Oil Burner Recommendation

[mulepacker]

My father-in-law has an 89 Ford Ranger, 4 cyl. with 120,000 miles on it. He changed the oil every 3,000 miles with Quaker State. Recently,(2-3yrs ago)he switched to Valoline Max Life 20-50 because the truck started burning oil. It now burns approxinalty 1 quart every 800-1000 miles although it only blows out a fairly light amount of smoke on a "hard" take off. And since he parks it in his garage, it only leaks a very minimal amount. What type of oil would you recommend? Is their anything to slow down the oil burning? Has anyone been able to compare the Valvoline high mileage vehicle oil with any of the other brands? Thanks in advance for your input!!

 

[Jelly]

If your already using a HM 20w-50, theirs not really much you can do besides choosing some oil additive Do you know where it is leaking from? [ October 11, 2003, 12:25 AM: Message edited by: Jelly ]

 

[Patman]

This is definitely a job for Auto-rx!

 

[mulepacker]

The leak is from the rear seal..so it drips maybe a drop or two per day between the engine and the transmission (5 sp manual.) And generally how would Auto RX help?

 

[JohnBrowning]

While it is try that Auto-Rx could probably help this vechile out I would go cheaper first time out. I would try purgeing it waith 131 the next two oil changes. I would also try 132 it will thicken the oil a bit and was made just for oil burning issues and consuption. If these failed then and only then would I try auto-rx. Auto-Rx is a bit pricey as the first responce in my opinion. 131 is likw $1 a bottle and 132 is not expensive either. Auto-Rx is something like $25-$30 a bottle now and you would need two treatments. P.S. You might also try switching to a momo grade in the warm months like a HD30.

 

[Robbie Alexander]

quote:

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Originally posted by mulepacker: The leak is from the rear seal..so it drips maybe a drop or two per day -*-*-*

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I've replaced a lot of REAR seals. I can tell you from my experience, that it may only show a little on the floor, but it is throwing it when the car is in motion. Check for oil spots on the car (dirt), put the car on a lift, and see how WET it is. Check how much the under part of the car is covered. This will tell you more than the spot on the floor IMO.

 

[deepsquat]

How about trying a diesel motor oil like Cheveron Delo 400, Mobile Delvac 1300, or Shell Rotella T ? All in expensive ( 5-7$$ a Gallon) readaly availible and have great cleaning properties to clean the sludge out of the eingine.

 

[Jelly]

If it is a case of deposits on top of the seal that caused it to dry up and not properly function anymore, then I would recommend a HDEO 15w-40 as well. If it's an actual tear, rip, etc. in the seal, then a 15w-40 will not help the situation any. BTW, may I add Pennzoil Long-Life to your list of oils ? [ October 11, 2003, 06:08 PM: Message edited by: Jelly ]

 

[bernhardschau]

There are a couple of search replies in this forum for a product called Motrlube. Its a pure PAO product and it appears that one of its immediate advantages is reducing oil consumption considerably. Do a forum and internet search for the product, it is produced in Canada and is sold out of Alberta. I am presently running it in a Mercury Villager but it has never burned any oil before Motrlube. I have noticed a 10% fuel saving. Before this I used Mobil 1 in this vehicle. I'll be doing a UOA when I reach about 15K Km to see how it's holding up but it looks good so far. I'm surprized that there is not more in this forum on this product.

 

[TheTanSedan]

