Pennzoil Ultra

[Treb]

last month i switched from conventional to synthetic, i know, if it ain't broke dont' fix it. i wanted to give a synthetic a shot though so i went with PU. i love PU, car runs smoother and much more quiet, even my wife notices the difference. the only bad thing is, it seems to be burning through oil faster than with conventional. i put PU in for the first time in early January, have gone 2000 miles and it's already burned through at least a quart, more than i noticed with conventional. my car has 163,000 miles never noticed any oil leaking before. only new leak i've noticed since i started PU is coolant. should i give PU another shot or switch to a High Mileage oil like Mobil 1 High Mileage or Pennzoil High Mileage?

 

[bepperb]

If you stick with PU the oil consumption may stabilize. Certainly there is nothing wrong with a high mileage oil especially in a car with some consumption. I don't think either is a bad choice. I might stick with PU for another round just to see what happens.

 

[madmax_ooohhh]

I would suggest moving to a name brand High Mileage Oil.
They will help soften/swell the leaking gasket.

Your use of the synthetic oil recently, merely "washed away"
the old "coked/varnished" conventional oil that merely covered/diminished any leak.
It did NOT cause the leak, just exposed it.
Old age contributed to any gasket hardning/failing.

Again the cheapest repair would be moving on to High Mileage oil,
or just simply replace the gasket.
All gaskets eventually fail, and they were designed to be replaced anyways.
It's up to you to decide if it financially feasible to just
move to High Mileage oil to get by, or replace the gasket.

 

[TwinTurbo]

Using synthetic oil with a high quality cleaning additive package on a high mileage engine can cause leaks due to deposit removal. The deposits maybe slowing oil leakage so this is only speculation but I have seen this happen before. I would use a high-mileage formulated oil product.

Good luck.

 

[bepperb]

Well, original poster said it was not leaking oil. Assuming this the consumed oil is either getting past the rings or past the valve guide seals. If it's getting past the rings it's probably caused by PU cleaning the area and it could bet better over time. If it's the valve guide seals the OP should be seeing smoke at startup and then it probably won't get better and maybe High Mileage oil is the ticket, though this is a common Toyota problem and I haven't seen any High Mileage oil fix bad valve stem seals.

So, neither are a bad choice but I would be interested to see how the consumption progresses.

 

[AndrewL]

First time using PU, my car burned like half a quart the first thousand miles and then it stopped.

 

[Maxima97]

No oil will reverse any mechanical worn out. Check your PCV in case gas blow by might trap in crank case and form sludge. At this mileage, use high mileage oil will slow oil loss a bit. Valvoline Maxlife blend is my favorite.Loads of moly, seal conditioner and high HTHS. It is not energy conserve but to extend your engine life.

 

[KCJeep]

First time I put syn in my wife's high mileage Chevy it gobbled oil too, for a while, then it stopped. Like posted above I'd stick with it and see how it plays out.

 

[JAG]

Thick deposits that undergo semi-fast cleaning tend to loosen/dissolve faster in some portions than others which then opens gaps that allow oil to pass through. That's my theory to explain temporary higher oil consumption when semi-fast cleaning occurs on pistons and rings.

 

[LeakySeals]

Mobil 1 High Mileage is a full synthetic and a high mileage oil, what I've been using to switch older cars over. Even with that there was a period of about 3k where consumption spiked before the Mobil 1 High Mileage kicked in and consumption dropped dramatically. I say wait it out for one OCI and see what happens. Let us know. Also you could always top off with some Mobil 1 High Mileage 5w30, see if that slows it down.

 

[Treb]

i'm gonna change the oil after 3k and go with PU again. just checked it and it doesn't seem to have lost any since i last added a little oil. that was about 800 miles ago. i'm hoping to go with 5000-7500 after the next change.

 

[freezing1]

I converted three 100K+ engines from conventional to synthetic a few years back. They all burned oil for the first OCI, but then stopped entirely and burned none thereafter.

Based on my experiences plus what I've read here, it seems to be a pattern that older engines used to conventional oil will burn synthetic at conversion, but then slow down or stop over time.

I would stick with the PU.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted By: Treb
last month i switched from conventional to synthetic, i know, if it ain't broke dont' fix it.


Go back to what you were using prior, if longer OCIs wasn't the only reason you switched. If you are fine with changing oil more often - as you did prior, then go back to what worked fine before you switched to synthetic.

 

[JavierG]

I would definitely stick with PU. That oil is awesome.

 

[Boss302fan]

Stay with PU for one more OCI or switch to Mobil 1 High Mileage which is really a great syn oil for higher mileage vehicles.

I actually have used Mobil 1 High Mileage in lower mileage cars(under 10K miles) and the engine was very smooth. Great add pack.

 

[buster]

It can take awhile before oils "seat". JAG said it best. It's mostly likely cleaning up and will stabilize eventually. I've read this process can take up to 5k miles.

 

[JOD]

The first time I used Pennzoil Platinum, my car drank a quart in about 2k. After the first run it went down considerably, then went away by the third run. I'd use it for a few more changes and see what happens.