monkeydude3

Hey all~
I have a 97 GT with a 5 speed. I bought it at the tail end of summer, and it ran great and as I checked it never used a drop of oil. Since winter hit, I drove about 1500 miles and here at work checked and added 1.5 quarts. We have had a lot of below freezing days lately, and I wonder if it's just because it's so goshforsakenly cold out that it burns more oil now? I do use the block heater and it does warm up quicker that way. But it has been run a lot on cold mornings. Any ideas let me know. She has lots of pep so I have a feeling my compression is solid.


George

josh_0351

I’ve noticed that mine is usually that low upon oil changes every 3K miles. I have been running 5W20 and decided to go with a little thicker-weight oil this last change – we’ll see if that makes a difference….

monkeydude3

hmmm... I'm running on 5W30... i still think it is a combination of milage and the cold weather. Maybe I can run 5 quarts of 5W30 and one quart of lucas? Anyone had success or problems with it?


George

Nitro Nick

Well i Live in -10 to -40 weather up north in canada and even at those temps i'v been all good for the oil and in the gmc truck we run even a 0w 40 and that helps allot for those cold starts.

monkeydude3

hmm


This is confusing because when I did a set of spark plugs 1000 miles ago none of them had ANY oily residue at all on them, but that was when it was warm out. That's why I think the cold weather may do it. I have 107k miles on it so I know it will burn some oil but it was weird 1500 miles and 1.5 quarts??

Should I start saving for a valve seal job? It will be about $500 to have all replaced. I figure if that is going to be the case I'm gonna price some aftermarket higher flow heads because why spend that much money on stock ones??

It runs so good though!!

George

monkeydude3

also will throwing in a quart of lucas with every oil change (5 oil 1 lucas) buy me a good amount of time? I have syncrhos to put in the trans and a clutch and some other stuff that has priority (and wheels)

I've heard good things about the lucas stuff


George

Derf00

don't use any oil thickeners, they create sludge. The reason you're burning oil is that the colder it is, the more shrunk your valvestem seals are in the morning and the bigger the gaps between the piston rings and walls. Not much you can do about it other than make darn sure you warm your car up properly in the morning to minimize wear.

monkeydude3

okay cool. So there's a good ch ance my engine is good it just reacts logically to the cold. I usually use the block warmer at night and let it run about 10 mins before driving every morning. Occasionally I can't but when I do driv eoff it's gentle acceleration and cruising.


Thanks


George