OK, i know this kind of question, just like any mpg question, is like opening a can of worms to all sorts of speculation, but i'm wondering if it's a bad idea to run thicker oil in my old 460 to minimize oil consumption? It's using alot, and i don't want to rebuild or replace until i have to. The stock 5w-30 seems awful thin, i already bought some 10w40 to run through it next, but i'm wondering if 15w or 20w50 would be a better or worse idea? We're talking about 250k efi 460 motor with a leaky rear main but no visible oil burning. It just seems to need a quart every time i fill it up with gas. Oil is cheaper than a rebuild, but i'm curious if i can slow it down by running a little thicker oil?

thanks

 

leaking rear main won't be fixed by thicker oil.

If nothing else, drop the pain and roll another main seal in.

 

i know thicker oil won't fix the leak, just wondering if it might leak/burn a little less. Anyone running thicker oil?

 

no it won't.

 

my 460 runs quieter on 15-40 rotella than any other oil I've tried. leaks the same though.

 

Thx, I was thinking of trying a jug of Rorella next. I'm using about a quart per tank right now though, so ive got to stay cheap. Funny thing is, I hardly ever see a drop on the ground nor do I see it smoke. Only way I can make it puff is to start it up after sitting and rev it up, which I dont make a habit of.

 

Oops, make that Rotella. Dang touch screens!

 

im a fan of the rotella myself. its what i ran in mine. and just cause you cant see it burnin doesnt mean thats not where its goin. check your plugs, if they have a kinda white crap on em, youre burnin oil. as for slowin down oil consumption, i know no better additive than lucas oil treatment. put a quart or two of that in with each oil change, it should slow down your oil loss. and even if it doesnt, its still better for your motor. my personal experience with it extended my oil changes 1000 to 1500 miles (though i dont recommend that unless you know how to read your oil).

 

Thx, just changed plugs and they were whitish, but I knew I was burning oil anyway. I'll watch for a sale on Lucas.
Thx

 

if youre not noticin any drips, then you quart per tank is bein burned. bad valve guides and/or bad rings are to blame. next time youre a quart low, add a quart of lucas. its not expensive.

 

So you recommend putting in a product that reduces the actual lubrication your engine uses?

Oil is the actual lubricant. Additives are used to set viscosity, suspend particulates, etc. The more additives you have to put into the oil the less actual lubrication you have. Lucas is almost pure additives. It will "extend" your oil changes if you go by oil analysis telling you what percentage your additive package is at because they are only measuring how much of the additive is left.

BTW, I used rotella-t in my 7.3l at 7500mile oil changes blackstone showed my additive package at 60% and they recommended extending my oil changes to 10,000 miles. That was with NO lucas.

BTW up until 15 or 16 yrs ago I bought into the snake oil theories of these companies like Lucas too but learned the truth from actual oil analysis experts.

And Lucas won't actually slow down leaking either. Think about it for a half sec and you wil realize that not only will it NOT stop a leak but if it does you got real issues. The stop a leak it would have to either change the seal or plug the hole. If it plugs a leak then it will do even worse things to your other oil system components like say your lifters. If you can plug up a leak hole, then it can plug a lifter whole which is how the top end of the engine gets oil THROUGH the pushrods.

As to changing the composition of the seal that is leaking, there was an old used car salesman's trick to stop leaks. they used to put brake fluid into the oil, it softens the rubber in the seals and stops the leak........ Temporarily then you get to tear it down and replace ALL of the seals after you clean out all the desolved rubber in your oil galleries and rebuild the engine.

There is NO quick fix, either do it by replacing the seal or live with it.