High Oil Consumption (3 quarts per 700 miles...)

Hey guys, I posted this a long time ago, and its been a while for me to reply. But I wanted to thank and let everyone know, including M37r1c, that I followed up on that video with Berryman's B12 chemtool and let it sit on my engine for 24 hours. I turned on the engine which blew out a huge amount of carbon buildup, idled it for 15 minutes with the solvent in the engine, and then drained. Its been a world of difference with a huge improvement. I was losing a quart of oil every 300 miles, and now it's only every 1500 miles or so. Once the weather warms up, I'll probably do another treatment, and I'm sure it will only help. Thanks again for the great recommendation! It saved my engine, and a huge financial headache.

 

A good opportunity to try Valvolines' Restore and Protect at your next oil change and let us know if you see any benefits. You have nothing to lose.

 

You proved all the "no chemical is going to fix this" crowd" totally wrong. Nice job and thanks for following up. The right chemicals can make a huge difference in the proper scenario.

 

Good to hear it's worked out. My truck continues to run good after all these years.

 

Hello Folks. Just wanted to chime in. I have a 2008 Tacoma, 4 cylinder with a standard cab. It has 104,000 miles on it. We bought it for my son with 89,000 miles. It had a good record of oil changes when we bought and the truck was in good shape. I do my own oil changes and put in Mobil 1 synthetic 0-20 shortly after purchasing. Also, the truck does not burn any oil at all. I decided to try the VRP three days ago, then my son and I drove about 150 miles to a ride motorcycles. After we got back, I noticed a small leak at the plug so I drained and put in another new crush washer, then put the oil back in. That solved the leak- must have been a defective washer. Anyway, and this is just my unscientific anecdotal evidence, but the oil was already very dark. I check the oil very often and I cannot recall the oil being that dark after just 150 miles. Hopefully, the oil is cleaning really well! I will switch out the filter in about 600 more miles just in case. Will keep you posted.

 

What may have happened is that long drive broke up some sludge buildup.

Even though there’s a good record of oil changes, it’s possible. When I bought mine, I don’t think it was maintained well. So I tried a liquid moly flush following the instructions exactly. The before and after difference astonished me.

Plenty of naysayers call all additives snake oil. Do your own research, form your own opinion.

For the drain plug gasket, I use copper crush type gaskets. They never leak and will outlast the plug for wear. In the taco, I use a fumoto so no more replacing gaskets. It just drains a little slow.

 

I was just about to post the same.

 

Yamaha makes a product called Ring Free that's sold mostly at marine locations. It's used to unstick piston rings and works really well. It's also known for breaking loose and cleaning out carbon deposits. A lot of motorcycle owners I know run it through their fuel systems fro a couple of tanks prior to performing a valve check or adjustment to make sure any carbon deposits get cleaned out that can affect measurement.

 

I've been adding about 5 to 6 oz of Seafoam just before I change the oil. Sometimes I let the engine idle for about 10 to 15 minutes, other times I've driven it up to 50 miles before changing the oil. My theory; it may help keep the valve timing system working freely. On our HHR it's about 4 to 5 oz of Seafoam.

 

@PennSilverTaco remind me what your consumption is

 

I’m running 5W-30 full synthetic in a truck with a little over 211K, and I burn a little over a quart roughly every 3,000-4,500 depending on numerous factors.

 

Did the seafoam trick at 150K (6 mos ago) and left it in for about 400 mi, the old oil was like black ink when it came out, not the dark golden brown it usually looks like. The flush definitely improved the VVT operation and the improvement was noticeable before the old oil came out.

 

How much seafoam? Is there a thread or anything for this trick, I hadn't heard of much for the V6s unless you were having VVT solenoid issues.

 

You add 1 oz per qt of oil 200~300 miles before an oil change. I didn't have a VVT issue I could put my finger on but I noticed when it was cold I would get a little valve clatter the first acceleration of the day but it went away quickly. It sounded like a lifter that was going bad and hadn't pumped up yet. The truck was also sluggish but since it was a very gradual decline over many miles it wasn't very noticable and I chalked it up to the truck being a little tired (150K). The valve clatter went away almost immediately and the truck felt much peppier in the 2000-3000 range within a few days, it was esp noticeable on the highway when the tranny no longer downshifted out of OD on what I consider minor hills.

I'm not trying to sell you (or anyone) on a fix all snake oil treatment, just sharing my experience with using Seafoam. I've used it for years for a fuel treatment and it's performed very well. I'm confident the improvements were VVT related, the truck doesn't use oil, or have any other symptoms that a flush would have resolved to improve performance, fuel mileage was also very normal throughout the truck's easy life so there was no smoking gun like the OPs oil consumption issue. I'm confident the oil flow to the VVT solenoids was inhibited somewhat and their response was lagging. Nothing else related to a flush on an otherwise well running 4.0 makes sense and the oil when it was drained obviously pulled out allot of combustion byproducts. It was like black ink and it's never looked like that in the 18 years I've had the truck.

 

I might have to try it next oil change then, I've never had bad results from seafoam when used with previous vehicles and it's not like its hard or expensive so why not. Recently did a few trans drain and fills and a filter/pan drop which are debated plenty and was pleased with the results. I've got 190k and definitely feel like it downshifts for minor hills more than it should and I'm only on 32s with a shell and camping platform (~300lbs total). Thanks!