec. You should or she should check the dipstick every two or three fillups on any car you own.
Mobil1 in my wife's RAV4. Bone dry after just 3k miles. Advice needed
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I had a similar situation happen with me. I changed my g/f oil for the first time from havoline dino to maxlife. she happened to visit her dad out of town and she told me her car wouldn't start and the oil light came on. well, they eventually got it started and drove the car 2 miles to get the oil changed. 3 out of 4 quart low too. she comes back, I had a place check things out. the valve cover gasket was leaking pretty bad. now oil consumption has practically disappeared. that was a year ago
Oops! I did this with a beater four years ago. changed from pennz dino to pennz synthetic on a 87 toy corolla at 150k miles. I destroyed that little engine. I never checked the dipstick either just changed 3k. Probably because I was working part time, going to school full time, and having a full time g/f at the time. I was 22 and read all the great things about synthetic but the engine was cleaned with prolong. I guess I was a sucker. of course I know about auto-rx now
[ November 06, 2003, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: Cutehumor ]
My thoughts exactly.
Sell it?
I wish we could sell it. RIght now that just isn't possible. She's finishing her Masters and I'm the only one working so $ can get a little tight. I normally check her oil once a week but had been out of town on a business trip and hadn't been able to check it for about 10 days before this happened. I feel terrible about it because I have always been religious about checking mine at every fill up. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that somehow we are going to get out of this without any major damage to her engine. I think what I am going to do is change her oil over to the Pennzoil HM this weekend, see how that does, and if everything seems to be ok I will probably go back to regulal Pennzoil at the oil change after that. Sound like a plan? Like I said, I know very little about this sort of thing. It drives my Dad crazy that I'm not an A-1 mechanic. Then again he knows nothing about computers and networking which is what I do for a living.
Thanks again for all the advice. It is much appreciated.
Thanks again for all the advice. It is much appreciated.
It's probably fine.
You probably had almost a quart in the system that was rapidly pumping around. A sudden cornering/decelleration/g-force temporarily splashed it away from the pump. The M1 that was in there was probably well-worked. But have you seen the syntec ad where they drive the car 24 hrs at 100 mph with one quart in the sump?
My wife (g/f at the time) drove a GM 3.1V6 so low on oil the light came on when she cornered. Refilled and drove another 70k miles.
My sister's corolla 1.6 only held around 3.2 quarts. When it was down a quart, it was down a lot % wise. I think she ran it almost out at college once, the above scenario. It was still running great when it got in a wreck.
IMHO, toyota doesn't put much of a reserve in their pans.
And if you think about it, the RAV was only driven maybe three minutes with no oil (worst case scenario). That's 180 seconds. It takes 5 seconds for pressure to come up and fill the filter after a change. So that's 36 changes you just used up, or about 100k miles' worth. Your rav ain't finished yet.
You probably had almost a quart in the system that was rapidly pumping around. A sudden cornering/decelleration/g-force temporarily splashed it away from the pump. The M1 that was in there was probably well-worked. But have you seen the syntec ad where they drive the car 24 hrs at 100 mph with one quart in the sump?
My wife (g/f at the time) drove a GM 3.1V6 so low on oil the light came on when she cornered. Refilled and drove another 70k miles.
My sister's corolla 1.6 only held around 3.2 quarts. When it was down a quart, it was down a lot % wise. I think she ran it almost out at college once, the above scenario. It was still running great when it got in a wreck.
IMHO, toyota doesn't put much of a reserve in their pans.
And if you think about it, the RAV was only driven maybe three minutes with no oil (worst case scenario). That's 180 seconds. It takes 5 seconds for pressure to come up and fill the filter after a change. So that's 36 changes you just used up, or about 100k miles' worth. Your rav ain't finished yet.
Yeah, I don't think she drove over 7 miles after the oil light came on. That's why I'm holding out hope that no major damage was done. One good thing to come out of it is that she now understands why it is so important to change her oil. She called me at on Tuesday before she headed home from school. She was filling up and wanted me to talk her through checking her oil.
As for filling the filter after a change....I always put oil in the filter and fill it when I am changing the oil. That's one thing Dad pounded into my head before I even started driving.
[ November 06, 2003, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: shinerburke ]
As for filling the filter after a change....I always put oil in the filter and fill it when I am changing the oil. That's one thing Dad pounded into my head before I even started driving.
