Having summer oil evaporation usage problems in a Hot running engine over your OCI, maybe consider trying this 10W-30 PCMO-92 Havoline Lifelong REVISED.pdf (chevron.com)

We can get this 500 deg F flash point, full synthetic Havoline "Life-Long" recipe from Wally-World, in a 6qt box for not too much of our gold.

Chevron is now saying in writing we can Mix their lubes, so if you have a temp consumption problem that comes on say, 6-8 weeks after a new oil change like ours have & gets worse with more frequent top-ups needed as the OCI wears on & you like playing around with your lube, maybe consider topping up with this recipe & see if it'll slow, or stop consumption, or like me just try running a change of this during the Hot summer months & see how it goes.

I'm running this in the Daughters 2014 Kia Optima direct injection normally aspirated 2.4L, that suddenly began using oil After the Last Dealer oil change with 5W20. They had been using 5W30 since she bought it new in 2014 & No consumption problems with 5W30!!!

So far so good, but more time is needed to see if this will bring consumption back to No top-up's needed.
Yes Kia permits using 10W30, so thought I'd try it this summer & see how it goes. Nice & quiet so far & we've had unseasonably warm & cool weather, with temps from the low 30's to mid 90's.

This high flash-point lube would likely be a good candidate for our air-cooled engines too if your equipt. mfgr's. allow it.
I run Havoline straight SAE 30 weight in my OPE & it has a 475 deg F Fash point. PCMO-70.pdf (chevron.com) So the multi-viscosity 10w30 Lifelong has an even higher fp @ 500 deg F, that's higher than 20w50, so this 10W30 is likely a stout recipe.

 

Walmart. com / Fed-X just delivered two 6qt boxes of the last 4 in stock ($19.97), Havoline 10W30 Lifelong full synthetic, all the way across country from Phoenix Az to SW Va, no additional shipping charges!!!
So I'm all set for Two additional summers with it in the Kia 2.4L, to see if the higher flash point & extra detergency in this API SP recipe, can tidy up the ring packs & the higher 500 deg F flash point & 9% NOACK, will lower the evaporation consumption if that was part of the problem it experienced when the Dealer switched to 5W20 on the last oil change & it gobbled a qt. in less than 4K miles.

The oil was pitch black in less than 4K miles, so I let it stand for a few weeks in the catch pan before pouring it into its recycle container & there was a good bit of soot sediment on the container bottom I've not seen before. So that's why I was looking for a recipe that says in Writing it can reduce piston deposits & I found a 9% NOACK for this 500 deg F flashpoint recipe 10W30, so temp evaporation usage should be at a minimum, we'll see how the tidy-up & usage goes this upcoming Hot summer short trip driving.

Hyundai / Kia now have a Factory Specified piston soak TSB out, to tidy up ring lands to free up stuck rings for excessive oil usage complaints. They define excessive as more than 1qt / 1K miles verified by the Dealer doing a Controlled usage test. This puppy never used oil as long as the Dealer put in 5W30, so one oci with 5W20 shouldn't have mucked the ring lands up too bad in less than 4K miles I hope but I had never seen the oil that black, nor seen That much soot fall out either.

 

BUMP:

Finally got the 500 deg F flashpoint 10W-30 Havoline full syn Lifelong in the 2014 Kia Optima 2.4L yesterday. Going to test its ability to stand up to our hot summer temps & severe short trip service to see if it can cut down on the sudden oil consumption that came about when I learned from a work order the Dealer suddenly began using 5W-20 in it. Daughter Never had consumption problems on the 5W-30 they always used since 2014 when she bought it new from the local dealer.

I used Havoline 5W-30 Lifelong full syn in it this past winter & it consumed about 8-10 oz over the 8 month oci, about two-thirds less than with the dealer 5W-20. So maybe the 10W-30 improved 500 deg flash point & 9% NOACK figure I found online can lower the consumption this summer. The SP recipe of Havoline Lifelong says in writing it can clean up piston deposits, so we'll also see if that can help too, in case sticky ring lands are figuring in some on its sudden oil consumption fit with the 5W-20 oci.

