My car has been drinking GC!!

[the_oil_dealer]

Well I have about 3000km's on the GC and have had to replace 2 quarts of it already! Whats the deal with this? My car doesnt smoke at all .... and it doesnt leak, at least not when its parked up. I'v kept putting GC in, but I figure i might end up with a TON of additives which may actually harm the engine. Does anyone know what a good top up oil is for the GC? So far I'v used 1qt of GC and 1qt of Havoline 10w-30. I like the thin oil because I do a lot of cold starts and short trips throughout the work week.

Anyone?

 

[Audi Junkie]

For me, GC is one of the best oils as far as consumption goes.

 

[john_ertw]

You haven't mentioned if you had consumption previously and what oil you used to use. I can't help you on this one, but that information may help someone else help you.

 

[c_rossman]

Maybe some shady neighbors! I have been running GC for about 500 miles now in my 460 Ford. No consumption noticed yet on the dipstick. Pennoil 10w30 I was using a qt every 1500 miles.

 

[the_oil_dealer]

oh I bet... my car just likes to do a disappearing oil act for some reason.

 

[Sparkman]

Consumption has increased significantly in my wife's '99 outback with ~170k miles since I went from 10w-40 Chevron Supreme(0.5qt/5k) to GC(0.5qt/1k). This engine really begs for a 40 weight at this point in it's life. Maybe the next winter oil change will be a 0w-40 or 5w-40.

 

[Sparkman]

PEBCAK

 

[427Z06]

I've used it for 8K+ miles and used maybe a .125 of a qt. Don't worry about additives building up, it don't work that way.

Provide some info, like make, model, engine, miles, driving style, previous maintenance schedule and history, any known problems, etc.

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

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My car has been drinking GC!!

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Well the first step toward a solution ..is recognizing that a problem exists.

Yes, it's true ..your engine is addicted to GC

Hang with it 'til your regular OCI and do a UOA and see what's up. If the weight is comparable to your previous oil ..then you can probably attribute it to some transitional conditioning of residuals in the engine.

Anyone else using GC with this engine??

 

[the_oil_dealer]

quote:

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Originally posted by 427Z06:
Provide some info, like make, model, engine, miles, driving style, previous maintenance schedule and history, any known problems, etc.

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Well its a Mazda MX6 2.5L KL. It has 260,000km's on the clock. I'v owned it for the past 5k km's. In the summer, when it wasnt on the road yet, it had Mobil 1 15w-50 and it consumed that at a very slow rate. Driving style? haha it sees 7300RPM daily, most days numerous times. There are a lot of "flow" upgrades done to it like port/new intake manifold, cams etc. The engine is mechanically sound. Its lived its life on regular Jiffy Lube stuff. 10w30/5w30 whatever comes out of the tap. The internals were lightly tanned, no sludge build up whatsoever. So essentially since I'v have the car, its had a 1/3 OCI with M1 15-50 and then this GC. I'v heard of the piston rings sticking and causing some oil consumption. its been allegedly fixed with repeated engine flushes. what do you guys think?

 

[Senor Quack]

quote:

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Originally posted by the_oil_dealer:

quote:

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Originally posted by 427Z06:
Provide some info, like make, model, engine, miles, driving style, previous maintenance schedule and history, any known problems, etc.

---

Well its a Mazda MX6 2.5L KL. It has 260,000km's on the clock. I'v owned it for the past 5k km's. In the summer, when it wasnt on the road yet, it had Mobil 1 15w-50 and it consumed that at a very slow rate. Driving style? haha it sees 7300RPM daily, most days numerous times. There are a lot of "flow" upgrades done to it like port/new intake manifold, cams etc. The engine is mechanically sound. Its lived its life on regular Jiffy Lube stuff. 10w30/5w30 whatever comes out of the tap. The internals were lightly tanned, no sludge build up whatsoever. So essentially since I'v have the car, its had a 1/3 OCI with M1 15-50 and then this GC. I'v heard of the piston rings sticking and causing some oil consumption. its been allegedly fixed with repeated engine flushes. what do you guys think?

