Excessive Oil Use

[oilman]

Just pick up the phone and call me, I'll sort out your oil problem and, if I don't, I'll happily refund you!

Cheers

Simon

01209 215164

[Spuffington]

Oilman - you'll certainly be getting my business when I next need to fill up!!

[sotal]

Just pick up the phone and call me, I'll sort out your oil problem and, if I don't, I'll happily refund you!

Cheers

Simon

01209 215164

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Well I couldn't pass up such a good offer, so I've just phoned Simon and a gallon of Silkolene (SP?) is on it's way

I will get the oil change done this weekend and I will post my results. Fingers Crossed - If it works out Simon will have a repeat order every 6000 miles :D

[oilman]

What I sold you was in fact Silkolene PRO S 10w-50.

I think you'll be a happy man ;)

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/TechSpecs/PRO%20...204%20Wheel.pdf

Cheers

Simon

[mikeb]

I have completed a compression test and all 4 gave very close readings all perfectly within the specifications. Obviously I have no history of compression tests so cannot say that they haven't changed over the life of the vehicle but I can say that they all look good.

I have had a quick read about Leak Down Testing and there is even an article on how to make your own leak down tester. Is this something I would be better going to a garage for? How long would it take to test my car?

I would like to know where the oil is going, even if the answer tells me I might as well leave it! Atleast then I would know what or where it is!

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Compression/leak down testing only tells you where AIR is escaping from your cylinders. It won't tell you much about where you are losing oil.

There are bascially 4 ways your engine can loose oil:

1) Leaking from a failed seal /gasket - but you've already checked and found no leaks.

2) Coughed up by the PCV system and sucked into the intake, due to a blocked breather etc. A catch can will expose this, but a quick check of the inlet tract just downstream of the breather T will usually show up oil in this case if the problem is significant.

3) Past the valve stem seals. Sometimes (but not always) indicated by a puff of blue smoke on startup/overrun. Stem seals can probably be changed without cylinder head removal.

4) Past the oil control rings on the piston. Pretty much looking at a total engine rebuild on this one. :(

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to differentiate between 3) and 4), and IMO it's most likely to be one of these two. As it appears to be a common problem with the 7a-fe, it might be well known in some circles which is the culprit. Maybe some of the other forums covering models where the 7a-fe is more common could shed some light on it.

At the end of the day if your engine is an oil burner, and it doesn't really matter what oil you put in (with regards to oil consumption, ignoring engine protection for the moment), it's still going to burn it unless it's as thick as treacle.

What type and grade is the Silkolene? I hope that it helps improve your oil consumption.

Edited to add:

just seen that it's pro s 10w-50, obviously being a bit thicker at operating temp should make a bit of an improvement, and as the oil is so much better quality than what you have been using, the extra viscosity shouldn't have a -ve effect on engine protection. You might lose a bit of power/mpg though.

Goodluck, and I'm sure that you'll keep us updated.

[Spuffington]

Just out of interest, Oilman, what would you recommend for a Gen 7 Celica T-Sport (190)?

I think the handbook recommends 10W/40 - but looking at the spiel on the Silkolene you recommended above, it looks ideal for the cam 'lift' in the 1.8VVTL-i engine.

I tend to drive quite hard.........well, I guess that's what the lift is for eh?!! ;)

Also - do you have a ballpark figure of how much per gallon?

Cheers,

Dunk

[oilman]

I recommend Silkolene PRO S 5w-40 for the better cold start and the benefits of ester.

Cost.........well Club price is between £6.50 and £5.50 per litre depending on how much you buy, plus carriage. RRP is £45 for 5L!

Cheers

Simon

[sotal]

What I sold you was in fact Silkolene PRO S 10w-50.

I think you'll be a happy man ;)

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/TechSpecs/PRO%20...204%20Wheel.pdf

Cheers

Simon

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I look forward to receiving it and I Hope I will be a happy man!! :D

[Spuffington]

I recommend Silkolene PRO S 5w-40 for the better cold start and the benefits of ester.

Cost.........well Club price is between £6.50 and £5.50 per litre depending on how much you buy, plus carriage. RRP is £45 for 5L!

Cheers

Simon

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Cheers Simon - I'll be in touch soon. :)

[Cubic Incubi]

. The receiptionist went to fetch their "expert" When he returned he said theres only one type of oil for petrol engines which is 10w 40 and there is only one type of oil for diesel cars and that is 15w40. I said no not Toyota oil - what about other makes and he told me as far as he knows they are the only types of oil you can get.

I have made my mind up never to have my car serviced or even touched by a Toyota Mechanic EVER

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No offence to Toyota, they did after all make our cars and they built them well, and the older cars were allways, in my mind, over engineered - allways advanced, and the 190 is a very advanced engine - a built in turbo at 6K rpm :D lovely jubly.

