Losing OIL!!! Please help :-(

[USAstang]

Hello again, thanks for all who have answered my previous pleas!

I use 10-30 Mobil 1 right now and I go through about 2 quarts(maybe 3) I would say through oil changes.

Should I change into a thicker weight? If I do what would be the downside of it.

I was trying to see if Mobil made any high-milelage oils, also my car has 110003 miles on it.

Ideas would be great... oh and I don't notice any leaks.

 

[HISSIN50]

M1 does make a HM oil. were you burning some before you switched to synthetic?

are you sure you are burning it or are you leaking oil (syn's can clean crud out of seals and show you where you had leaks)?

good luck.

 

[89MustangGX]

If you are in fact burning it, it's acceptable to do in these engines. The rings that were used allow it, that's why the 'Check Oil' light is on the dash.

 

[HISSIN50]

gotta love low tension rings.

 

[90mustangGT]

Yes, our cars engine's do consume more oil than most but that is a little extreme. That is what mine started doing. It kept getting worse. To make a long story short, it had bad rings, had 30-50% compression loss in a leakdown test. Now rebuilding engine.

 

[PNY PWR]

160,000 miles and mine uses no oil. You're going to have to live with it or break down and fix it.

 

[SilverFox90]

i had to add about 1/2 quart to mine in 3000 miles....did notice about 2 drops on the garage floor after bein parked in there the other day....never noticed it smoke at all neither has anyone behind me

 

[HISSIN50]

I use 10-30 Mobil 1 right now and I go through about 2 quarts(maybe 3) I would say through oil changes.

Should I change into a thicker weight? If I do what would be the downside of it.

to actually answer what you asked (sorry, i missed that you said you had no leaks that you could see):

a thicker oil will not flow as well upon morning start up. knowing where you live/your climate would really help out. more than one stanger in warmer climates has been known to run a thicker oil if the motor has some miles on it. you really want the thinnest oil that maintains pressure when hot.

if i did not ask before, how much oil did you go through with conventional oil?

i assumed you were going through 2 quarts per 3K miles - do you run an extended OCI with the synthetic? e.g 2 quarts in 5-6K miles would not be a biggie.

good luck and where did you go?

 

[USAstang]

Hello again sorry about posting so late.. FINALS WEEK :-(

I live in South Florida, moreover I still change the synthetic every 3000. If I remember it's been a while since I've used reg oil, I did lose (consume) less oil. I would say the person was close to right when saying 2 quarts for reg 3 for synth per oil change.

I'm sorta in a bind right now financially and may just stick to using reg oil untill I graduate, and then get myself a new engine and drop that bad boy in it.

Still learning a lot from you people and appreciate all your posts.

 

[HISSIN50]

i dont know exactly how your temps compare to mine (im in tucson. summer highs are 110*F and winters are mild - lows of 50* most of the time). so what i do when pinched for money (ok, all the time. LOL): run the syn in the summer - the hot ambient temps really take a beating on the oil. then in winter, which is my mild season, i run dino (in the summer i run M1 15-50 for a syn; or 20-50 or 10-40 for a conventional oil). winter is 10-40.

that make sense? i dont sweat it as much in winter as temps are not 'extreme'. i worry about low viscosity oil (i.e. 10W-30) thinning out too much and running too hot in 110* heat.

not that i recommend this for you to try - what i do is based on each motor (family has umpteen cars - i have 6 vehicles). so it is a 'play it by ear, car to car' thing. but that is the crude idea of what i do and my thinking.

good luck.

 

[Silver95Stint]

I am also burning oil at an alarming rate. I can see where the oil is going, and it looks like my rear and main seals are causing the oil consumption. I am currently running 15w 50 I believe, and I just added a full quart last week. I'm right at 2600 hundred miles from my last oil change, and she has aboubt 115k on the clock. I wanted to try and use some of that stop leak crap, but I don't know how that will effect my car. Has anyone tried this, and I'm sorry for hijacking your thread bruh. But I hate seeing that low oil light in the morning.

 

[Michael Yount]

Silver - Don't use the stop leak - it's a bandaid on a cut requiring stitches at best; at worst it screws up other things. Check and be sure your pcv system is operating correctly. When too much crankcase pressure builds up because the pcv system is clogged, it can blow oil out the seals. With the pcv system working correctly, it it's still leaking then you can replace the seal. Also, you say it's 'burning' oil, but then you say it's leaking out the seal. Those are two different ways of consuming oil. Buring oil occurs because of excess oil entering the combustion chamber through worn rings, valve guides and/or valve seals. Leaks are simply seals or gaskets not doing their job - or due to excess crankcase pressure as described above. Once you stop the leaks, you'll find out if it's burning oil -- unless your buddies already tell you it's smoking blue. If that's happening, you're burning a good bit too.

USAstang - you say between changes, but you don't tell us how many mile between changes. 3 qts. in 3000 miles is excessive in my view. 3 qts. in 12,000 miles is reasonable. So - how many miles per qt. burned?

Mine has 66K on the motor - dry as a bone (no leaks at all) and doesn't burn enough at 3k oil change intervals to register any difference on the dipstick. In the last 12K miles or so, it deposited about 6 oz. of oil in the pcv catch can I installed.

 

[HISSIN50]

Mine has 66K on the motor - dry as a bone (no leaks at all) .

we would have expected nothing else!

good questions about the PCV - once he mentioned both seals, that was my first thought.