ShocK

I burn a quart every thousand miles, but thats beating the living daylights out of the car. Autocross, and just having fun mostly.
Heres my underrstanding:
Its switching from non synthetic to sythetic that can give you problems, the particles are much more jagged in non sythetics and can wear seals and bearings more quickly than a synthetic that has more rounded/smoother particles. I had a 99 silverado I brought brand new and I switched to synthetic at about 30k miles, not very long after that I had a leaking from main seal. Just my experience though.

Oh an I see no reason to change mobil1 sythetic until 5k miles, I dont really understand why you need to use the timeline aspect of it, how long does it sit on the shelf before you put it in the engine? Its not going to go sour just from sitting in the bottom of your oil pan doing nothing. If I'm wrong feel free to tell me or show me on that, again just my opinion.

RACER

My Owners manual states that it is ok to use synthetic motor oil, but not until 10k miles have been logged.

ShocK

Yep, I've heard that before, use regular oil for break in of all parts, seems like a long time before going to sythetic though.

RACER

I switched at 7,500 miles.

froggie

My '03 suddenly started to burn more oil after 50K: I used to add about 1 qt after 2500 miles; Now iI have to add 1qt every 1,200 to 1,400 Miles. I've checked the compression several times, and it reads the same : 230-235 across. I did a leak-down test, and everything checked; I also installed a new pcv valve. I don't know where the oil is going! By the way, I always use the same Castrol GTX 10W30 dyno oil. It's driving me crazy!
So, trust me, 1 qt every 3000 Miles, seems perfectly acceptable.

marlonRocks

sounds good to me

iam7head

my car has 105k miles and it burns about half a qt between oil change, which is 3000miles

i have a new pcv valve and a 5 micron filter, it catches about some oil between changes but it's not even close to a qt. but don't let it fool you, by all mean you should get an inline filter there.

honda had put out a notice for oil burning, i guess it's a common thing and there's no really cure for it.

when i keep the rev low, i tends to burn less oil, there's no sight of smoke nor motor problem so far.

compression and leakdown result are excellent and the car felt fine

mobile1 tends to burn more than other syn. oil(group3) even tho the VI number are same or higher than most brand.(from a 02-03 spec m1 10w30 test)

i use valvoline synblend maxlife, great oil for 75k+car, no even a drop of oil leak for my 105k s2k and 90k 1990 miata, not even a single drop. they are much better formula than the durablend, even tho the durablend is more pricy.(which is a fortified dino with about 20 percent of the full syn. oil)

in short a typical syn "blend" are about 20%, it's no where near 50/50 like most of us think

op: make sure you are reading the oil level right and filling it up the the Max, it's easy to have oil on top of the motor and get a low reading on dipstick after a drive.
try a compression test and leakdown, see if anything needs to be addressed.

marlonRocks

i usually check my oil level in the morning, when i get out of work or school, basically i check the oil after it sits for atleast 4 hours. at how many x's on the dipstick should the oil be?

SpitfireS

iam7head Posted on Nov 15 2007, 12:05 PM
Group III(3) base oil is "legally" synthetic, not true synthetic.
Group IV and V are.
Group IV = POA (poly-alpha-olefin).
Group V = Ester.

Group III base oil may be processed to a high degree (by man - that's why they call it synthetic) but it is dino oil, as in: coming out of the ground.
Group IV and V start as chemicals and the base oils are produced (= made)

marlonRocks Posted on Nov 15 2007, 12:23 PM

Minimal at the botom one.
But there is no reason not to keep it at the top one.
Yes.. you have to check & add a little more often to accomplisch that.
It takes about 1 quart to fill from the bottom X to the top X.
(IIRC there are 4X's on the dipstick, not sure if that stayed the same over the model years)

This doesn't mean its bad for the level to drop to the bottom X, your engine is still safe.

froggie

I also noticed that the oil level is always lower by almost an X when I checked it when the engine is cold (in the morning, after the car sits all night) than when doing the standard warm reading; weird!? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Do you guys experience the same?