Eliminating oil consumption (1 Viewer)

[ELW2]

Here’s my plan to reduce/eliminate oil consumption on my 1994 FZJ80.

Current issues: Some seepage/burning -- about 1 quart every 1,500 miles. Technically not outside of factory spec, but would like to reduce or eliminate.

First I’ll try the following ‘easy’ method, before considering replacement of gaskets, etc.

Product selection criteria and background:

- Select an oil formulation with excellent cleaning, anti-wear, and anti-breakdown characteristics, etc.
- Select thinnest viscosity that still provides excellent wear characteristics.
- Select thinnest viscosity that mitigates/eliminates oil burn and seepage.
- All else being equal, prefer thinner viscosity because of better cold start protection and fuel mileage.

- Selected conventional mineral oil over synthetic as a cost effective ($2.50 per qt), high performing solution. Blackstone used oil analyses (UOAs) show that the best conventional oils compare very well to synthetics over regular oil change intervals.
- Selected Chevron 'Supreme' and Chevron 'Delo' oil formulations. Will test products from these two lines. Selected Chevron over conventional oils from Shell, Mobil, Castrol, etc.

- The recommended oil viscosity in the US Owner’s Manual is restricted by US CAFE fuel efficiency regulations. Therefore, using the Australia Owner’s Manual recommendations, which provide additional factory-approved options.
- Australia Owner's Manual recommends a range between 5W-30 and 20W-50. For my usage, I'm not considering the outer ends of this spectrum.

- Selected Purolator PureONE PL30001 oil filter. Selected PureONE over filters from Mobil 1, K&N, Amsoil, OEM, Napa Gold, Wix, etc.
​

Plan:

1) Clean sludge with BG Engine Purge and varnish with BG Quick Clean for Engines; twice if needed.
http://www.bgprod.com/products/engineoil.html

2) Treat engine with Auto-Rx, twice if needed.
http://www.auto-rx.com/pages/heavy_oil_burning.html

3) Select optimum viscosity.

- Perform tests over shorter 3,000 mile OCIs.
- Start with thinner factory recommended (non-CAFE restricted) oil and move up toward thicker, as needed.
- Stop increasing viscosity when adequate reduction or elimination of burn/seepage is achieved.
- Viscosity progression:

- Chevron Supreme 10W-30
- Chevron Supreme 10W-40
- Chevron Delo 400 Multigrade 15W-40 (not LE)
​

- As needed, progress to High Mileage formulations:

- Chevron Supreme High Mileage 10W-30
- Chevron Supreme High Mileage 10W-40
​

4) When oil selection is complete, resume regular 6,000 mile / 6 month oil change intervals (half that for severe use). Today’s better oil formulations and the 1FZ-FE's 8 quart sump allow longer OCIs than “my grandfather’s” (and Jiffy Lube’s revenue-generating) 3,000 mile OCI. Having said that, a 6,000 mile OCI is still well below the Owner’s Manual regular use recommendation of 7,500 miles / 12 months.

 

[94SRUNNER]

Have you pin pointed where exactly your oil seepage is originating from? Or if in fact it is burning excessive oil?

Mine seeps about a half a quart over the coarse of a 4-5K oil change cycle. Once the oil pump cover seal and front main are changed that should eliminate the majority of seepage.

You may also want to look at the distributor o-ring and valve cover gasket.

Fixing these areas could mitigate the majority of you oil consumption issues and you could just keep running the same oil as before.

Good luck.

 

[Pin_Head]

I doubt that your plan would have any significant effect on oil consumption or leakage. A better plan would be to check the compression and if it is good fix the oil leaks.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

5W-30 is the recommended oil.

 

[AShoe]

I think you would have better success doing a compression and leakdown test on the engine, and looking for points of seepage. On high mileage engines the cleaning products can increase oil consumption as often as they decrease them by dissolving small deposits on the valve guides and gaskets and allowing more oil to pass into the combustion chamber or leak out of the engine. Before you do anything pull the valve cover and oil pan off the engine and see if there are really any significant deposits on the engine. Most of the engines that have regular oil changes are very clean.

 

[lowtops]

Auto-Rx gets a lot of press on BITOG. I have never used it, but would like to know what your experience is with it. Keep us posted.

 

[OGBeno]

I doubt that your plan would have any significant effect on oil consumption or leakage. A better plan would be to check the compression and if it is good fix the oil leaks.

I agree with Pin_Head here. There is a more substantial reason why you are burning oil and doing what you stated is merely putting a band-aid on a problem.

Good luck.

 

[thetrekkerguy]

I also have a oil consumption issue. mine seems a little more severe though, i went a road trip of about 275 miles and used 2 qts of oil. i was going to start with checking for proper pcv operation, and that my air filter and intake tubes are not plugged then i was going to move on to leak down test and possible valve guide seals since there are 24 of them that could leak. also in my experince those engine flush products are not a good idea i used one of those ona s-10 blazer once and spun a rod bearing with in that oil change. let me know what you find.

 

[jibber]

Ignore the first post in this, some decent discussion follows: https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-...missing-what-happen.html?highlight=oil+normal

 

[thetrekkerguy]

Ignore the first post in this, some decent discussion follows: https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-...missing-what-happen.html?highlight=oil+normal

thanks for steering me to that link that helped shed some light on this whole situation

 

[Ebag333]

5W-30 is the recommended oil.

Only in the US and only to get us that extra quarter mile per gallon.

