Oil Consumption Question (Amsoil 0W30, Jeep 4.0-TJ)

[wrangler]

I had been running Mobil1 10W30 since the 2K mark in my Jeep (4.0 TJ). At 10K I switched to Amsoil 0W30 and have been running it for the last 5 months. The oil only has 3K miles on it and I have noticed, for the first time, that it used up half a quart. The weird thing is that it never did this with Mobil1. Anyone know why this would be so?

I'll post the UOA once I get one done (another month or so)

 

[buster]

Not sure. Some engines just don't respond well to certain oils. NOAK for M1 and S2k are the same at 8% with S2k being even thicker. Give it some more time. BTW, did you notice a change in engine temp. or oil pressure with S2k?

 

[wrangler]

No change at all on either temp or oil pressure. But I don’t think the pressure gauge is that accurate so that it would pick up small changes in pressure. I say that because I added a bypass filter, which should have affected the pressure readings (~10%), but it did no such thing.

It’s the first run so I’m going to be dumping this oil in another month and try it again. Unfortunately I bought a dozen quarts of this stuff, and then I found this site. After looking at all the UOAs it doesn’t seem like the 0W30 has any significant advantages over the 10W30. Unless UOAs do not illustrate the whole ‘picture’.

 

[msparks]

quote:

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Originally posted by wrangler:
The oil only has 3K miles on it and I have noticed, for the first time, that it used up half a quart.

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So your saying you vehicle uses 16 oz in 3000 miles. When you check the oil at what time do you do this? Was the vehile parked on level ground with a cold engine.

I know my truck can vary as much as 1/2 between when the engine is cold and warm. Also are you driving habits the same? Stop and go or heavy towing can cause a vehicle to use more oil.

That being say 16 oz of oil in 3000 is perfectly normal oil consumption.

 

[Starbreaker666]

it's the 4.0.. you could run sand in it and it would still fire up and run over a mountian for you.

 

[Alex D]

Funny .... for my Ford SOHC 4.6 is was exactly the opposite. Amsoil 0W-30 stopped the oil consumption that was rampant with the M1

 

[Steve S]

A half qt. in 3000 miles is not bad . I would not feel bad about using up the oil . With the bypass filter you can go alot longer on the oil.

 

[Patman]

I know that it's been mentioned on here before that sometimes when you switch from one oil to Amsoil for the first time, you can often experience a tiny bit more consumption at first, but that it will settle down on the second and subsequent intervals.

So in other words you have nothing to worry about here.

 

[Robbie Alexander]

How many total miles.... JUST a few K ???

 

[Tones]

quote:

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Originally posted by wrangler:
I say that because I added a bypass filter...

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This is probably a silly question, but you say that you just added a bypass filter. Are you sure that you added enough oil to start with to fill up the added capacity?

T

 

[wrangler]

Guys,

Thanks for all the replies. I’m pretty sure its no big deal but I figured I might as well ask you guys.

I’ll try to answer all the questions from above.

msparks:
Yes, the Jeep was parked on a leveled ground and it was still cold. I haven’t noticed a significant difference in the oil level between a cold and hot engine. As for my driving habits, well they haven’t changed. A lot of stop/go traffic and the occasional off-roading. It might be normal for cars to consume half a quart over 3K miles but it’s not normal for this car, judging from its past history when it was on the Mobil1 diet.

Steve S:
I know I can go a lot longer but since it’s the first run I figured I would dump the oil and see how far I can go the second time around.

Robbie:
I put Amsoil in at 10K miles on the odometer.

Tones:
Yeap, once I added the bypass I had to add an extra quart (7 quarts total)

One last thing. The full flow and bypass filters are both remote filters (Amsoil BMK-13). Since I added the bypass kit I now notice that it takes 3 to 4 seconds for the oil pressure to build up. I have attributed this to the fact that the hoses (about 18 inches total) drain back in to the engine after I shut off the car. How destructive is this delay in lubrication at idle speeds and no load on the engine? Should I even be considering a pre-luber? It sounds like a waste of time and money.

