If spending twice as much on additives and cleaners as the oil itself hasn’t done much to help in ~35k miles, I think I’d give up at that point and go to simply a cheaper (house?) oil and use those conserved funds to find a way to get out of that payment sooner. Just curious, with all the stuff on your radiator support, what was the cost of that, about $110? Grab a jug of $15 Providence or SuperTech and continue to change at 4k.
Hyundai engines are not known in general to die from old age. You’ve given it valiant effort; cut your financial expenditures to just what it takes to be free of it. Especially with prices these days, it’s hard to watch someone burning an extra $30+ of oil per 4k OCI on top of the $30+ they spent on the first jug they dumped in. Grab Quaker State Euro 5w40 or Pennzoil Euro L 5w30; it will serve you at least as well as what’s been going in and probably help slow the burn rate.
Thank you so much for the encouraging remarks! It really means a lot to me because 1) I don't hear that often, actually hardly ever. Mostly the attitude is the opposite. 2) I really do believe I have given it such a valiant effort. I liked how you worded that.
Honestly, deep down, I know you are right and it's time to cut my losses. But used car prices are so high, and it's almost paid off. It's fuel efficient and has a lot of sentimental value to me. It's the car I took my girlfriend, who would become my wife, on many dates. It the car that we brought our son home from the hospital in. It safely and reliably took us on many road trips across the country, including last year, from Fort Worth, TX to upstate NY.
It's for those reasons mainly, as well as the fact that this has basically become my past time and hobby, that I just can't do it. I don't want to see the car go. And maybe I'm in denial, perhaps im delusional, but I firmly believe it won't self destruct if I keep doing what I'm doing. It's actually become more than a hobby, its become a a goal or a mission of mine. No sooner than I would put my 13 year old Pug down, or hypothetically, pull the plug on a family member. Crazy as it sounds, the car just means that much to me.
I am going to consider using that euro oil you mentioned, because I'm a huge fan of Quaker State (underrated king in my book). And I would be curious to see if that will actually help with the oil consumption. Not that I don't believe you that it could, just that no two cases of oil consumption seems to be the same.
Question though, isn't 5W40 too thick for the 2.4L? The Manual states up to 5W30, original spec calls for 5W20.