Should I go to a thicker Oil?

[wisco]

I have a 2000 Chevy Prizm with 105,000 miles and using Valvoline 10w40 conventional. I bought the vehicle with 92,000 miles on it. Engine is burning quart about every 700 miles. I am currently in the 1st RX wash phase and excessive burning seems to continue. My question is can I go to a thicker oil such as 15w40 for the rinse phase or continue with 10w40? Engine is not smoking or leaking and is a good runner except for oil burning. I plan on doing a 2nd RX hopefully in helping the problem or possibly it needs a ring job. Any help appreciated.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I would not use any thicker than that in Wisconsin.

You need to wear some patience. Allow the Auto-Rx some time to alleviate your symptoms. Depending on how bad the inside of your engine is, you may not show any improvement until the final weeks of your rinse phase.

 

[Dyoel182]

Plan a switch to Valvoline MaxLife before too long.

 

[coffee]

MaxLife 10w40 would be great for you.

 

[Drew99GT]

Seems a lot of these Toyota 4 bangers in the Corolla and Prizm are oil consumers. My 94 consumes quite a bit, but not that much. Valvoline Maxlife has helped the most. Has brought consumption in my 7AFE from about a quart/1500 miles to almost no consumption.

Another thing that helped was a full on solvent flush with BG Quick Clean. That helped my consumption more than Auto-RX, and another post in the additive section indicates the same.

Here's what I'd do, as it seems to be ring sticking in some of the 1ZZ-FE engines like yours: Use a conventional 10w30 for the Auto-RX rinse phase. Once that's done, at the very end right when you're gonna change the oil, do a BG Quick Clean flush - basically add the can to the oil and fast idle for 15 minutes. Drain that oil and filter, and run the engine with new oil/filter for another maybe half hour to really get the solvent out - maybe go for an easy drive (that's what I did). Then, change oil and filter AGAIN and this time go with Maxlife 10w30 (I'd use 5w30 in winter for Wisconsin).

See if that doesn't put a serious dent in the oil consumption.

 

[Drivebelt]

Sure, you could give 15w40 a whirl -- see if it reduces consumption a little more. You would have to be mindful that that the 15W is only good down to about -20C (-4F) or a little lower tops in the winter.

 

[ericthepig]

Do what Drew99GT said but end it all with Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w40.

 

[Drew99GT]

I'd stick with Maxlife. A few people have indicated that Mobil 1 High Mileage didn't help consumption.