Hot answers tagged oil
22
The oil is most likely being burned by the engine. You should change your oil more often, it's not just new oil you are putting in, when you change your oil, it takes the old oil and contaminates suspended in that oil out. So by added 2 new quarts every so often is not nearly the same as changing the oil.
Also I would recommend checking the oil level on a ...
19
You haven't wrecked the car but you should get the oil down to the appropriate level.
If the oil isn't hot, almost any sort of plastic tubing can be used for siphoning. It's easiest to go in via the dip stick.
Remember not to use the "suck start" siphoning method as you don't want a mouthful of oil. If you have a long enough piece of tubing, you can ...
9
I found a reference pdf for GM's Oil Life Monitor System.
How does the system work?
The GM Oil Life Monitor System is not a mileage counter. It is actually a computer based software algorithm that determines when to change oil based on engine operating conditions. There is no actual oil condition sensor. Rather, the computer continuously monitors ...
9
Check with your dealer or manufacturer to see if synthetic is usable in your car first of all. For example, RX-7s have traditionally recommended against synthetic because they inject some oil into the combustion chamber and synthetic oils don't work as well for sealing the "apex seals" in this application.
Beyond that, there is also a theory that synthetic ...
8
The SAE grade (in this case 10W-40) only specifies the viscosity of the oil - it doesn't say anything specifically about the composition of the oil or any additives it may have. So for a particular viscosity grade, it might petroleum-based or synthetic (or a mixture of the two), and might have any number of additives that affect various properties of the ...
8
It's a Diesel, which means that you usually have a high detergent oil in an engine that dumps combustion by-products like soot into the oil as part of its normal operation. Given the age of the vehicle I'm not surprised that the oil has noticeably darkened after 10 miles - one of the older Diesels I owned a while back did that during the time it took to run ...
7
I echo jzd's answer. The car's owner's manual should tell you what you need.
To answer some more of your question: numbers like "5W30" are viscosity ratings. They indicate how viscous ("thick") the oil is. Most oils are "multi-viscosity," quoting a range of weights (e.g., 5W30 instead of 30W) to indicate how they behave at different temperatures. The "W" ...
7
Wikipedia has a great page on Synthetic Oils, specifically their performance.
Pros:
Better high and low temperature performance. They act more like a thinner oil at lower temperatures and like a thicker oil at higher temperatures, without the disadvantages of multiviscosity oils like 10W40. Especially useful when initially starting.
Reduced problems ...
7
A full synthetic oil, as the name states, is "synthesized". By that, they mean it is made in a lab, it is a manufactured product.
Organic (Dino) oil is a product of nature.
So the big difference is the environment in which the oil is made in.
The main selling point on synthetic over organic is because it is manufactured, it is made in a controlled ...
7
Oil has a couple of places it can go.
The ground
The radiator
The tail pipe
It could be a leak that only happens under pressure (IE the engine running) but for that amount the underside of the car would be covered in oil and should be very obvious by looking under the car with a flashlight.
If it's going out the tail pipe you would see obvious blue ...
6
If you are looking to improve your cars performance, then I suggest you try something different. Your gains from using a different viscosity oil will be laughable (if there will be any), especially compared to any proper performance-oriented change. Unless, of course, if what you can do with engine is limited by regulations and you are expending last ...
6
My first suggestion would be to ask whoever did the change. If you are seriously in doubt, provide the oil to somebody to redo the change, or simply do it yourself. If you are able to do the change yourself, I would suggest learning to do so (just keep the receipts so you can provide them as maintenance records in the event you wish you sell the vehicle).
...
6
The worst thing that can happen is that you can destroy your vehicle. Your vehicle is designed to use some very specific lubrication, and using something other than what's specified can be detrimental.
If the lubricant cannot withstand high temperatures, you could gunk up your engine and require a rebuild.
6
Besides the weight, be sure that you buy oil with one of the "C" codes in the service symbol. The top half of the ring should say "API Service C-something".
Update: The Logo looks like this one:
6
The most likely source is the head gasket. There are very few other ways (short of catastrophic engine failure - and that would give other symptoms!) of the two mixing.
Check for excessive smoke (oil getting into the bores), coolant loss (coolant getting into the bores) and a mayonnaise effect in the oil (coolant getting into the oil)
You don't say what ...
