Oil Consumption Problem

[buster]

I currently have 106K miles on a 1.8L Toyota 4cyl. I have been using Amsoil S2000 0w-30 and have noticed my consumption has gone up quite a bit. I'm using 1/5qt to a 1/4qt. every 2 weeks or 2,000 milesMy engine is getting older and I have been driving faster then I used to. (75mph -80mph) My manual states that oil consumption is normal for this type of engine and it occurs when the piston goes down and pressure sucks the oil back up and it is burned off. I atribute the increase in consumption to the engines age and oil. Question is what oil could I run and not have to check it every week? My choices were either: Mobil 0w-40, 5w/10w-30 Amsoil 10w-30 I'd be content with any of these but my real concern is which one I will most likely see the least consumption with. I have been changing the oil around 5-8K miles and will continue to do so. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[Spector]

I am coming to a similar conclusion on my Camry which has been on a diet of Amsoil 10W30 its life. Considering the Schaeffers 15W40 blend to reduce consumption

 

[Al]

I have cut my consumption in my truck by maybe 30% by going with 25% mix of M1 15W-50 with 10W-30. I am sure your usage will drop with Amsoil 10W-30 vs the 0W-30.

 

[Patman]

Al's formula of mixing 15w50 with 10w30 works well for the LS1 owners out there. A few of them went from burning a quart every 2k down to no consumption at all!

 

[buster]

How about the 0w-40? Based on the analysis in the other section, it thinned out to a 30wt. but was still at a much higher wt. then Mobil's 5w/10w-30's. I'd like to avoid mixing if I can. I just recently read on Mobil's site that they recommend there 0w-40 for any car that calls for a SAE 0w,5w,10w-30 oil. Amsoil's 10w-40 looks good too... [ January 23, 2003, 08:43 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[Malibu]

buster, 1/4 qt. every 2,000 miles is a very very low rate of oil consumption. By 250,000 miles you'll probably be burning 1/2 qt every 2,000 and by 500,000, 1 quart every 2,000 miles. Toyota doesn't consider consumption excessive unless more than 1 quart every 1,200 miles.

 

[buster]

Now that I think about it, it might be more like 1/2qt every 1k miles. I know it's not a serious engine problem, but I'm doing it bc I'm tired of checking it so often. And when summer roles around, it probably will go way up.

 

[Eric]

I have used Mobil 1 5w-30 in a rolla and have seen the same thing happen. I just started to top off with 15w-50 and consumption dropped off.

 

[Malibu]

Eric, I experienced the same phenomenon until I learned that the throttle body bore and plate must be manually scrubbed clean of accumulated goo at every tune up using a toothbrush and some old rags moistened with carburetor cleaner or throttle body cleaner. Somehow when these parts get dirty, oil consumtion goes up and owners wrongly assume engine wear is the cause of the increased oil consumption. So you might try to find a qualified shop or dealer to perform this simple service or one that can show you how to do it.

 

[Patman]

Have you tried running Neutra or Auto-rx to stop consumption?

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

BUSTER, Two things come to mind when I read your first post.. In my experience over the years I have noticed that when running an engine faster then normal you tend to created higher oil pressures than normally designed for average use. Where you stated you're driving faster than normally use to, the consumption has gone up. First, try this, See if you can keep your foot out of it for a trail period of the same mileage and check your level. If the level is good, you now have your answer as to why it is using more now. Another way to establish this is to let it go to one qt low, and run it at that level and see if it continues to drop. I suspect it will stable out at one qt low for the rest of the drain. Let me explain why I think this may be ... In my 10k drain I ran to texas and back like I stole the car. Once back, I noticed that I was a qt low. This is unusual as this car uses none period. So, what happened is that when driving at those higher speeds, my oil pump was creating higher flow rates through my filter and higher pressures. This would also increase the pressure around the rings, so it could and would push oil past the rings. Now what happened was it pushed just enough oil out(in this case 1qt) and leveled off at the one low qt mark. It never dropped any lower than that. So this leads me to believe that the pressure issue is valid because one qt low lowered my pressure enough that was no longer was excessive pressure for that speed. Once back, I went to driving it normal again, with almost 8k on my oil now, it has not used one ounce of oil like on my previous trip. everything is normal. The design of engines oil system is different from one car to the next as the overflow spring in an oil pump may vary from one to the next. Given that this is the case, one engine may use a qt every 3k of driving where another uses none. If an oil pump doesn't release the pressure and creates higher pressure than the rings are designed for, it could be pushing out oil around the rings, but may level off at one qt low. Many people have found that their cars will burn off one qt and run like that from there on. This would stand to reason if the oil pump is creating excessive pressure. Anyway, I know the gearheads are gonna chew me up and spit me out for this insane idea but I can't argue with my experience in this case and thought sharing this may just open up some eyes on this problem than many seem to have. [ January 24, 2003, 05:33 AM: Message edited by: BOBISTHEOILGUY ]

