severe oil burner

[mjoekingz28]

My Saturn is going through the oil rapidly, although I only notice smoke while backing up. The dipstick tells the story and I want to do those behind me a favor and select an oil that doesn't 'smell' bad.

Last year I tried nexgen and I could smell it, so I found that it was an oil not good for a burner. Would a mineral oil straight 30 be good?

 

[garlicbreadman]

probably best idea to sell the car

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
My Saturn is going through the oil rapidly, although I only notice smoke while backing up. The dipstick tells the story and I want to do those behind me a favor and select an oil that doesn't 'smell' bad.

Last year I tried nexgen and I could smell it, so I found that it was an oil not good for a burner. Would a mineral oil straight 30 be good?


Delo 15w40, Rotella 15w40, Rotella 10w30 or any other HDEO would reduce the oil burn the most if it is that bad. If you can slow the burning you can reduce the smell.

 

[bmwtechguy]

Best oil to reduce burning is Maxlife 10W-40 in my experience. No oil smells better than another unless you are talking about a 2-stroke engine.

 

[dave1251]

You got a Saturn that is a common price Saturn owners pay. Like volk said try to increase the grade of oil to slow it down I do not know what brand of oil would smell better than brand X. Because frankly PCMO's are a lot closer go being the same than different.

 

[QuietPortage]

Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy
Best oil to reduce burning is Maxlife 10W-40 in my experience. No oil smells better than another unless you are talking about a 2-stroke engine.

This is what I would try for a few short OCIs to see if it'll stabilize a bit.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Used frying oil is the best. It will smell pleasantly and will put the car to sleep gently.

 

[KD0AXS]

I've tried 5w30 and 10w40, doesn't seem to make much difference either way. These things just burn lot of oil and there's no magic trick that's going to cure it. The good news is that they still run forever as long as you keep oil in them. Find whatever oil you can find on sale for $2 or less per quart and buy a whole bunch of it. Check the oil every time you fill up the gas tank and keep it topped off. That's why the oil I run in ours is "Whatever's cheap".

 

[vinu_neuro]

Weren't certain Saturn's victims of having stuck rings because of a design problem?

 

[99Saturn]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
I've tried 5w30 and 10w40, doesn't seem to make much difference either way. These things just burn lot of oil and there's no magic trick that's going to cure it. The good news is that they still run forever as long as you keep oil in them. Find whatever oil you can find on sale for $2 or less per quart and buy a whole bunch of it. Check the oil every time you fill up the gas tank and keep it topped off. That's why the oil I run in ours is "Whatever's cheap".


+1 Mine's been consuming significant amounts since I bought it at 122K. 60K later still running, I just put in whatever is cheap or FAR 5w30 and top off every weekend or sooner if I have time.

 

[Bodensee]

Busy at work, BUT I would try following:

1/ CHECK THE CRANK CASE VENT SYSTEM IS NOT BLOCKED!

2/ Don't use an 0/20 or 5/20!

3/ Consider the move up one grade to an X/40 grade high miles or extra performance oil from big oil company. (Castrol, Mobil or Shell owned)

4/ Always keep oil at full mark.

5/ Look under engine to see what is leaking?

6/ Lower speeds and less of the big right boot reduce oil consumption.

PS. Very slight chance of stuck rings if too much idle or short trips, need compression check to figure out if removing plugs or glow plugs and trying solvents to do piston soak worth effort. Also remote chance spray in Carbon cleaner might help, piston soak probably better idea.

 

[Bodensee]

Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy
Best oil to reduce burning is Maxlife 10W-40 in my experience. No oil smells better than another unless you are talking about a 2-stroke engine.


Good oil to try, smell probably fuel but rings or valve guide failures can smell.

 

[NHGUY]

Straight mineral (non detergent oil) will cause far more other problems.Dont do it.Just next time,try to avoid a Saturn.While you're at it,check for rust at the rear trailing links where they pivot off the body,thats a pretty flimsy sheet metal attaching point,and you might have far more problems than just an oil burner.The Saturn population has been depleted rapidly due to severe underbody (GM) rust.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: vinu_neuro
Weren't certain Saturn's victims of having stuck rings because of a design problem?

It was my understanding that the rings didn't get stuck, what would happen is that the rings were badly designed, and that the piston didn't have enough holes near the oil control ring to properly return oil to the sump.

In any case, back when I read saturnspot.com I found that the situation you are in is unavoidable. Many people would run 15w40 to slow consumption, but the engines still did consume oil too quickly.

But replacing the PCV valve on time is certainly important.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Find the problem before you determine the fix. Maybe oil is not the fix.

 

[UNC038]

You didn't state how much oil you're going through. I have never found changing grades or brand to make a measurable difference in consumption. With that said at least you don't need to change the oil just the filter every now and then.

Years ago my first car would drink a quart every 2-300 miles due to bad oil rings. I eventually stopped buying oil and just added used oil from our other cars and it ran for a long time. Other than the oil usage it ran great. YMMV.