These 'agents' or Toyota approved dealers and service and maintenance 'experts' do things by a book.

They arent experts in the true sense of the word. So really you can only expect them to reccomend what the book says, and the book is in general, for general cars being generally driven and needing a general service.

They never sit down with you and discuss to length the characteristics of the car, how you drive it, the temperatures and extremes the engine sees. so they just go by the book. Do you follow the manufacturers reccomendations for driving style in the owners handbook? nothing in my book is general - eveything needs to be considered, giving such consideration we find we have choices, nowt wrong with having a choice ;)

Remember though, as pointed out to me by a 190 owner - changing oil from the manufacturers spec can invalidate warranty's as its a engine modification.

cheers

[sotal]

I think at nearly 10 years old my car will be out of warranty by now :D

[cookci]

i was wondering what oil you would recommend for my 100K gen6 oilman? It tends to be running a little low just when it looks like it needs an oil change so usage isnt an issue.

currently ive been running 5W30 but cheap branded. Next oil change think i might try some quality stuff.

look forward to a response

cheers

christian

[oilman]

For the Gen6 I would go for a 5w-40 full synthetic, if you want a quality one then I would look at the SIlkolene Pro S 5w-40 or the Motul 300v 5w-40.

Just drop me a mail for prices sales@opieoils.co.uk

Cheers

Simon.

[Evilsean]

so i started reading this thread hoping to get a little education on oil ... passed my masters degree by the bottom of the 1st page then noticed there are 3!!!!pages...if i take all this in im up for a nobel

said it before....sayin it again ...you guys are the mutts

thank you sooo much ...this is both allowing me to sleep sounder AND giving me nightmares

next up ... getting a boost guage to find out whats REALLY going on

[Cubic Incubi]

Glad your interested Sean, I think about everything that works on the engine, and the oil is a very important factor.

Oil man - for the 165 -is it necessary to switch to a 30 operating temp grade for the winter if i'm expecting 125 degrees in the summer, I would have thought ability for the engine to make more power in colder ambient temps, would allow higher engine temps, so would I be better off with a 40 in all the other months of the year and 50 peak summer June-august ?

cheers

[oilman]

Glad your interested Sean, I think about everything that works on the engine, and the oil is a very important factor.

Oil man - for the 165 -is it necessary to switch to a 30 operating temp grade for the winter if i'm expecting 125 degrees in the summer, I would have thought ability for the engine to make more power in colder ambient temps, would allow higher engine temps, so would I be better off with a 40 in all the other months of the year and 50 peak summer June-august ?

cheers

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Is that an oil temperature of 125degC?

Cheers

Simon

[sephton19661]

Hi Again

After reading many posts in the forum i decided to try out a few of the things the posts said so i treated my celica with some ideas that i read in the posts.

1st of all i filled the tank up with optimax fuel (didnt Know it was that expensive )

£45 quid to fill her.

2nd i got some fuel aditive the one i chose was called NOS nitrous in a bottle it said £10 for that.

And last but not least i got a new toyota oil filter from local dealer and some silkolene 10-40 oil and done the oil change.

when i done all that i drove the car for about 30 miles and what a difference the engine is quieter and more responsive thats only after 30 miles so would like to thank the forum for al the posts and great tips.

next week i'll be getting a new air filter can anyone recomend a good one for a gen 5 gt-r.

cheers

sephton19661

[daktari]

TRD Panel filter. Fits straight into the airbox. Sorted. You might like to feed additional cold air in to the airbox. Theres a link here somewhere or PM cookci or kevstir.

[sephton19661]

TRD Panel filter. Fits straight into the airbox. Sorted.    You might like to feed additional cold air in to the airbox. Theres a link here somewhere or PM cookci or kevstir. 

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Cheers dak for that will buy one of them next week ive seen the thread about getting extra cold air into the air box but cant find it now will keep looking lol.

I'll find it and get that extra cold air.

Cheers. :D

[daktari]

Cold air thread thingy there you go matey.

[celica dave]

am i missing something here surely the problem lies deeper than just changing the oil to a better one?or will a better oil not break down so quick?my car seems fine when the oil is new but then slowly starts to use more and more till i change it again,i'm confused

[oilman]

Oil is far more important than most people give it credit.

SYNTHETICS vs MINERALS

Oil is the lifeblood of your vehicle's engine. For decades conventional petroleum oils have been providing adequate protection for all of our vehicles.

The key word here is adequate. Petroleum oils, for the most part, have done an adequate job of protecting our engines from break down. If you change it often enough, you can be relatively sure that your car will last 100,000 to 150,000 miles without a serious engine problem - maybe even longer.