 

[Alex D]

I would think that this delay in oil pressure will cause more wear on your engine than only running a good stock oil filter without by-pass filter set-up installed. That is exactly the reason I would never install a bypass system this way. If I'd do a bypass system it would have an independent pump and intake and return to the sump, therefore be compeltely independent from the engine oiling system.
Our modern vehicles are not meant to have such a diversion of oil from the stock lubrication cycle. Even installing an oil cooler can cause this. Commercial truck and heavy equipment engines were designed to have a lube system, cars and light trucks were not.

quote:

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One last thing. The full flow and bypass filters are both remote filters (Amsoil BMK-13). Since I added the bypass kit I now notice that it takes 3 to 4 seconds for the oil pressure to build up. I have attributed this to the fact that the hoses (about 18 inches total) drain back in to the engine after I shut off the car. How destructive is this delay in lubrication at idle speeds and no load on the engine? Should I even be considering a pre-luber? It sounds like a waste of time and money. [/QB]

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[ December 02, 2003, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: Alex D ]

 

[vettenuts]

I found my switch to Amsoil in several vehicles from Mobil-1 has lowered oil usage significantly.

 

[Mike_dup1]

quote:

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One last thing. The full flow and bypass filters are both remote filters (Amsoil BMK-13). Since I added the bypass kit I now notice that it takes 3 to 4 seconds for the oil pressure to build up. I have attributed this to the fact that the hoses (about 18 inches total) drain back in to the engine after I shut off the car. How destructive is this delay in lubrication at idle speeds and no load on the engine? Should I even be considering a pre-luber? It sounds like a waste of time and money.

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I have the same setup on my 1992 Chevy truck and the oil pressure has not been affected one bit, my pressure is there instantly. May hose are about 3 ft long. Also using the 0W-30 and in 3000 miles it has only used about 1/3 qt and this is a 77,000 miles vehicle. Maybe you did not get enough oil in there to start with, it took me several atempts to find the proper oil level after the filter installation. The hose and filter take up space and you have to adjust the oil capacity to make up the difference. Mine takes almost 1.5-2 more qts of oil.

[ December 02, 2003, 01:30 PM: Message edited by: Mike ]

 

[TooSlick]

When ever you switch oils, it is not uncommon for oil consumption to go up initially, due to differences in the additive chemistry. The second batch of 0w-30 you run will give you a much better indication of how much oil consumption to expect.

Oil pressure rise and static oil pressure should NOT be affected with bypass installed, since it's a hydrostatic situation, w/ an incompressable fluid. What model full flow filter did you use on the bypass mount and does it have an ADBV? You may want to try a Mobil 1 oil filter in place of the SDF ...

Best practices would indicate you should mount the dual remote units equal or lower than the spin on mount, so the hoses stay full of oil.

 

[Alex D]

TS, I think your comments are important and right on. The same is true with an oil cooler. Since these systems do not have drain back prevention, they'll empty out every time you shut the engine off if they are mounted above the oil filter pad level. Worse, the oil pump has to refill the entire system when the oil is cold and thick and provides even more resistance. Mounting it in the way you describe would prevent the drain back and therefore avoid the delay in pressure build up.

 

[wrangler]

Alex:
I agree that this delay probably negates any benefits that the bypass offers. The problem is that I already bought it and went through the trouble of installing it (it wasn’t easy, I had to create a custom bracket…) so I don’t want to remove it (out of spite I think).

Mike:
I think you don’t have the same issue probably because you have your remote filters installed lower than where the full-flow used to be mounted.

TooSlick:
By ‘ADBV’ if you mean anti-drain back valve then it definitely has one (SDF-15) but it even if it didn’t it wouldn’t make a difference since the filters are upside down. It’s not the filters that drain but the hoses since filters are installed at a higher position than where the original full-flow used to be. I actually took a hose off to see if it had drained its oil and it had.

Is it worth throwing this bypass system out?

 

[TooSlick]

"The filters are upside down..." ???

Do you mean by this that the filters are located above the bypass mount? That would cause the problems you have seen ...

 

[wrangler]

No, the mount is located on top of the filters so even if they didn't hava drain valve they would not drain.

 

[Mike_dup1]

I have my filters higher the stock mount, mounted to the inner skirt about level with the top of the engine. Only place I could find that was safe from off-road hazards etc. I use a SDF15 filter.