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I have the exact same engine and it all of a sudden started leaking oil like a sieve one day. So much so, that one day I checked my oil per the 2-week schedule I'd normally done, and found it two quarts low! (Had to add a quart to get it to register low on the dipstick). I immediately started having to check the oil every few days.

Turns out I have a rear main seal leak and, it being a FWD engine crammed into a tiny engine bay, I've decided to let Auto-RX have a go at it, rather than spending a fortune getting it fixed.

Are you sure you don't have an oil leak? Mine doesn't leave puddles, but it sure leaks it when at pressure, cause I can see oil leaked all over the lower driver's side engine bay at all times.

 

[Senor Quack]

quote:

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Originally posted by Senor Quack:

quote:

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Originally posted by the_oil_dealer:

Originally posted by 427Z06:
[qb] Provide some info, like make, model, engine, miles, driving style, previous maintenance schedule and history, any known problems, etc.

---

Well its a Mazda MX6 2.5L KL. It has 260,000km's on the clock. I'v owned it for the past 5k km's. In the summer, when it wasnt on the road yet, it had Mobil 1 15w-50 and it consumed that at a very slow rate. Driving style? haha it sees 7300RPM daily, most days numerous times. There are a lot of "flow" upgrades done to it like port/new intake manifold, cams etc. The engine is mechanically sound. Its lived its life on regular Jiffy Lube stuff. 10w30/5w30 whatever comes out of the tap. The internals were lightly tanned, no sludge build up whatsoever. So essentially since I'v have the car, its had a 1/3 OCI with M1 15-50 and then this GC. I'v heard of the piston rings sticking and causing some oil consumption. its been allegedly fixed with repeated engine flushes. what do you guys think?

---

I have the exact same engine and it all of a sudden started leaking oil like a sieve one day, around the same mileage as yours. So much so, that one day I checked my oil per the 2-week schedule I'd normally done, and found it two quarts low! (Had to add a quart to get it to register low on the dipstick). I immediately started having to check the oil every few days.

Turns out I have a rear main seal leak and, it being a FWD engine crammed into a tiny engine bay, I've decided to let Auto-RX have a go at it, rather than spending a fortune getting it fixed.

Are you sure you don't have an oil leak? Mine doesn't leave puddles, but it sure leaks it when at pressure, cause I can see oil leaked all over the lower driver's side engine bay at all times.

 

[the_oil_dealer]

Senor,

I will have to take a closer look under the bottom to see if oil is accumulating anywhere. I havent noticed any (unusual) puddles where i park. I know ther is oil around the dipstick area, because that seal is nonexistant, and was leaking before... but could it be leaking that much? I'll check it out

thanks!

 

[uconn1150]

Definitely! You can lose a lot oil through the dipstick tube. I'd see about getting that seal.

 

[messiah4linux]

Back in 89 I bought an 88 Buick Regal with a 2.8L engine with 25k miles on it. For the first year I used Mobil 1 5W30 and 5-6K oil changes it did not drink a drop. T

Then Castrol Syntec began hitting the shelves so I decided to try the 5W50. After 500 miles I was a quart low. Added a quart and then kept a close watch and another quart disappeared after another 500 miles. I checked for oil leaks and never found one either.

I drained the castrol and went back to Mobil 1 5W30 and went another 6000 with no oil vanishing. Tried castrol a few years later and it did the same magic act. Went back to Mobil 1 and stayed with it.

Drove the car for another 7 years and no major problems. No leaks. Replaced the water pump twice and alternator 5 times. A couple of batteries.

 

[Losiho]

I also have the same car / engine. In addition to the main seal, I'd also make sure the valve cover gaskets aren't leaking. Some years ago, I couldn't work out why my engine was "consuming" oil, until I discovered the rear bank VCG leaking.