Car Burns Oil???

[Oldtrout]

Yep Iron Horse, I buy the cheapest oil I can get by the case usually at wally world. The last case I got worked out to $1.98 a liter. I did use premium shell for a while and added stp still one liter /1000 km.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well, I have still not changed the oil. I have not driven it much lately due to the weather. I have had to drive the 4x4's due to the 6" or better of snow on our roads and its 2 miles to the nearest road they plow.

I did pick up a case of Mobile 10W40 Monday at Rural King, they had it on sale. I will use it and monitor the consumption rate versus the 5W30 and 10W30 I had been using.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well, I changed the oil yesterday and used 3.5 qts of Mobil 5,000 5W30 and .5 qts of STP Oil Additive. I drove the car 120 miles last night and will check the oil level later today to see what happened.

Just a recap of previous post. Car calls for 5W30 with 10W30 being allowed in certain temps. Was burning 1 qt per 800 miles with both grades.. Believe its going past the rings. Car still averages 32 in town and 38 on highway so really don't want to tear down the engine and I also do not believe its bad enough to do so. Its a very cold Indiana winter so in spring I will try 10W40 if I get no results from the STP additive and the recommended 5W30.

I will keep you all posted.

Chris

 

[Turbys_1700]

I know what you are talking about. I bought a 96 Seville SLS in 99 with 57K miles on it. That car was burning a quart of oil every 1200 miles when I bought it. Those Northstars are known for that. I've still got the car. 223K miles on it now. Original engine and tranny. Burns a quart every 1000 miles. I don't worry about it any more.

 

[tomd999]

Hey Chris,

One thing might put a crimp in your plans to keep running it. If it continues to use a Qt/1K miles and you live where they have strict emission laws you may end up at a point where it won't pass emission inspection.

If memory serves me correctly, starting in '96 most car makers went to a closed loop engine management system. These use two oxygen sensors, one upstream of the cat and one down stream. The purpose of these is to monitor the cat and make sure that it's doing it's job. As oil does not burn completely, it will eventually foul the bed in the converter to the point where to voltage difference in the two sensors causes the engine management system to throw a code. (the converter won't last forever even if the engine doesn't use oil, but added oil smoke running through the exhaust will hasten the process) I ran a 97 Camry with this issue for several years, it would use about the same amount of oil and throw a code every 3 or 4 months.

Tom

 

[Diamondpilot]

Hey Chris,

One thing might put a crimp in your plans to keep running it. If it continues to use a Qt/1K miles and you live where they have strict emission laws you may end up at a point where it won't pass emission inspection.

If memory serves me correctly, starting in '96 most car makers went to a closed loop engine management system. These use two oxygen sensors, one upstream of the cat and one down stream. The purpose of these is to monitor the cat and make sure that it's doing it's job. As oil does not burn completely, it will eventually foul the bed in the converter to the point where to voltage difference in the two sensors causes the engine management system to throw a code. (the converter won't last forever even if the engine doesn't use oil, but added oil smoke running through the exhaust will hasten the process) I ran a 97 Camry with this issue for several years, it would use about the same amount of oil and throw a code every 3 or 4 months.

Tom

No emissions checks here. Glad about that. As for the converter it did need one replaced at 102,000 miles but it was the oem one that had been on it from day one. I have put about 12,000 miles on this car since the converter (about 9 months ago) and no issues or codes so time will tell.

I have not gotten to drive this car for a week or better, we got 14" of snow and its all I can do to get to the main roads in one of my 3 4x4 trucks. 35mph winds for the last 3 days have left drifts big enough to bury vans let alone little Saturn's.

Chris

 

[skent]

I've been driving my daughters old 96 SC2 since 2007. She bought a new Yaris and the dealer didn't really want her Saturn (had 135,000), so I bought it. Been driving 80 mile round trip every day. Getting 34 mpg and using around a Qt every 1000 miles. Now has 160,000 and still getting 1000 per Qt.

I don't think that is too much, I'd base it on history of the vehicle. If you get to a point to where the oil consumption makes a big change, then maybe you have an issue. But I just keep adding as needed.

 

[john_bud]

Remember the original Vega's? Check the gas and fill the oil!

jb

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well, I changed the oil yesterday and used 3.5 qts of Mobil 5,000 5W30 and .5 qts of STP Oil Additive. I drove the car 120 miles last night and will check the oil level later today to see what happened.

Just a recap of previous post. Car calls for 5W30 with 10W30 being allowed in certain temps. Was burning 1 qt per 800 miles with both grades.. Believe its going past the rings. Car still averages 32 in town and 38 on highway so really don't want to tear down the engine and I also do not believe its bad enough to do so. Its a very cold Indiana winter so in spring I will try 10W40 if I get no results from the STP additive and the recommended 5W30.

I will keep you all posted.

Chris

Well I checked the oil today after 800 miles of driving on the 5W30 and STP. It was 9/10 of a quart low. So the oil consumption got just a tad better with the STP, maybe another 100 miles before it would be a full quart low.

Will changed the oil again in 2,200 miles and will be going over to Mobil 5000 10W40 and will post back the results. If no change I will then try the ATF trick John Bud suggested.

Chris

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Well I checked the oil today after 800 miles of driving on the 5W30 and STP. It was 9/10 of a quart low. So the oil consumption got just a tad better with the STP, maybe another 100 miles before it would be a full quart low.

Will changed the oil again in 2,200 miles and will be going over to Mobil 5000 10W40 and will post back the results. If no change I will then try the ATF trick John Bud suggested.

Chris

Diamondpilot,

I didn't read all the post on this, but do they make any kind of lucas oil product that would help you.
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Bill