 

BUMP UPDATE:

Well its time to change out the second 6 month summer run of Havoline Lifelong SP 10W30 in trying to mitigate the Daughters 2014 2.4L normally aspirated GDI Kia Optima sudden oil consumption anomaly. As noted above, last year (2023) consumption of the 500 deg flashpoint Havoline service grade SP 10W30 slowed from about a qt over the oci when it first began, to about 8-10 oz over the 2023 oci.
This year (2024) it hasn't used any & its time in Dec to change & I will again use Lifelong 5W30 for the winter months as this puppy sits outside 24 / 7 as its now being severely short tripped & likes lube to its top end without delay on those cold starts & I'll be keeping a close lookout for fuel dilution over the short tripped winter oci.

So if any are thinking your maybe having oil consumption from mucked up piston ring lands causing sticking rings, or NOACK oil evaporation, or excessive viscosity shear causing the oil thickness to drop a grade or so, or maybe valve stem muck causing oil to leak past the seals, or some other deposit related mischief, maybe consider trying a Havoline Lifelong run or two, or three or four as we have on the Kia, as it seems to have stopped its consumption for now. We'll see how it goes over more time & I'll update here if any notable changes occur.

 

Bump: Update


Changed out the 2024 Winter 5W30 Havolne Lifelong run July 2nd. No consumption over this full 6mo OCI.
All short trips except for one 65 mile over the Blue Ridge mountains & back, run to the lake. Lots of Downhill upper rpm / engine braking, down shifting tried, to create high intake vacuum for longer times, to see if it would show signs of back sucking oil past piston rings or valve stem seals, nothing noticed out the tailpipe, no smoke or drips or dipstick level drop.

SO, I decided to try going back to what had been working since new, 5W30 but in the Havoline full synthetic Lifelong recipe, as it seems its detergent ad-pack is working in this engine. So we'll see if the Lifelong 5W30 recipe, that's licensed dexos-1 gen-3, will yield a No oil top up needed during our abnormally warm low to mid 90's Summer heat we've been having since late March. All runs to date have been the API SP recipe.

Will update again at the Dec 2025 OCI, maybe we'll have Lifelong API SQ GF-7 recipe here by then ?

 

I’ve heard some KIAs have an issue with oil consumption. Our friends just got rid of theirs because you couldn’t keep oil in it. Not leaking either. Dealer was 0 help to them. Heard this more than once.

 

Low tension piston ring engines don't have much tolerance for deposits like gum, varnish, carbon, which causes the rings to stick in the lands & not do their designed for job.
So if the oil control ring sticks or gets clogged up, it wont wipe the cylinder bore correctly. Leaving too much oil can cause the compression rings to get mucked up, stick, causing excessive compression blow-by, which can cause crankcase over pressure, which can overwhelm the PCV system & cause it to dirty up the intake valves & those deposits can cause valve stem seal problems with more oil getting into the combustion chambers & causing more or faster accumulation of deposits, all a vicious circle that needs the right kind of attention as soon as it's noticed, so remedial costs don't get out of hand or the engine comes unraveled.

So on these kinds of engines, especially Turbo GDI or just GDI, probably not a good idea to try OCI's longer than 4K miles or 6 mo's, if short tripping like we now do.

 

Bump-Update:

Finally got to be able to work in a oil & filter change on the 2014 Kia 2.4L (that's the thread oil consumption subject) last Wed, 4/27/26, it was due back in Dec 2025. Anyway, 778 all Short Trip miles / 9 months on this Havoline Lifelong 5W-30 SP recipe, No consumption / no top-ups needed. What I can see through the OHC / Valve cover oil fill remains squeaky clean & it stopped using oil during the second summer run of the 500 deg F, flashpoint 10W-30 SP Havoline Lifelong, that said in writing that it removes piston deposits & that prompted me to try it.

WallyWorld finally got the API SQ 5W30 Havoline Lifelong in late last fall, so that's in it now for another hot summer run of 5W30 to see if it begins consuming again.

Seeing as how our severe short tripping isn't likely to change anytime soon but it hasn't used any oil in two years, I'm calling this puppy cured unless it begins to consume again & I try something else to stop it.

 

Good news!

This is an interesting one to follow.

It's amazing how the right oil can cure some ailments, and the right intervals can make engines last a lot longer than their peers!