[ November 06, 2003, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: shinerburke ]
Synthetic oils (most of them) because of their unusually high detergency capability, may become rapidly contaminated when introduced onto older vehicles or vehicles with high mileage. Doing this causes the need to change oil much sooner that the recommended drain interval, or it will create abnormal rates of oil consumption. To prevent this from happening is is recommended that such engine be flushed clean prior to adding synthetic oils otherwise the oil additives are rapidly used up.
I think that you need to check your oil more often.
I doubt that Mobil1 caused any problems. Negligence did.
Don't forget to check for leaks at the seals, drainplug, oilfilter......
Stick with the Mobil1 and use the dipstick more often.
BTW, what weight did you use?
I doubt that Mobil1 caused any problems. Negligence did.
Don't forget to check for leaks at the seals, drainplug, oilfilter......
Stick with the Mobil1 and use the dipstick more often.
BTW, what weight did you use?
In case you missed it I check her oil every week. I had missed checking it for 10 days before this happened because I was out of town for business. Before the problem occured there was no sign of oil usage, everything looked A-ok. What weight was the Mobil 1? 10w-30
There is a lot of great advice here!
Didn`t you say she was using Castol before?
I had a Dodge D-50 (Mitsubishi) P/U with the 2.6 4 Cylinder! Up untill it had 110,000 mi I used Castrol 20-50 after 25,000! Religiously changed at 3,000 Mi. (Got sucked into the , "engineered for todays high reving engines"! I had to tear it down at 110,000 due to a jumped timing chain so decided to rebuild it at that time as it used about two quarts of oil between changes! Engine was very clean, Bearings were in Very good shape, but the rings were almost frozen in the grooves and the oiling holes in the pistons behind the rings were completly pluged with carbon!
Liked to never got the pistons clean enough to put the new rings back in!! No more Castrol for me!! Maybe just this engine design! Don`t know???
Hasbeen
[ November 06, 2003, 08:01 PM: Message edited by: Hasbeen ]
Didn`t you say she was using Castol before?
I had a Dodge D-50 (Mitsubishi) P/U with the 2.6 4 Cylinder! Up untill it had 110,000 mi I used Castrol 20-50 after 25,000! Religiously changed at 3,000 Mi. (Got sucked into the , "engineered for todays high reving engines"! I had to tear it down at 110,000 due to a jumped timing chain so decided to rebuild it at that time as it used about two quarts of oil between changes! Engine was very clean, Bearings were in Very good shape, but the rings were almost frozen in the grooves and the oiling holes in the pistons behind the rings were completly pluged with carbon!
Hasbeen
[ November 06, 2003, 08:01 PM: Message edited by: Hasbeen ]
If you checked the oil 1-2 weeks before and it's level was o.k., then you've got another problem, not the oil.
Check to see if the PCV system is plugged. 3 qts loss in 1-2 weeks after all has been well indicates a significant malfunction that a good mechanic should be able to diagnose.
Good Luck and let us know.
DEWFPO
Check to see if the PCV system is plugged. 3 qts loss in 1-2 weeks after all has been well indicates a significant malfunction that a good mechanic should be able to diagnose.
Good Luck and let us know.
DEWFPO
1) The engine is probably fine. The most likely damage that would have happened would have been to the bearings, and given you aren't hearing a rod knock or other noise it should be fine. I personaly have seen several cars that have been run very low on oil with no apparent long term damage.
2) I would not be so hasty to change the oil back so quickly. Go ahead and run what is in there. FYI, I switched my Wife's BMW from Mobil 1 15w-50 to Mobil 1 0w-40 and it burned 1 quart in the first 250 miles, then the consumption stopped. Give it a chance to stabilize.
3) You may consider when you change going to 0w-40 since it is a bit thicker.
4) If you switch oils, I would try one of the high miliage oils in 5w-30 or 10w-30 since they run a bit thick and change every 5000 miles given the highway driving.
Cary
I'm a little surprised by how many people recomend Auto-RX before any determination of the actual problem is known. I really believe given your circumstances the best (safest) bet is to get that rig to your pops house and have him help you with a compression check, from this he will be able to tell if its rings or guides thats leaking. If its guides don't waste your money on A-RX, if its a seal/gasket, you'll have to decide weather or not its better to replace, treat or live with it, I do agree that it would be a reasonable thing to try if the rings are coked up. The other thing I would do is install a mechanical oil pressure gauge ($25.?), this will tell you how well the engine survived being starved of oil. If the pressure is dangerously low, I would trade the rig in, will be more economical than a new engine IMO.
Does anyone see a problem here? No usage until the last 10 days, then 3 qts????? I'd say better look for mechanical problems; no oil is going to fix (or cause) this problem, if its described correctly.
