I was using 5w-30, I plan on going to either 10w-30 or 15w-40... If I can buy back the car cheap(dead engine lol)... I'm hoping to buy the thing back at scrap value due to it needing an engine as far as I knew when I traded it... I will point out that the car WOULD NOT crank under its own battery power the night that it "died" and it took it about 20 seconds for the oil pressure light to go off once we got it to start the next morning(that took every bit of half an hour, the engine breaking free a little bit at a time) all that time making a terrible knocking noise... Did I stem the damage when I shut the engine off that night? Definitely so. Did I save the engine completely? Not hardly...

 

Nothing wrong with using a 15W40. 'Specially with an older high mileage car and it is not the middle of winter with snow on the ground and it is a minus 5 degrees out side.
I'd even use it with a new car.

 

I figured to use it given the damage to the bottom end... Maybe take up the extra play in the bearings in the bottom end...

 

I'd start with 10w30, that is the only weight of oil I use in my Saturn, or any of my other cars for that matter, except the new Subaru uses 0w20. If the 10w30 doesn't stop the noise, then go to 15w40, but I personally like to ramp up, I'm not fond of jumping into the deep end until I've tested the water.

 

I consider 15w-40 to be a test of the waters... I was told that if the engine is actually knocking, and I wanted to make it quit without tearing it apart, to switch to 75w-90 to take up the gap in whatever bearings were damaged... The guy said they done that to a Toyota that developed a severe knock(actually it was Stihl bar oil) and that 22R lasted another 40,000 miles... That being said, I didn't plan on going that heavy unless it sounded like it was going to immediately throw a rod, which it doesn't...

 

75-90 is too heavy. It will probably blow out seals if you dump it full of that! I did that to a POS Pontiac I had years ago and it blew the camshaft out the rear of the engine.

 

Kieth uses a 10w30 and that is probably just fine for the the temperature where he lives.
It was 100 degrees at my house yesterday. An oil viscosity vs temperature chart says i can use a 20 W 50
and I do
it is not a matter of "Ramping"
it is a matter of what is available to be best suited for the environment you live in and the engine you are using.
The day I bought my new Chrysler in 2007 I drove it home and 3 or 400 miles later i changed to oil to 20W50. It turned 100,000 miles this week.
It still uses 20W50. My saturn and my 4 other cars all high mileage and older use 20W50.
And they are not broken.
Yours is broken
The worse thing you can do is break it and it is already broken.
Bad bearing knocks to not go away magically. But they can be lived with using a heavy oil.
The objective is to use something that lets you get by. Breaking it further is really not a concern. It is about as broken as it can get with out quitting completely.
While using a gear oil like a 90 weight is not my idea of something to do?
If it stops the knock, and doesn't blow out a seal you have a temporary fix.
It is over kill and may cause other problems. But so is the knock going to do that.
While I might try an additive such as STP or Lucas oil additive. If gear lubrication does the trick go for it until it blows and be glad it is getting you by. Because that was the objective.
It is not fixing the knock, it is letting it by time before it quits completely.

And I would not use 0w20 in any engine on any car I own on a 100 degree day no matter what the manufacturer said to use.

Copied from Oil application for AMSOil one of many explanations
Motor Oil Myth

The reason motor oil viscosities, like 0w-20, are thinner now a days is that bearing clearances have become smaller. Using thicker oil in a modern engine will interfere with oil flow and the oil pressure will increase. In a worn engine heavier oil makes sense as the bearing clearances have become larger and a thicker oil in needed to keep oil pressure up

It is one of many responses to oil viscosity, the bottom line simply is as it wears engines can and should use a heavier oil.

And if it is consuming oil it is worn and if it is knocking it is broken.
Getting by is the new objective.

 

This exactly... I already plan in swapping another engine in, maybe a whole different power train, if I can buy time to find a DOHC/5speed combo... I really want to use this car because frankly I'm tired of looking at my Suzuki that runs but can't be driven due to the error of the mechanic that performed the routine service on it. I need to retime its engine and sell it, using the money to fix the Saturn/fix up my ranger/ do whatever with...

But currently, all this talk is purely theoretical because I still don't own the sl1 yet, and I really don't see the need in spending money to make someone else's car driveable...

 

So I found out yesterday that I can buy the car back for $250... That means if I try and revive the engine and it throws a rod, I can simply scrap the car and break even...

 

That's a good deal. Jump on it!