Down 2 quarts of oil
#1
08-07-2016, 12:31 PM
Down 2 quarts of oil
I own a 2000 SL1 5 speed with over 200,000 miles on the odometer; the previous owners of the car told me that it wasn't the original motor. I changed the oil with castrol high mileage motor oil and I have to refill two quarts of oil every 200 miles. There's no smoke, no knocking or ticking; what's my problem? Please help asap
#4
08-08-2016, 08:47 AM
Yes, Andy is referring to the catalytic converter. The oil will ruin it. HE knows these L series cars. He owns several.
#5
08-08-2016, 10:46 AM
He knows cars. Period.
Even this SL1 which is an S car.
1 qt/100 miles is the worst oil devouring saturn I have ever heard of that ran.
What oil were you using before the Castrol and how much did it consume per 100 miles?
Are you sure you don't have a massive rear main seal, crank seal or timing cover seal leak? I can't see it burning that much oil w out smoking at all and still be running.
Did the previous owners divulge the oil usage to you BEFORE the sale? If not I believe it's called fraud.
Even this SL1 which is an S car.
1 qt/100 miles is the worst oil devouring saturn I have ever heard of that ran.
What oil were you using before the Castrol and how much did it consume per 100 miles?
Are you sure you don't have a massive rear main seal, crank seal or timing cover seal leak? I can't see it burning that much oil w out smoking at all and still be running.
Did the previous owners divulge the oil usage to you BEFORE the sale? If not I believe it's called fraud.
Last edited by derf; 08-10-2016 at 11:56 AM.
#6
08-08-2016, 02:53 PM
I gotta agree with derf. It sure as hell sounds like a massive leak to me. Front crank seal will **** out as much oil as a rear main too. Put a piece of cardboard under the engine after you park it for the evening and check it the next morning. If there's a leak that big, you're guaranteed to see it on the cardboard.
#8
09-03-2016, 02:54 PM
High mileage Saturn's have a reputation for using oil. Oil usage is basically caused by two things.
A leak. Easy to ascertain, something is wet once parked after running. The ground, something on the car and the ground. I think you get the idea.
Or engine wear. Engine wear can be caused by a lot of things, high mileage is one but not the only one.
An oil that is not heavy enough to properly lubricate the motor when running. Either the environment it is being run in or it is being run hard.
Statistically a light weight oil as determined by a viscosity statement is a primary reason for lack of lubrication and the Saturn recommendation of a 5 W 20 motor oil is exactly what a light weight oil is defined as.
Once wear, generally piston rings, nothing will fix the problem until the engine is rebuilt.
If wear is not too great a heavier oil such as a 10w30 or a 10w40 or a 15w40 or a 15W50 or a 20W50 oil can be used.
How is this determined if you choose to figure it out?
You can use a Viscosity vs Temperature chart such as the one displayed.
This is one of many that can be found on the internet and is used like this.
The first number of the oil you would like to use represents the highest viscosity that is recommended for the lowest temperature you will regularly see.
So if the lowest temperature you regularly will see is something like 10 degrees above zero a "10 or 15W oil" is the first recommendation.
Next look at the highest temperature you will regularly see. In my case the last 100 days were well over 100 degrees so for me a 30, 40 or 50 weight oil can be used.
So to use a multi viscosity weight oil from the chart, a recommended oil would be a
10W30 or a 15W40, or a 20W50 and a few others but those are regularly available. My engine would not be properly lubricated if the temperature dropped down to 15 degrees above zero or was over 100 degrees above zero.
Thus my choice for my Saturn which has about 110 thousand miles on it is a 20W50 motor oil. A synthetic or dinosaur based oil, it makes no difference except how it affects the oil change intervals.
My Saturn purchased used in 1996 started out using (from the time of purchase) a 10w30 multi viscosity oil and some where around the turn of the century it was changed to a 20W50 viscosity dead dinosaur based oil. I bought a new Chrysler in 2007 with a recommended 5W20 motor oil. The very first oil change it was switched to a 15W50 Mobil 1 synthetic with the oil change intervals as follows.
Every 4000 miles the oil filter was changed and one quart of oil was added to make up for the loss of the oil with the filter change. At 12,000 miles it had a full oil change and the cycle then repeated up until 110,000 miles at which point I had an accident and totaled the car. That cycle of oil/filter change is about what the High Mileage synthetic oils are recommending these days.
The Chrysler never used a drop of oil between oil changes. The Saturn? It too does not use a drop of oil between oil changes
Fast forward to today, I replaced the now dead Chrysler with a 2015 Dodge Caravan with the 2.6LV6 with variable cam shaft position technology. It has twice the HP the Chrysler did and recommends a 5W20 or a 0W20 motor oil.
I am using a 10W30 Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil following the High Mileage oil change interval recommendation of changing the filter and adding a quart of oil which balances out the expense of the synthetic vs dinosaur based oil the last of which would be a full oil and filter change every 3 to 4000 miles.
The Saturn will be switched to the 15W50 Mobil 1 because I now have a large supply of it as will a few other cars I own.
By cross checking the internet and observations I have made, there now seems to be a number of automobiles that are using a large amount of oil from day zero all of which started using that amount of oil and increasing as time and mileage have accumulated. Since a recommended viscosity of 5W20 or less has been a factory recommendation. When checking with the factory on these cars the factory is indicating that 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles is a satisfactory usage rating. A number that I have always interpreted as the beginning symptom of excessive wear
At 110,000 would have been the point that I have experienced in the past that oil consumption of 1 QT/1000 miles is a symptom of wear and the engine is showing signs of needing rebuilding.
So it seems that the industry is selling us vehicles that need new engines the day they come off the show room floor, the use of a light weight oil is aggravating the tendency to wear the piston rings out causing excessive oil usage.