The real question is, why settle for adequate when something better has been available for about 30 years?

Today's engines are built for better performance, and, although petroleum oils are designed for better protection and performance today than they were 10 or 20 years ago, there is only so much that can be done. Today's engines need high performance lubricants, and the only true ones available are synthetics.

Conventional petroleum oils are insufficient for use in today's vehicles primarily because they are manufactured from a refined substance, contain paraffins (wax), sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, water, salts and certain metals. All of these contaminants must be refined out of the basestock in order for it to be useful for use within a lubricant.

Unfortunately, no refining process is perfect. Impurities will always remain when any refining process is done. It simply isn't economical to continue to refine the oil again and again to remove more impurities. If this was done, petroleum oils would cost as much as synthetic oils do.

There are many components of petroleum oil basestocks which are completely unnecessary for protecting your engine. They do absolutely nothing to enhance the lubrication properties of the oil. In fact, most of these contaminants are actually harmful to your oil and your engine.

Some of the chemicals in conventional petroleum lubricants break down at temperatures well within the normal operating temperature range of your engine. Others are prone to break down in these relatively mild temperatures only if oxygen is present. But, this is invariably the case anyway, especially since oxygen is one of the contaminants within petroleum basestocks.

These thermally and oxidatively unstable contaminants do absolutely nothing to aid in the lubrication process. They are only present in conventional petroleum oils because removing them would be impossible or excessively expensive.

When thermal or oxidative break down of petroleum oil occurs, it leaves engine components coated with varnish, deposits and sludge. In addition, the lubricant which is left is thick, hard to pump and maintains little heat transfer ability.

In addition, petroleum oils contain paraffins which cause dramatic oil thickening in cold temperatures. Even with the addition of pour point depressant additives, most petroleum oils will begin to thicken at temperatures 10 to 40 degrees warmer than synthetic oils.

As a result, petroleum lubricants will not readily circulate through your engine's oil system during cold weather. This may leave engine parts unprotected for minutes after startup. Obviously, significant wear can occur during this time frame.

Even when all conditions are perfect for conventional oils to do their job, they fall far short of synthetic oils. Part of the problem is that (because of their refined nature) petroleum oils are composed of molecules which vary greatly in size. As the oil flows through your vehicle's lubrication system, the small, light molecules tend to flow in the center of the oil stream while the large, heavy ones adhere to metal surfaces where they create a barrier against heat movement from the component to the oil stream. In effect, the large, heavy molecules work like a blanket around hot components.

There is also another effect of the non-uniformity of petroleum oil molecules which reduces their effectiveness. Uniformly smooth molecules slip over one another with relative ease. This is not the case with molecules of differing size.

Theoretically, it might be somewhat similar to putting one layer of marbles on top of another (if this could easily be done). If the marbles were all of the same size, they would move over one another fairly easily. However, if they were all of differing sizes, the result would be much less efficient.

In the case of petroleum oils this inefficiency leads, ironically, to added friction in the system (the very thing that lubricants are supposed to reduce). Hence, petroleum oils are only marginally capable of controlling heat in your engine. Considering that motor oil does nearly 50% of the cooling of your engine, that's not a good thing. But,

This being said, petroleum oils are “adequate” for the purpose of protecting your engine, if you don't mind a shorter vehicle lifespan, inconvenient oil changes, or decreased engine performance. Under normal circumstances, most vehicles lubricated with petroleum oil should run satisfactorily for 100,000 to 150,000 miles without serious incidence.

If you like the hassle of changing your oil regularly, and you are only looking for marginal performance for the next 100,000 miles or so, petroleum oils are definitely the way to go.

Assuming that you don't relish the idea of changing your oil every 2,000 miles or and are looking to keep your “pride and joy” in tip-top condition then these are the main areas where synthetic oils surpass their petroleum counterparts.

Oil drains can be extended

Vehicle life can be extended

Costly repairs can be reduced

Fuel mileage can be improved

Performance can be improved

Cheers

Simon

[celica dave]

so will changing my oil to a decent one (i'm using Castrol high mileage)cure the st problem of using oil yet running great ,with no signs of burning oil etc ....sorry oilman for being a pain in the a*se ..must be my age!

[sotal]

we'll find out for sure - I've just taken SImons advice and filled my Celica with his recommendation

[oilman]

so will changing my oil to a decent one (i'm using castrol high mileage)cure the st problem of using oil yet running great ,with no signs of burning oil etc ....sorry oilman for being a pain in the a*se ..must be my age!

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What viscosity is the oil you're using and what's the mileage on the car?

Cheers

Simon