5
A few things can happen:
The crankshaft could be bent
The seals and gaskets could be destroyed
Very high crankcase pressure can lead to oil coming out of the crankcase ventilation (which might destroy your pistons if it enters your cylinders through your intake system)
Eric Fossum's remark about turning the oil to foam is a very important one. It leads ...
5
I take it the car is front wheel drive, being a 90s Toyota?
If it is only leaking when parked facing uphill, then (logically) the leak must be to the rear of the engine. I would suggest that the driveshaft oil seals (where the shafts leave the gearbox) is a likely suspect. Where is the oil filter mounted? The seals around them can often be suspect.
...
5
The oil in the crankshaft is in contact with air and gasoline fumes. If you used an oil with an ignition point as low as the engine temperature, it would probably start a fire in there.
I'm not sure how vigorous the fire would be (that likely depends on the air supply, which probably varies between engines), but it would eventually deplete the oil, cover ...
5
You can cause permanent engine damage by significantly overfilling the engine with oil. If the crankshaft and connecting rods are contacting the oil, they will whip air into it and cause it to foam. This happens when the oil level is too high. Foamy oil may still work as a barrier lubricant, but it does NOT have a high film strength. The air bubbles that ...
5
First: what you're suggesting is illegal if you live in a state where it's illegal to remove an emissions device. At a minimum, you're making your car non-street legal.
That aside, you're creating pollution for no good reason. There's a zero percent chance that your catch can will be more effective than a modern catalytic converter, especially when ...
5
If it was anywhere other than the bed of a truck, the answer would probably be kitty litter, but I don't think that will work in this case.
I'd look at some sort of degreaser - I know you can get engine cleaners which should do a good job of it, something like this.
The standard warnings and disclaimers apply: try the product on a small spot to ensure ...
5
The very first thing that you should check is whether you actually made a mistake and, if so, which one.
A cap that says "ATF oil only" is for automatic transmission fluid. If you're adding engine oil to the transmission, that's going to make your transmission very unhappy. It is fixable: you'll need to drain the transmission fluid and replace it.
If ...
5
To add to what others have said, diesel lube oil (the code starts with "C", like "CJ") is formulated to hold lots of soot, and after 10,000 miles, there probably was a lot of soot in the remaining oil that got mixed in with the new oil.
When changing your own, never put "S" (for "spark") rated oil in a diesel engine!
5
I agree with Bob's comment 100%
Do you want to risk your engine trying something unsupported by guidance from the manufacturer? This will invalidate any warranty from them!
Generally manufacturers give good guidance on running in engines (where necessary) including which oils, what speeds/revs you should use etc.
4
The main difference between the two is that flushing oil is extremely thin oil that theoretically should be able to get into partially blocked, thin passages without any issues and remove the accumulated gunk there as well. Oh, and out any slightly leaking gasket, too. It's usually also got a suitable cleaning additive if you've bought a good oil.
The ...
4
Following up on @Nick C's answer:
The head gasket almost certainly needs to be replaced and, on some cars, replacing the head gasket is straightforward work with the right tools and procedures.
However, on some seemingly mainstream cars, this is not the case. In order of ease of access to the head gasket, I would rate the common designs as follows:
...
4
Have a look at your owners manual if it states a maximum oil consumption. I don't think that 750ml over a whole oil change interval is a lot.
My guess would be that it's more likely an issue with the turbo and investigating if it is shouldn't be that expensive. Essentially you or your mechanic would need to pull the pipes going from the turbo to the intake ...
4
Golf TDis (and I'd imagine other VWs of that era) are notorious for the Turbos failing. It can be a very expensive fix once it goes properly, so I'd get it investigated asap.
From your description, I'd surmise that oil is seeping through one of the seals into the turbo, then when you rev the engine and the turbo spools up, the oil that has accumulated at ...
4
Most oil viscosities come in different additive packages depending on the intended use (ie, low detergent oil, oil for diesel or gas engines etc, specific oil for motorcycles) even though they have the same viscosity rating. That's (partially) what the API rating tells you - for example "S" ratings are usually for gas/petrol engines and "C" ratings for ...
4
About a quart - have I ruined my car?
In short, no. If you read the answers on this similar question, even a gallon of extra oil generally won't ruin a car.
This is what I suggested and still recommend:
If the oil isn't hot, almost any sort of plastic tubing can be used
for siphoning. It's easiest to go in via the dip stick.
Remember not to ...
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