went synthetic and now it burns... what have i done???

[dc2r]

hi... newbie here. not sure where to post.

i have a car with 114k kms on it. it's been dealer serviced on regular quaker state dino oil up to 3k kms ago when i decided to go at it on my own and switched to motul synthetic.

i thought all was fine until last week when on the first cold start of the day there was blue exhaust smoke on startup. it dosen't do it anytime else. people are telling me it's a sign of the valve guides and/or seals on their way out

was i wrong in going synthetic with so much mileage? can i go back to regular dino oil and save it? or should i go with something like valvoline maxlife?

incidentally a mechanic told me to use the lucas oil treatment, and swore he's used it for years on his own and his customers' cars and never had a complaint... but after reading/seeing what was posted here i'm scared off the stuff!

help?

 

[Pablo]

1) You can always go back. So relax.

2) Yes your valve stem seals probably are marginal, but don't blame the Motul.

3) No you weren't "wrong" for choosing a different type of oil.

4) Bag the Lucas. Not applicable.


Now for solving the issue. Answer me this: What vicosity oil are you using? How long has the oil been in? Have you considering cleaning your engine with AutoRx?

 

[G-MAN]

Your valve seals were probably already worn and the esters in the Motul can get by the worn seals a little more easily than conventional oil could.

On the flip side, the esters may soften and condition the seals to the point that this will gradually become less of a problem. Only time will tell.

 

[dc2r]

i was using 5w30 as recommended in the owner's manual.

it's been approx. 3000kms since i did the change to synthetic. it only started showing blue last week.

i'm trying to read up now on auto-rx right now... a lot of material to read and i'm not up to speed.

what is frustrating is that there is so many products out there and everyone has their miracle cures and testimonials... if i hadn't found this place who knows where i would have ended up

 

[John_E]

On the weight of what I have read on various forums, I would try Auto-RX in your case. Another option is to go with a 0W-40 or 5W-40 synthetic oil.

 

[The Critic]

Or go back to dino and save your money. Just stick with 5000-8000KM/6mo drains with dino and you'll be fine.

Mike

 

[Vspec]

Halt, do this.

Switch to conventional, do the auto-rx treatment, switch back to synthetic, enjoy life.

 

[Bob Miller]

or just change the oil early this time, the esters may have loosened enough "stuff" to be high in insolubles.

The esters will either settle out or they won't (the oil flow around the valve stems).

Be patient, the first use of syn in a high mileage engine often does burn more.

 

[dc2r]

argh... getting conflicting recommendations here!

i posted on the auto-rx message board and richone came back with this:

I guess that the first question is why did you feel the need to switch to synthetic? It is usually a good idea to run an ARX cleaning before making the switch. Synthetics can do a little cleaning on there own. But unfortunetly for seals a little cleaning is not always a good thing. Take for example if you only clean 1/4 of the distance around a rotational seal you will likely start a leak until the whole circumference of the seal is cleaned.

In your case I would recommend running a full cleaning cycle with ARX on the back end of your current oil, if you have 1500 miles of service life left. Then follow up with a dino rinse, for 2000 miles.
I think that due to the fact that your stem seals just started leaking, you can nip it in the butt.

i don't know why i went synthetic. i followed bad advice and thought it was a good thing after being reassured that the engine wasn't too old to use it. now i know better

 

[N2OIL]

Bob Makes an excellent point. Motul could very well be cleaning Brand X deposits out. You are also worried about morning smoke ,but you do not list consumption rates. Also give Motul some time to soak into your guide seals it might just be ok given some time. I switched to Synergyn 3/30 @ 120,000 miles with 5.7L and it smoked on start up for a couple weeks & now has no consumption issues.

 

[dc2r]

oh sorry i should have mentioned that... since changing to synthetic 3000kms ago i've lost about a 1/5th on the dipstick... not sure what that translates into in quarts. according to the book the engine takes 5.7quarts of oil with filter.

between then and now i had no oil burning issues. i did briefly have what i thought was a rear main seal leak but it has not reappeared after the change and i did not pursue it further.

i haven't asked the dealer what type of oil was used for service. i only know it's quaker state because the service sticker on the window has their logo on it. i can only assume it came out of a bulk barrel...