Once the wear is showing up as a symptom, nothing can fix it other than replacing parts. However by switching to a heavier weight oil, oil consumption can slow down. How much? Depends on the amount of wear.
I own 7 cars, 5 of which are running as either late model used cars or a collector car that I have either rebuilt the engine or inspected it prior to driving it. None of which use excessive oil except my 1970 390 cu in V8 Javelin which the valve guide umbrella's have failed and no longer perform their job.
The point of all this
Sorry for the length. A light weigh oil aggravates wear which causes excessive oil consumption.
You as an owner have two choices, rebuild the engine or use a heavier weigh oil.
The first choice solves the problems the second choice slows down on going wear and oil consumption but does not fix excessive oil consumption.
But if you catch things in time, like the day you bought it and after the first 2 or 300 miles for engine break in started using a heavier grade oil you can eliminate excessive wear which eliminates oil consumption symptoms.
A leak. Easy to ascertain, something is wet once parked after running. The ground, something on the car and the ground. I think you get the idea.
Or engine wear. Engine wear can be caused by a lot of things, high mileage is one but not the only one.
An oil that is not heavy enough to properly lubricate the motor when running. Either the environment it is being run in or it is being run hard.
Statistically a light weight oil as determined by a viscosity statement is a primary reason for lack of lubrication and the Saturn recommendation of a 5 W 20 motor oil is exactly what a light weight oil is defined as.
Once wear, generally piston rings, nothing will fix the problem until the engine is rebuilt.
If wear is not too great a heavier oil such as a 10w30 or a 10w40 or a 15w40 or a 15W50 or a 20W50 oil can be used.
How is this determined if you choose to figure it out?
You can use a Viscosity vs Temperature chart such as the one displayed.
This is one of many that can be found on the internet and is used like this.
The first number of the oil you would like to use represents the highest viscosity that is recommended for the lowest temperature you will regularly see.
So if the lowest temperature you regularly will see is something like 10 degrees above zero a "10 or 15W oil" is the first recommendation.
Next look at the highest temperature you will regularly see. In my case the last 100 days were well over 100 degrees so for me a 30, 40 or 50 weight oil can be used.
So to use a multi viscosity weight oil from the chart, a recommended oil would be a
10W30 or a 15W40, or a 20W50 and a few others but those are regularly available. My engine would not be properly lubricated if the temperature dropped down to 15 degrees above zero or was over 100 degrees above zero.
Thus my choice for my Saturn which has about 110 thousand miles on it is a 20W50 motor oil. A synthetic or dinosaur based oil, it makes no difference except how it affects the oil change intervals.
My Saturn purchased used in 1996 started out using (from the time of purchase) a 10w30 multi viscosity oil and some where around the turn of the century it was changed to a 20W50 viscosity dead dinosaur based oil. I bought a new Chrysler in 2007 with a recommended 5W20 motor oil. The very first oil change it was switched to a 15W50 Mobil 1 synthetic with the oil change intervals as follows.
Every 4000 miles the oil filter was changed and one quart of oil was added to make up for the loss of the oil with the filter change. At 12,000 miles it had a full oil change and the cycle then repeated up until 110,000 miles at which point I had an accident and totaled the car. That cycle of oil/filter change is about what the High Mileage synthetic oils are recommending these days.
The Chrysler never used a drop of oil between oil changes. The Saturn? It too does not use a drop of oil between oil changes
Fast forward to today, I replaced the now dead Chrysler with a 2015 Dodge Caravan with the 2.6LV6 with variable cam shaft position technology. It has twice the HP the Chrysler did and recommends a 5W20 or a 0W20 motor oil.
I am using a 10W30 Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil following the High Mileage oil change interval recommendation of changing the filter and adding a quart of oil which balances out the expense of the synthetic vs dinosaur based oil the last of which would be a full oil and filter change every 3 to 4000 miles.
The Saturn will be switched to the 15W50 Mobil 1 because I now have a large supply of it as will a few other cars I own.
By cross checking the internet and observations I have made, there now seems to be a number of automobiles that are using a large amount of oil from day zero all of which started using that amount of oil and increasing as time and mileage have accumulated. Since a recommended viscosity of 5W20 or less has been a factory recommendation. When checking with the factory on these cars the factory is indicating that 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles is a satisfactory usage rating. A number that I have always interpreted as the beginning symptom of excessive wear
At 110,000 would have been the point that I have experienced in the past that oil consumption of 1 QT/1000 miles is a symptom of wear and the engine is showing signs of needing rebuilding.
So it seems that the industry is selling us vehicles that need new engines the day they come off the show room floor, the use of a light weight oil is aggravating the tendency to wear the piston rings out causing excessive oil usage.
Once the wear is showing up as a symptom, nothing can fix it other than replacing parts. However by switching to a heavier weight oil, oil consumption can slow down. How much? Depends on the amount of wear.
I own 7 cars, 5 of which are running as either late model used cars or a collector car that I have either rebuilt the engine or inspected it prior to driving it. None of which use excessive oil except my 1970 390 cu in V8 Javelin which the valve guide umbrella's have failed and no longer perform their job.
The point of all this
Sorry for the length. A light weigh oil aggravates wear which causes excessive oil consumption.
You as an owner have two choices, rebuild the engine or use a heavier weigh oil.
The first choice solves the problems the second choice slows down on going wear and oil consumption but does not fix excessive oil consumption.
But if you catch things in time, like the day you bought it and after the first 2 or 300 miles for engine break in started using a heavier grade oil you can eliminate excessive wear which eliminates oil consumption symptoms.
#9
09-04-2016, 09:44 AM
Moot point as it doesn't appear the OP is ever coming back. I'll bet it was a rear main or front crank seal leak, as we all know, both can dump a lot of oil in a short period of time.
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