Oils that lessen consumption

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Drew99GT

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Man o man, my little 94 Corolla is just eating through oil like I eat a steak. Arggggggggh mmmmmmmmm
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I recently put in my free Maxlife 5w-30 and had to drive into the mountains, mostly at 70 mph and she's gone through a quart in about 1,000 miles. Some of the consumption is likely from high vacuum on downhill streches; I was engine braking at 75mph at 3500 rpm (still in 5th, this thing is like a weed whacker)on Interstate 70 and my catchcan was practically full after the drive.

Which oils have you tried that really helped lower consumption? I'd like to stick with 5w-30 at least for winter. Maybe 5w-40 Rotella? As soon as it goes CJ-4, I'm going to try it and see how much it consumes.
 
This isn't a great option during cold months, but when my 78 Chevy Monza began consuming oil, I jumped to heavier weights to slow that down...and it worked. By the time June arrived, I was running 20W-50 in it and it worked great.
 
15w-40 is a no go as winter is just around the horizon. The car doesn't smoke at all. I've done 3 auto-rx runs and it helped a little bit. I guess ol bessy is just plain worn out but I'd like to keep it until it literally won't roll anymore.

I don't get it, because it runs absolutely great; has fantastic engine braking and power. I raced a newer automatic Corolla and beat the ________ out of it. YEEEEEE Haw
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I'd try your thoughts of some 5W-40. I had some minor consumption issues in a vehicle with 5W-30 which went away when I changed to a 10W-30 with a better NOACK.
 
One of the things I try with an engine that consumes oil, is to use an oil with a lot of VIIs. You want a relatively high kinematic viscosity at operating temps, while moderating the increase in HTHS and preserving cold weather performance. If you want it to be inexpensive too, try a dino 10w40 PCMO. Even SL PCMOs have to meet a gelation index not required in the HDEO specs. If cost is no object, the RTS 5w40 is worth a try. Syntec 5w50 is another option.
 
crw, NOACK is a measure of how volatile and oil is, ie how much the lower boiling point compounds in the oil will burn off.

427, I was under the assumption that an oil with a lower levels of VII and consequently, a lower NOACK would help oil consumption. What is this gelation index you talk about? Something to do with gelling at insanely cold temps? I appreciate your insight. I think I might try a 10w-40 next. With my luck, that will mean we'll have the coldest winter on record
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I would try RTS 5W40. It is usualy the valve seals or valve guides on these little Carolla engines. They will motor on forever as long as you keep adding oil. How many miles are on it? It would not cost much to either replace the guides and seals or knurl the guides and replace the seals. While you are in their replace the chain's and tensioners and re cut the valves and seats. I would not bother with a three angle valve job on a daily driver.Toss in a new head gasket while you are at it. If compression is still good and it is runnning good it makes sense to refresh the head. This will also give you a chance to clean off the tops of the pistons while the head is off.

My little Camry just did 4400 miles in about 2 days worth of driveing seperated by about three days of rest. I went along I77 which is also full of mountains. I too engine braked on the way down. I did not burn any oil at all. I did use a little bit of water though. My coolant jug was about 1/4 inch down after it all. So I just toped up with distilled water. I only have 44,400 miles on my car so she is still young. So far though my car has only needed to be toped up on oil once since 2003 and that was only 1/4 of a quart of oil. It was the first run with synthetic oil. Even when I do 9000-10,000 miles oil change intervals it does not consume any oil. So far these 2AZ-FE engines seem to be good on oil control but only time will tell.
 
Car has a hint over 130K now. It doesn't smoke at all (that I can see). I think I'll hold off on refurbishing the head until oil is dripping out the tailpipe! Like many people, I'm still concerned about Rotella and cat poisoning, as Rotella 5w-40 is not CJ-4 yet.

I'd have no problems what so ever running a HDEO that is CJ-4.
 
Drew, I dunno if a quart a thousand miles is ALL that much. Maybe right at the beginning, lower-end, of concern.

Don't panic. Drive the car, don't be racing it, and go easy. Start off slow and easy in the morning. Use a 5W40 Rotella, or a 10W40 cheapie oil, what the heck, if it's that far down the road, this car, so ya skank the cat, no biggie. Mostly, though, drive it EASY. Ya wanna save what's left of your valve guides and rings, ya know?
 
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427, I was under the assumption that an oil with a lower levels of VII and consequently, a lower NOACK would help oil consumption. What is this gelation index you talk about? Something to do with gelling at insanely cold temps? I appreciate your insight. I think I might try a 10w-40 next. With my luck, that will mean we'll have the coldest winter on record
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It's just one of the strategies I've used when a low NOACK doesn't do the trick. The assumption is, that if the oil is just leaking past the valve guides it's going to get burnt no matter what the NOACK is. Low NOACK only helps if the oil is being heated excessively in various parts of the engine. This band-aid works in some engines, some it won't. 15W40 HDEO accomplishes the same thing, but you loose some cold weather capability along with fuel economy and possibly adding more deposits to your combustion chamber. It's cheaper to experiment with too.

Gelation Index measurement and limit is required for SL/SM oils unlike CI-4.

Maybe some inexpensive Wally World 10w40 or some such is worth a try.
 
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