 

[buster]

Thanks everyone. I do plan on running autoRx. Bob, thanks for the info. you make some excellent points and that just might be the problem.

 

[Patman]

Bob, the one problem with your scenario is that someone really shouldn't run their engine one quart low, especially not with a small 4 quart capacity, as then that's 25% of the oil gone! The stress on the oil then goes way up, and I'd imagine engine wear too. So it's not really a good idea to keep it one quart low just to reduce consumption, the level should always be kept as high as it safely can, even if this level results in a higher consumption. Just my opinion of course.

 

[msparks]

quote:

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Originally posted by buster: Question is what oil could I run and not have to check it every week? My choices were either: Mobil 0w-40, 5w/10w-30 Amsoil 10w-30 I'd be content with any of these but my real concern is which one I will most likely see the least consumption with. I have been changing the oil around 5-8K miles and will continue to do so. Any thoughts? Thanks

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Question, How many runs of the 0w30 have you done? If this is your first run, I would try one more, usually there is some clean up from another lube, which would contribute to the increase consumption. If after the next run of the 0w30, then I would go up to a higher weight. I would say if that doesn't work, the 10w40 might be what you need. BTW, in my F150, I don't have to add any oil between filter changes. I've been running the Series 2000 since 1999.

 

[msparks]

If your consumption continues I would then maybe look at a synthetic blend to reduce your cost of adding those extra quarts. Amsoil has both a 10w40 blend and a 15w40 blend that is also designed for extended drains. Recommended drain is 2 times the manufactures recommendation or 1 year whichever comes first.

 

[TooSlick]

Buster, I'd run the Amsoil 10w-40 - AMO - in a high mileage engine if you have oil consumption issues. It is both thicker and has a significantly lower evaporation rate than the 0w-30, Series 2000 stuff. I have actually seen very few issues with oil consumption with the 0w-30, but most of my customers are using it in newer engines that have < 50,000 miles on them. I'd flush the engine w/ AutoRX before putting in the 10w-40 .... The Amsoil 10w-30 would probably not improve this situation ...I've seen less oil consumption with the 0w-30 than with the regular 5w-30, "ASL" for example. Ted

 

[dragboat]

Buster, The Amsoil 10/40 blend might be just the ticket for you for reasons Mike has said and it is competively priced . I hope Amsoil comes out with a Series 2K 0/40 soon

 

[TooSlick]

Buster, I wanted to add, if you mix together a 0w-30/5w-30 with a 15w-50, it's probably not going to do that much to reduce volatility - it merely thickens the oil. This blending results in a physical mixture and not a chemical one, so the lower molecular weight "factions'' of the 0w-30/5w-30 are still going to evaporate at high temps. You would be better served by going to a 10w-40 or even 15w-40 synthetic that uses a thicker basestock, and has no very low molcular weight components .... A good analogy is mixing a little gas in engine oil - when you heat this mixture the gas will evaporate out of it.... Ted

 

[Patman]

Ted, what you say makes sense, but you can't argue with the fact that mixing in 15w50 with 10w30 Mobil 1 has seen a drastic reduction in oil consumption with many LS1 f-body owners. So technically speaking what you say is true, but in reality, the thicker mixture, whether chemical in nature or not, seems to work to reduce consumption, at least in the case of the LS1.

 

[porterdog]

quote:

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Originally posted by BOBISTHEOILGUY: ...when driving at those higher speeds, my oil pump was creating higher flow rates through my filter and higher pressures. This would also increase the pressure around the rings...

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Unless your car has some patented BobIsTheOilGuy special oiling setup, I doubt that the ringpack is pressure fed Respectfully, Robert