Mike
I agree with Mike. Sounds like it's not really a consumption problem, more like a major seal failure if it lost 3 quarts in less than 10 days. I doubt that would be the oil's fault. Did you take a good look to see where the oil leaked out?
The added oil consumption is not unusual when switching a high mileage engine to any premium oil, synthetic or not. The premium detergent package cleans out old gunk that had been sealing things, and the new oil hasn't yet had time to develop its own seal. The new oil usually seals within one to three oil change intervals.
Ken
Ken
shinerburke, as eljefino said, it might have been only momentary loss of oil pressure for the short time the oil light was on. Without knowing the actual pressure, it’s hard to say. But, if there is no knocking, I doubt you did any harm. I would however, change the oil again fairly quickly. If this thing was running on just 1-2 quarts of oil for a while, that stuff was put through **** and I’d get rid of it ASAP.
Ever consider doing a UOA (used oil analysis) for $20 on a sample of that oil? That would tell you if had any increased wear and whether you might want to bite the bullet and get rid of the vehicle earlier than you would like. Blackstone Labs has a link on this site. Try their basic service. No need to spend an additional $10 on TBN testing. Post the results on this site and I’m sure you’ll get comments just like this thread has gotten a fair amount of posts so far.
So what caused the consumption? Hard to say but the first thing I’d do is check the oil filter and make sure it didn’t loosen. That happened to me once in a car which had never burned any oil but was suddenly down a bit. Oil filter was a little too loose and was dripping oil very slowly. Other theories about cleaned ring packs, etc … are worth considering as well.
As for your current course of action, using Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle oil makes perfect sense. It’s actually a sort of synthetic blend (includes 10-15% ester, Group V synthetic) with a potent additive package and isn’t too expensive. I also like the regular Pennzoil as well as Chevron (if it’s available in your area). Both are very good Group II+ base oils, the best available among the major brands. You won’t find the anti-Pennzoil bias (“too much wax,” etc …) on this forum too much. We know better than that.
As for dealing with the rest of the family/in-laws, that’s another problem. I know how guilty you feel. Several years ago I was checking and topping off a woman’s car and I left the oil filler cap off by mistake. She called 30 minutes after she left the house and complained of a smell and smoke coming out from under the hood.
No real harm done. The cap was stuck in a corner of the engine compartment and the car lost less than 1 quart of oil … but I felt guilty … and like a total idiot.
I think you should forget about synthetics for a while. The Group II+ oils are very very good, anyway. Enough of your family is gripped in the anti-synthetic myths and the slight benefits are not worth the hassle. Given what has happened, I’d feed the RAV a steady diet of one of the Pennzoil formulas until your wife completes her post-graduate work and you’re ready to trade it in.
Best of luck, Bror Jace
Ever consider doing a UOA (used oil analysis) for $20 on a sample of that oil? That would tell you if had any increased wear and whether you might want to bite the bullet and get rid of the vehicle earlier than you would like. Blackstone Labs has a link on this site. Try their basic service. No need to spend an additional $10 on TBN testing. Post the results on this site and I’m sure you’ll get comments just like this thread has gotten a fair amount of posts so far.
So what caused the consumption? Hard to say but the first thing I’d do is check the oil filter and make sure it didn’t loosen. That happened to me once in a car which had never burned any oil but was suddenly down a bit. Oil filter was a little too loose and was dripping oil very slowly. Other theories about cleaned ring packs, etc … are worth considering as well.
As for your current course of action, using Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle oil makes perfect sense. It’s actually a sort of synthetic blend (includes 10-15% ester, Group V synthetic) with a potent additive package and isn’t too expensive. I also like the regular Pennzoil as well as Chevron (if it’s available in your area). Both are very good Group II+ base oils, the best available among the major brands. You won’t find the anti-Pennzoil bias (“too much wax,” etc …) on this forum too much. We know better than that.
As for dealing with the rest of the family/in-laws, that’s another problem. I know how guilty you feel. Several years ago I was checking and topping off a woman’s car and I left the oil filler cap off by mistake. She called 30 minutes after she left the house and complained of a smell and smoke coming out from under the hood.
I think you should forget about synthetics for a while. The Group II+ oils are very very good, anyway. Enough of your family is gripped in the anti-synthetic myths and the slight benefits are not worth the hassle. Given what has happened, I’d feed the RAV a steady diet of one of the Pennzoil formulas until your wife completes her post-graduate work and you’re ready to trade it in.
Best of luck, Bror Jace
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