Both my trucks use much less oil than with 15w-40 than they do with 10w-30 (I can't even imagine 5w-30!). They are currently running 5w-40 for the winter, and usage is up over 15w-40, though still less than 10w-30.

 

[Fly Rod]

Only in the US and only to get us that extra quarter mile per gallon.

Both my trucks use much less oil than with 15w-40 than they do with 10w-30 (I can't even imagine 5w-30!). They are currently running 5w-40 for the winter, and usage is up over 15w-40, though still less than 10w-30.

I am running Mobile 1 5-30 or Amsoil 5-30 depending on what is on hand. Oil consumption/loss runs @ 1qt per 2,500 miles. That is depending on how hard I drive an on road types.

 

[Ebag333]

I am running Mobile 1 5-30 or Amsoil 5-30 depending on what is on hand. Oil consumption/loss runs @ 1qt per 2,500 miles. That is depending on how hard I drive an on road types.

With 10w-30, I was about 1.5 quart every 3k miles for the truck, and 2 quarts every 3k miles for mine.

With 15w-40 in the truck it's about 1 quart every 5k miles, and mine is pretty close to the same.

5w-40 has more consumption than the 15w-40 does, but I haven't run it long enough to really say how much more.

 

[sdbrassfield]

Oil consumption is overrated on this forum. Leaking it is one thing, but using oil, if it is within/close to spec is no big deal. If you keep your rig well maintained and check fluids religiously it is a non-issue. As you can see here, using a thicker oil can allow you to manipulate your consumption.

When managed correctly a rig that consumes a little oil is always getting it replenished and adding the good stuff/additives etc back which is beneficial and can extend oil change intervals if thats the way you want to do it/can tolerate it.

This forum has alot of folks spending alot of money and brain cells chasing oil consumption non-issues. My rigs use a quart about every 1 to 2K miles and I would not want it any other way. I sleep great. Leaking the oil is an annoyingly different matter, at which I lose sleep...

 

[ELW2]

Thanks very much for the wide range of replies.

I look forward to executing my plan.

As an additional background comment, I had a startup rattle (@ cold start 1900 RPM for a couple seconds before dropping) that I eliminated by upgrading the filter and increasing viscosity slightly (I suspect the filter upgrade alone was sufficent to eliminate the rattle). Anyway, I plan to select an oil/filter that, in addition to the stated criteria, keeps the startup rattle at bay.

If it turns out that Chevron Delo 15W-40 resolves the oil consumption issues, I'll need to decide whether to run a 15W over winter. Typical winter conditions for my usage could contain infrequent extreme temps as low as 0F, technically too low for a 15W. In this scenario, I'll probably run 10W-40 or High Mileage 10W-40 in winter.

After I select an oil, the ongoing plan is to change oil twice a year -- mid-October and mid-April.

My guess is that I'll end up with Chevron Delo 400 Multigrade 15W-40 (not LE) in summer and Chevron Supreme 10W-40 in winter, but we shall see.

 

[Ebag333]

If it turns out that Chevron Delo 15W-40 resolves the oil consumption issues, I'll need to decide whether to run a 15W over winter. Typical winter conditions for my usage could contain infrequent extreme temps as low as 0F, technically too low for a 15W. In this scenario, I'll probably run 10W-40 or High Mileage 10W-40 in winter.

You could also do an oil pan heater, which would make start up even easier.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

My oil consumption varies with my driving style.

If I drive normally, she won't burn a drop

However, if I drive her hard (WOT stop light races, heavy towing, redline shifts, etc.), she goes through a quart about every 3k miles.

I usually go 3k between changes, except for BlackStone samples which go much longer.

Right now, I'm @ 9k on the last interval and letting it go to 10k (200,000 mile mark) for my next sample

With mixed driving (lots of idling, some towing, WOT starts, but no redline shifts), she's only been through 1.5 quarts



Rick

 

[Kernal]

ELW2: about your start-up rattle; did you change the filter and oil at the same time, like could you tell which one was the cure of the rattle? Which filter brand and what oil viscosity did you go from and to?

 

[jakesiar]

With regards, to the Auto-RX product, I have used it in a Saab as well as 2 Chevy Suburbans. I like the product and feel it does what it claims to do (check their website because I could go on and on). I am currently in my second phase of cleaning with Auto-RX. I personally would not go with the harsher cleaning products but that is me. I am currently running Castrol 15W-50 but I am thinking of changing to M1 after I complete this cleaning cycle.
My gas mileage improved 3-5 mpg with the Suburbans and the Saab and overall, we'll see with the 80.
Good luck!

 

[ELW2]

ELW2: about your start-up rattle; did you change the filter and oil at the same time, like could you tell which one was the cure of the rattle? Which filter brand and what oil viscosity did you go from and to?

kernal, if I were doing a scientific test, I would have just changed one variable at a time. In reality, I did a regular oil change and used what I had handy and wanted to use up.

My rattle occured on cold starts. My cold start RPMs peak briefly at 1,900 and ratchet down to 1,800, 1,600 and so on fairly quickly.

This is what eliminated the rattle:

- Changed from regular black Toyota filter to K&N HP-3001. I prefer the PureONE PL30001 filter, but I had a K&N on the shelf and wanted to use it up. The K&N is very similar to a Mobil1.

- Changed from Toyota dealer-provided 5W-30 to Castrol High Mileage 10W-30. I prefer a Chevron Supreme 10W, but had this Castrol handy and wanted to use it up.

I suspect the filter alone was sufficient to eliminate the rattle.