I fail to see why A-Rx would be considered expensive. Compared to what? I bought a '77 350 Impala wagon about twenty years ago that burned oil (typical Chev) with 112k on the clock. Gave it a major tune, all fluids hoses belts replaced along with some suspension/steering components and put new tires and rear springs on it. Repaired the A/C, drove it daily for nearly ten years and sold it for more than I paid for it. Still passed emissions with no convertor (fell off, you understand) at 240k. Beleive me, I wish I could have had something like A-Rx. Instead, at the once yearly annual tune it got good old GM "Cleens" thru the carb followed by some water dribbled from an 8-oz Coke bottle to try and clear up the carbon deposits. I tried all kinds of "flushes" as well. Point is that I treated it as though it had but 12k on it: found the problems, fixed them, treated it well. Every payday, the car got a full tank (none of that five gallons here and there b.s.), and whatever else it needed on an every six months basis. And, yeah, it 'd be more difficult to imagine being any more broke than I was in much of that period. No car = no go. At all. Anywhere. So here's my .02 That truck just needs a thorough going over per the above; the mileage is too low and I'll bet looking under the hood would reveal the need for TLC per vacuum lines, hoses and the rest. Bet it can use other components as well. A-Rx is cheap compared to a rebuilt head, paying a shop to replace the rear main, etc. The cheap guy ALWAYS winds up paying out more. Just do the high-mileage A-Rx routine, run some FUEL POWER, too, from hereon. They'll pay for themselves, and its dirt cheap compared to any more than an hour of book-rate shop time. Get that low-mileage, sludged/varnished motor cleaned out; do the trans, power steering and rear axle while you're at it. What's that, three bottles with maybe enough left over for a maintenance dose? Unless he's going to sell it, then refurbish it and keep it up to par for another five years or so. Shine it up nice and good, too. That always helps. Then take it out and drive it 100 miles per month on the Interstate. That vehicle is suffering from short trips OR not enough use (it sounds like). Fix it -- all of it -- and use it more regularly. Good luck.

 

[JohnBrowning]

THeTanSedan, Auto-Rx is expensive when compared to Schaffers 131 as a crankcase additive to clean the internals. For the price of 1 bottle of Auto-Rx he could buy close to 25 bottles of 131. To date 131 also has an excellent track record for cleaning. The cheapest ring cleaner to date is soaking the pistons over night with Lube Control $12 a gallon and the piston soak only needs a few onces. My point was and still is that AUto-Rx is expensive compared to some of the alternatives that also work well. No one implied that you should not repair a vechile. If anything he should probably just replace the rear main seal and the valve seals and anything else that needs to be repaired. Relying on chemicals to try to solve the problem is not the proper way to do things any way! If the rear main is torn, or his valve seal are dmaged then no amout of expensive Auto-Rx will help.

 

[TheTanSedan]

Agreed, John Browning, though my response made it appear otherwise. Cost of a gallon of LUBE CONTROL and/or Neutra and/or A-Rx (in appropriate amounts) is still cheap compared to shop labor was my point. LC is fairly strong stuff (can't remember about Neutra, though I seem to recall it is less than LC but "stronger" than A-RX); but A-Rx gets the nod for being thorough AND GENTLE. If in fact the seals are ALREADY no good, then I couldn't agree with you more. On the other hand, an "oil-burner" can be somewhat resuscitated and driven as I tried to point out. Number 7 in that lo-po 350 was essentially dead when I got it . . . . . but I still drove that Impala wagon for ten years and 130k AND it still passed emissions w/o the required convertor. Never pulled the heads or replaced the valve stem seals and finally replaced the timing chain when I sold it. My version of "on the cheap" means try the EZ-to-do stuff first. At least, come time to get into the motor it'll be about as clean as it's going to be and that makes any inspection easier. Were it mine I'd start (and I am doing this with a 62k mile original 200-6 in a Fairmont with excellent compression, but the reddest varnish you ever saw -- even more than any pictures I've seen posted on here so far --) with Molakules "Fast Clean" using LC now being followed by a long session with A-Rx. http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000226 A little overkill, perhaps, but I'd rather do it once, thoroughly, and move on to analysis to find what will work best for our use of this little Fairmont. So I'm also treating that C-4 tranny, the rack-and-pinion [again], and the rear axle. All of which have fresh fluids. The cooling has a little #258 in it after a backflush, and it'll also get a good cleaning on the next go-round. The car, while serviced regularly, suffers from the usual small corrosive effects of time. So it's time to correct that, to establish a "new" wear pattern what with our being new owners after it spent 22-years in the same family. That Ford Ranger owner can go a lot of directions, and initial cost of supplies is only one factor to consider.