Recommendtions for old car with oil consumption

[sipman]

Hi,
I've got a 83 rabbit gti that I just switched to mobil 1. It's got 211k miles on the original engine. I autocross the car, and in such added lower temp thermostat, and fan switch, and an oil cooler. My oil temps in regular driving are around 80c and about 105 Celsius on the course.
I have about a quart per 1000-1500 miles consumption. I originally thought I'd use dino oil of a higher weight, but because the car gets so little use, I switched to synthetic so I can go longer time intervals without worrying about oxidation.
I'm prepared for everyone to tell me that my oil temps are too low and I can't get rid of water, but I haven't once, in ten years seen any water in the oil on oil changes, so I'm of the belief that if there is any, it either is boiling in the head, or it's in solution. And to my understanding, oil doesn't like to have water in solution.

My concern is mainly consumption, and suspected blow by. Does using a higher weight oil make sense? even considering low oil temps? Or should I use an additive? Also, I've never done a sludge cleaning. I've read here about the MMO and other forums talk about seafoam, or the STP version of it.

Any ideas if I should try and clean the engine maybe hope it's a stuck ring that's allowing blow by? I have not ran a compression test, so I don't even know if blow by is the cause of the loss of oil, but watching my friends drive the car on the track, I see white smoke come out of the exhaust on engine braking. And yes, it's 100 plus degrees Fahrenheit on the asphalt, so I know it's not steam escaping. Does this seem like a symptom of blow by?

Thanks everyone for you help.

 

[buster]

Hmmm hard to say. I think I'd use the new QS Defy or MaxLife in an 83 Rabbit.

 

[suspiciousmind]

Make a concoction...mmo/acetone/atf...whatever...and pour some in each cylinder and let it sit overnight (prior to an oil change) to see if you can free up your potentially gummed up oil rings.

Ya never know.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Smoke on decel is oil going past the intake valve guides.

 

[sipman]

Scott, funny you say that. On my list is to adjust the valves. I'll probably be getting into this in the next week or two. They are solid lifters so I've got to adjust the shims. While I'm at it, is there a way to determine if the valve guides are worn without a pulling the head apart?

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Without disassembling the head about the only thing you can do is measure the side-to-side movement of the valve with the spring removed. Then you would need to find a spec. Valve guides tend to wear in a bellmouthed shape so I'm not sure what the limits would be. Pull a spark plug and look for dark deposits on one side of the plug. Sometimes this shows up like this, sometimes it doesn't.

Or you can just replace all the valve guide seals when you do the valve adjustment. They might just be hardened from age. However, if the guides are worn, the seals will likely fail again in the near future.

 

[sipman]

They are the originals, so they may have hardened like you say. The car sees about 2K miles a year. Near future? With this mileage are we saying about a year or two? I could live with that.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Probably not that fast with the mileage you put on it. However, there is the possibility that there is so much rock in the valves that the seals won't work satisfactorily.

 

[TFB1]

I agree on the valve stem seal issue, in a '80s engine at at 200K mi plus, you can bet they're way past their prime... No more than you run the car, a new set would likely last four or five seasons even if the guides are worn... Seals are cheap, if you can replace them yourself I'd recommend doing so, otherwise it's not a impossible condition to live with...

 

[JR]

i have a few vehicles that see less use then yours does. i run them every 30 day upto temp and then 15 min to heat oil.

kc

 

[addyguy]

On a 30-year old engine with 211k, I'm not sure 1 quart/1k is bad consumption, especially if you're only driving it 2k a year!

I'd try a thicker HM oil, like QS Defy 10W-30 or 10W-40; but other than that I'd live with it.

 

[mechtech2]

I had an '83 GTI.
Why do you think anyone would say your oil temps are to low?
Water/condensation does not need 212 deg F to be eliminated. It will evaporate at lower temps well.
Track use will increase blow by by a lot.
Just feed it and run it.

 

[sipman]

mechtech2. I like your suggestion. The car doesn't have a cat, so I don't have to worry about it's destruction. I guess if I just feed it oil on a regular basis, am I only really worried about shorter intervals for spark plug replacement? Will the plugs foul from all the burned oil?

 

[Stephen_G]

i would just use some decent, but cheap, dino oil, at most Mobil Super 5000 High Milage, or Quaker State Defy. But realsticaly, i would dump supertech into it.