 

[greg_J35]

quote:

---

Originally posted by dc2r:
hi... newbie here. not sure where to post.

i have a car with 114k kms on it. it's been dealer serviced on regular quaker state dino oil up to 3k kms ago when i decided to go at it on my own and switched to motul synthetic.

i thought all was fine until last week when on the first cold start of the day there was blue exhaust smoke on startup. it dosen't do it anytime else. people are telling me it's a sign of the valve guides and/or seals on their way out

was i wrong in going synthetic with so much mileage? can i go back to regular dino oil and save it? or should i go with something like valvoline maxlife?

incidentally a mechanic told me to use the lucas oil treatment, and swore he's used it for years on his own and his customers' cars and never had a complaint... but after reading/seeing what was posted here i'm scared off the stuff!

help?

---

Go back to what you were doing and drive on.

 

[Vspec]

I seriously dont think you did any harm to your engine or seals.

If you dont want to do a Auto-rx treatment (even though I recommend it) do some short OCI's with mobil or something along those lines.

 

[LarryL]

Are you going to keep the car? If so, a cycle of Auto-RX will not hurt anything and just may do the cleaning your engine needs. Just follow the instructions and go back to the synthetic when complete.

1. Change oil, use dyno 5-30, new oil filter and full bottle of ARX, this is the cleaning cycle.
2. Go 1000/1500 miles. Change oil, use dyno 5w-30 and new filter, this is the rinse cycle.
3. If more cleaning is needed after the rinse cycle, do another cycle starting at step 1. Else, use synthetic and new filter.

Take the Lucas back to the store for a refund.

You will now be an engine cleaning expert. If you can get a picture inside somewhere, post it before and after.

 

[KJA426]

I'd go to one of the High Mileage series of conventional oils. Probably 10w-30 or 5w-30 if it gets pretty cold.

 

[Blake Sobiloff]

dc2r, you haven't done any harm to your engine. As others have noted, your synthetic oil is likely cleaning up deposits left behind by conventional oils the last 100K kms.

Synthetic oils have more cleaning capability than conventional oils; however, you should probably perform an Auto-RX application. Oil is meant to lubricate, and if it has to do a lot of cleaning it will rapidly get used up. Auto-RX is made to clean and it frees the oil up from cleaning duties and allows the oil to lubricate and last longer.

Once you have your engine nice and clean you can switch back to synthetics if you like. However, I'd only recommend synthetics if you're looking for extended drain intervals. Modern dino oils are very good and can handle longer intervals than ever.

 

[goodvibes]

It sounds like your losing about 1/4 qt in 2000 mi. Nothing to worried about if it's double that. It's just cleaning the valve guides and seeping through a bit. Leave it alone and see how things progress.

 

[bobo]

I would go the AutoRX route. Follow the instructions to the T. Use the existing synthetic oil for the 1,500 mile clean phase, but change the oil filter. Use dino oil for the 2,000 mile rinse phase and remember to change the filter.

Switch back to synthetic.

I would try Esso XD3 Extra, 0w30, PAO, full synthetic. Phone the Esso bulk plant on 3100 Underhill out in Burnaby (Lake City, just off Lougheed Hwy on north side). Dealer is M.R. Smith. (604) 420-4331

 

[dc2r]

i'm still reading the auto-rx site... it's telling me in the instructions for seal leaks auto-rx should only be used with regular dino oil and not synthetic. and this includes all subsequent oil changes afterwards?

also, what do i gain from using 0w30? i've never gone that low before...

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

---

Originally posted by dc2r:
i'm still reading the auto-rx site... it's telling me in the instructions for seal leaks auto-rx should only be used with regular dino oil and not synthetic. and this includes all subsequent oil changes afterwards?

---

No. Once you have completed the final rinse phase you can go back to using synthetic.