Oil Consumption - Now, I'll Try This

[Jay2TheRescue]

LOL, my truck which has almost 160,000 miles on it needs 1 Qt after ~ 4,000 miles. I probably wouldn't even need that except I check my oil EVERY time I get fuel, so most of that probably ended up being wiped off the dipstick. If I checked my oil once every month or so I could probably get it to go the full 5,000 miles on an oil change without being more than 1 Qt low at change time.

[VetteOwner]

yea same with my s-10, goes about 1/4 down on the hatched area of the dipstick in 3-4k miles.

the chevette is weird, it can burn halfway down the dipstick in 2 weeks then use barely anyhting for the next 8 months....it must leak out to a point then stop

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

If it they ain't seated in the first 500 miles they ain't gonna. Needs reringed and rehoned now, and new bearings pretty soon if you keep putting straight 30 in it.

"Going easy on it" is the very last stage of break-in, AFTER the rings have seated, just to get a nice glaze and polish over what the first stage of pounding the crap out of it achieved.

However, there's a controlled method of "pounding the crap out of it" that yields consistent results, that is to use low gear, 2nd or 3rd hard pulls uphill, at not quite maximum throttle, more like 3/4. Followed by engine braking down the other side of the hill, this loads both sides of the rings. Motor should be at operating temperature, but not allowed to get hot. Should not be driven at steady speed until a few runs of ring loading at high load.

This should be done with a good non-synthetic oil in it. For older engines that have been rebuilt diesel spec oils are recommended due to gasoline spec oils now having less zinc in than they were designed to be broken in with. This should be changed at 500 miles, the critical part of break in should now be done, if it isn't, you'll be lucky to seal it up now.

That's the important part... then the next stage of taking it easy and running steady speeds at lower RPM, ideal time to go for some long, lower speed highway cruises, can be done to polish off for 2000-5000 miles, again with regular oil. Personally I'd give a motor at least 10K before synthetic went in it.

I think people in general would do better if they'd never ever heard of break in, because almost naturally they'd "try out" their new car a lot for the first week or two and see what it would do, then calm down after the initial excitement wore off, and start to think "hey I should be a bit more careful" which lasts a couple or three months, and then it's just another car...


So what the hell do you do NOW? rebuild it, live with it, or get vicious with it.

Getting vicious is a last resort. No I don't mean putting straight 30 in it, that's just plain stupid, it's got no antiscuff or antiwear properties, no extreme pressure protection, it clags everything up with varnish, won't even hold the dirt in suspension, and will probably sludge. Sure you might think that the lack of antiscuff or antiwear stuff is good for seating rings, but it isn't really, that stuff kicks in just before metal starts welding to itself, which is not what we want to happen to rings and bores, if they get that hotspotted they're just as ruined as being glazed up too soon. The motors that had to use that crap had like a quarter to a half the specific output of todays motors, had cast iron bores, different rings, different bearings and 30,000 mile rebuilds.

So first up, cylinders are probably varnished badly due to lack of ring seating in the first place and recent use of straight 30. Starting with regular oil in it, non-synth recommended grade, drain a quart, add a quart of varsol/mineral spirits. Run motor warm, pull plugs, fill cylinders with varsol/mineral spirits, let sit overnight. Turn slowly by hand to push most of the varsol out, then crank fast for 30 secs, then put plugs back in. Hopefully it's clear of varnish now, still probably glazed with not enough edges to wear in ring to cylinder so... Start it, let it warm up again, pull off air intake, hold throttle at about 2000 RPM and start throwing handfuls of kitchen scouring powder down the intake. As much as it will suck without dropping too much and stay running, might need to up the throttle a tad, keep at it for 5 mins or so, keep revs in mid range. Hopefully we are scouring up the bores nicely. Now give it a couple of sharp blasts to 5000 rpm or so to blow as much crap out as possible without heating it too much, now give it 2000 RPM again and let it drink water through a thin vacuum line, dabbling it on the surface so it don't get too much. Do that for a few mins, let idle a couple, then shut down and drain the oil.

Now hopefully you have freed the bores of the varnish and glaze and have a fresh scoured metal surface. So fill with decent 5W30 or recommended grade non synth and warm up and go do the 1st stage breakin.

[Jay2TheRescue]

RW - All I gotta say is WoW. Just that procedure sounds scarry. Whenever I needed to seat valves I'd lock the tranny out of Overdrive and haul butt down I-95 for 20 or 30 miles. I did that with my old Gov't Step Van when I worked for the USMC. When I was hired my truck only had 1,500 miles on it, and the vehicle was only driven a max of 10 miles a day. Didn't run all that well, or have that much power. I took it out the front gate of Quantico, took it on I-95 South and locked the tranny in 3rd gear, and just floored it all the way down to the Garrisonville exit (about 15 miles), then took Barrett Heights Road up into Camp Barrett and TBS. The truck had noticably better power once I came off the highway, and after that I made a point of running the hell out of the truck on I-95 at least once a month to make sure it didn't get any carbon buildup in it.

[shatto]

Amusingly, this cam in tonights email;
http://www.imakenews.com/concordtoyo...6NGNV,bcbj829N

[dkjones96]

Not all manufacturers require you to change the oil within the first 1000 miles. My friend at work(a girl) bought a scion and didn't get the oil changed on it til its first service at 3k miles. I was like... wtf?! She said that's what they told her, and to drive it very easily. Doesn't matter to me as it isn't my car and I hate the way that xD drives lol!

[Jay2TheRescue]

When I had the new engine put in my Buick ~ 15 years ago this is what I did. It was a New crate engine from Buick with a 3 year 50,000 mile warranty. This is the break in that was recommended by my mechanic:

First 500 miles: Valvoline 10W30: Baby it, don't drive at a constant speed, keep it under 60MPH.

Change the oil & filter

Next 500 miles: Valvoline 10W30: Drive normally, but a few times a day do some WOT acceleration, but only when the engine is up to temp.

Change oil & filter

Next 4,000 miles: Valvoline 10W30: Drive Normally

Change oil & Filter

Every 5,000 miles after that: Mobil1 10W30: Drive Normal

Of course now I'm using Mobil1 5W30 in the car, and if it wasn't for the fear that it might start leaking too much oil (needs new valve cover gaskets) I'd have 0W30 in it. I'm changing my oil whenever my odometer mileage is divisible by 5,000, or 1 year has passed. Whichever comes first.

--Jay

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

Not all manufacturers require you to change the oil within the first 1000 miles. My friend at work(a girl) bought a scion and didn't get the oil changed on it til its first service at 3k miles.

I didn't know that any manufacturers do. My 2008 VW's schedule says the first change is at 5,000 miles, second at 10,000, and then every 10,000.

For 2009 they reduced the warranty from 50,000 miles to 36,000 miles but included free maintenance, and the first oil change is specified for 10,000 miles.