celbii

iTrader: (2)

Hello all,
Just thought I would gather some thoughts on this as search hasnt been kind to me find anything.

My 88 s4, 126k miles. Normal driving oil consumption doesn't seem that much, well i would say above average. However once I start getting on it (I only drive the car weekends and don't baby it) I can burn a quart of oil in 100 miles or 200 miles. I don't have any large excessive smoking or anything like that either. It smokes if i let it sit but nothing crazy. Any thoughts on what would cause such a large oil consumption? I'm still running 10/40 high mileage oil on it, not my ideal choice but the P/O gave me a case of it and I didn't want to go out and buy any castrol gtx 1030 until I ran out since I fill it up a quart every week anyways.

Thanks

brian_skotch

iTrader: (6)

Hey my old na used to do that. It would smoke white/faint blue just a little at startup, and then be fine. Would also smoke when revving that bitch to 8k and shooting massive fireballs out of the apexi exhaust! It's a sign of the oil control rings on the rotors on their way out. Not that big of a deal. Rebuild will be cheaper because you wont need new irons/housings.

bumpstart

cant understand the fascination with 10W oil when the FSM.. and the under bonnet sticker pretty clearly stipulate a 20W-40 or 20W-50 for 90 % of the earth surface

clokker

iTrader: (2)

I run 10w/30 year round and my car seems to love it.

celbii

iTrader: (2)

Because its freezing ***** out here right now lol. on my old fc many years ago I ran 10-30, then one summer switched to 20-50 during summer and 10-30 during winter, plan to do the same with this one.

I was thinking it was my oil control rings also, but read else where it would exhibit different oil consumption symptoms so I just thought I would ask for some thoughts, thanks!

bumpstart

the issue with a 10W ( especially in normal to temperate temps ) is that the oil is essentially a 10W oil base stock ,, and modified to be the -30 or -40 or -50 with polymers and additives

under wear and tear ( shear ) , temp cycling and contamination with petrol and condensation then the oils tend to revert back to the base stock very quickly , decreasing their high temp performance

all is fine if it is very cold outside , and or you do religious oil changes
.. as if synthetic or not ,, the oil in a rotary will suffer from a lot of contamination
( and temp cycling )
especially if the tune is fat or side seal to corner seal tolerances large

and thus i will always advise that in most regions it is better to base off the 20W oil
especially when you consider that the crank in the rotary does not wet bath and was built loose and so there is little advantage in the thinner oils

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

because 20W oil is getting phased out, sometimes when i go to pick up oil i can't even find the thicker weights any longer.

and a thicker weight oil won't necessarily cure faulty oil rings, it could actually enhance the issue and make it seem worse.

thicker oil also creates drag, less power, more emissions and lower fuel economy. on older tired engines this is a necessity though.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Yes, my car smokes like a bastard with 20w/50 and rarely, if at all, with 10w/30.

I must note however that with nearly 250k, no compression and no oil pressure, I revel in the fact that she starts and runs at all and am long past worrying about what she should do.
I just ran her today after sitting for four days in sub zero weather...cranked over the normal three times and fired right up as if it were July.

I have such a love/hate relationship with this bastard.

celbii

iTrader: (2)

Any thoughts on the Oil control rings being gone, i've read else where it should smoke alot then? I really don't notice any smoke unless I let it sit for a long time. At start up it will smoke some and one time I let it idle for about 20 minutes while I was talking to a friend and when i touched the gas pedal a bit it smoked up a bit, but otherwise I don't notice it when driving at all.

bumpstart

oil control ring issue usually shows up on shut throttle , engine braking decel from high revs
. so is billowing out the back when your eyes are forward

and you all automatically assume that a fully syn oil or thinner oil should white smoke when its consumed.. in the case of some fully syn oils,, often untrue,, doesnt mean its still not racing out the exhaust .. its just less combustible,, and less visible

SIDEWAYZE_FC

iTrader: (1)

my 88 vert I just got is doing basically the same thing. as long as I drive it like a grandma it doesnt seem to burn the oil off. but rev her up and drive it like a sports car and it will burn off the oil in like 100 miles or less.
So guessing it is the oil control rings. need to price rebuild kits and weather or not I want to rebuild it an maybe port it out or do a TII swap or RE swap or something.
But yea been driving it with 10-30 and not driving it like a rx7 seems to help