Oil Consumption Update

[The Critic]

Update to this thread.

It has been about 800 miles since the oil change with bulk Valvoline Premium Conventional 5w-30.

75% of those 800 miles has consisted of 70-75 mph driving, a portion of it on hilly terrain.

The oil is already 2/3 qt low. I have never seen such high oil consumption before. Then again, I usually don't put this many highway miles on the car either.

Usually most of the oil consumption starts after 3,000 miles on a fill. Not this time. It is burning just as much when the oil is new.

Thoughts?

 

[Bill in Utah]

I'd just make sure you keep it full and see what happens. I'd NOT do ANYTHING for at least 5,000 miles and hopefully whatever the flush "did" gets undone.

Bill

 

[buster]

Where is the oil going?

 

[440Magnum]

see this post on the old thread for my version of Gary Allan's let-go catch-can for the PCV system.

 

[Warstud]

I thought you were going to say you put Maxlife in it and it no longer burns oil.

Did you check the oil level after you changed it to see if it was actually full? And are you using the same brand oil and visc. you've always used?

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Warstud
Did you check the oil level after you changed it to see if it was actually full?

Actually, it was between 1/3 to 1/2 qt overfilled.

Right now, the oil level is showing 1/2 qt low, so it's possible that the engine has burned more than 2/3 qt.

Originally Posted By: Warstud
And are you using the same brand oil and visc. you've always used?

Nope, this is the first run of Valvoline Conventional.

 

[DieselTech]

I worked for Saturn for a brief time before going to ford in 97. We didnt consider consumption excessive until it burned a qt in 1000 miles. Back then 3000 mile oilchanges is all we heard of. You cam cover isn't leaking right? Pull the wires and see if the are saturated with oil

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: DieselTech
I worked for Saturn for a brief time before going to ford in 97. We didnt consider consumption excessive until it burned a qt in 1000 miles. Back then 3000 mile oilchanges is all we heard of. You cam cover isn't leaking right? Pull the wires and see if the are saturated with oil

Nope, I fixed that back at around 95,000 miles and they were still dry as of last week. No leaks from the tube seals or the cam cover gasket itself.

 

[Virtuoso]

Is this a manual trannied Satty by chance?

Like you said, you started noticing this after driving on hilly terrian. The higher engine vaccum may have something to do with this. That's when my old SL1 burned the most oil.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Virtuoso
Is this a manual trannied Satty by chance?

Like you said, you started noticing this after driving on hilly terrian. The higher engine vaccum may have something to do with this. That's when my old SL1 burned the most oil.

It is an automatic.

The highest oil consumption I had previously seen was 1 qt every 1500 miles.

Now, the consumption is about 1 qt every 1000-1200 miles.

 

[daman]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: Virtuoso
Is this a manual trannied Satty by chance?

Like you said, you started noticing this after driving on hilly terrian. The higher engine vaccum may have something to do with this. That's when my old SL1 burned the most oil.

It is an automatic.

The highest oil consumption I had previously seen was 1 qt every 1500 miles.

Now, the consumption is about 1 qt every 1000-1200 miles.

My worse POS car ever never used that much oil! i'd be PO!

 

[SLCraig]

Consider yourself lucky... I really don't see any problem here, we are talking about an S-series.

Some people DD these cars having to add a quart every tank of gas..

I check my oil once a week and usually add a little.

 

[saaber1]

Maybe try auto-rx or seafoam or MMO to see if you can unclog rings. If those do nothing then it may be worn rings. Had quite a few of these cars in the past and some burn no oil and some burn lots. Had one 96' that bought the farm at 75k miles due to oil starvation.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: saaber1
Maybe try auto-rx or seafoam or MMO to see if you can unclog rings. If those do nothing then it may be worn rings. Had quite a few of these cars in the past and some burn no oil and some burn lots. Had one 96' that bought the farm at 75k miles due to oil starvation.

Auto-RX increased the consumption, if anything.

I've tried running MMO for the last 500-1000 mile of an oil fill with no effect.

At the last oil change, I also ran a full bottle of Amsoil Engine Flush for 20 minutes at 2k+ rpm.

 

[saaber1]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Auto-RX increased the consumption, if anything.

I've tried running MMO for the last 500-1000 mile of an oil fill with no effect.

At the last oil change, I also ran a full bottle of Amsoil Engine Flush for 20 minutes at 2k+ rpm.

Ah, sounds like it's time to sell it or live with it. Have you tried a 20W50 or other thick oil yet? Cleaning out the PCV valve may be worth doing to but you've probably already done that. As I recall it sits right on top.

 

[Virtuoso]

I still bet it's all the hills you are driving.

Unfortunatly, I tried everything on my SL1 to limit the burning and nothing worked. Eventually it did burn a quart every tank of gas & then I got rid of it. Great car otherwise though.

 

[Nick R]

Thought for a minute you were talking about the new Altima. I dunno, all I can say is that my cavalier was very strange about burning oil. It wasn't consistent. And finally, 4,000 miles into the PP fill, it stopped altogether for a thousand miles. This was following a 500 mile loss of about 3/4 quart.

 

[buster]

I would try a 50 grade for the [censored] of it. According to some people, you may not see a significant decrease in MPG.

Oil consumption is often tough to pin point. I'm surprised many OEM's are ok with 1qt per 1k miles.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: buster
I would try a 50 grade for the [censored] of it. According to some people, you may not see a significant decrease in MPG.

Oil consumption is often tough to pin point. I'm surprised many OEM's are ok with 1qt per 1k miles.


They're OK with it to keep warranty costs down. Image the warranty claims if they said no more than a pint every 5K....

 

[Zedhed]

Is this the Saturn with 144,000 miles? That could easily be worn oil control rings....Who expects a high mileage engine to NOT consume oil after high speed (70-75 mph) driving? High loads on a high mileage engine shouldn't affect oil consumption?

Worn parts are worn parts. High mileage engines have worn parts -- deal with it or sell it, but no amount of ARX or snake oil is going to fix it.

"Move along, nothing to see here...Move along....."