[kthejoker20]

Hey guys... I need some help.

I did an oil change last July with full sythetic 5-30 kn filter.

Put 10k miles on it.

This week I noticed my oil gage going more funky then normal, so I decided to check my oil.

I WAS LOW 4 QTS!!!!!!! OMG!! So I put 4 quarts into it.

Now, I also noticed that where I poured the oil into the engine, I had a lot of sludge, white slimy stuff.

I didn't think you could get sludge with synthetic oil? but thats separate...

How screwed is my engine?

Anything I need to do? Please help, I'm a dumbA$$... lmao.:funny:

 

[GWhaley]

Hey guys... I need some help.

I did an oil change last July with full sythetic 5-30 kn filter.

Put 10k miles on it.

This week I noticed my oil gage going more funky then normal, so I decided to check my oil.

I WAS LOW 4 QTS!!!!!!! OMG!! So I put 4 quarts into it.

Now, I also noticed that where I poured the oil into the engine, I had a lot of sludge, white slimy stuff.
I didn't think you could get sludge with synthetic oil? but thats separate...

How screwed is my engine?

Anything I need to do? Please help, I'm a dumbA$$... lmao.:funny:

If it is on the bottom of the oil cap it is just condensation. Do you do a lot of short trips?

Now for being that low on oil - no leaks? If it isn't leaking it's burning it.

 

[caulk04]

The fill cap snot is normal really. It's just the way the PCV setup is done. Nothing more than a little condensation mixing with oil vapor/mist. It's NOT sludge and it will NOT hurt anything in those small quantities.

As for low oil, it's either leaking or burning it. You've put 10K miles and spanned 7+ months and never checked your oil level? Shame on you.

 

[durango2001]

i have had this same problem where i thought i was low in oil but the motor was cloged up and it was all staying in the top and i added about 4 quarts and ended up messing up the oil pump

 

[kthejoker20]

It's definately not leaking.

I have a clean garage floor.

I drive 20 miles daily to work. Thats about it.

110k miles on my 2001 dakota 4.7 4x4

Probably burning it or clogged on top.

How can I check for either of those 2?

Could it really burn 4 quarts in 7 months?

 

[Misfit]

Are you sure you put oil back in it after that last oil change? lol

 

[Little Blue Guy]

Synthetic oil will not burn blue like normal oil...as stated before..if it ain't leaving a puddle on the ground, it's burning it out the tailpipe.

A lot of used car lots use synthetic oil in the used cars they got there..it's an old trick.

 

[shadow25]

I'd drain the oil, put some dino oil in and see if you're burning oil or not

 

[petrock]

I'd drain the oil, put some dino oil in and see if you're burning oil or not

No need to do that. Just pull the spark plugs and check them out. If they are covered in oil/gunk, then your burning oil.

 

[kthejoker20]

I check the plugs later to see if they are gunked up.

I remember last July, I looked at the intake manifold and there was a thin layer of oil all inside.

Could that be a sign its burning oil?

Is that normal?

Lastly, if its discoverd that I'm buring oil, then what? Am I screwed?

 

[4bydak]

open the throttle body up with engine off of course and see if there is alot of oil in the intake, i have seen the plenum gasket under the intake blow many times. Takes some time but easy fix, about 30 bucks for gasket set. alot of people do very expensive repairs to there engines but replace this gasket. use a inch pound torque wrench and clean everything very well. the slimmy stuff is normal its just condensation build up mixed with oil

 

[caulk04]

I check the plugs later to see if they are gunked up.

I remember last July, I looked at the intake manifold and there was a thin layer of oil all inside.

Could that be a sign its burning oil?

Is that normal?

Lastly, if its discoverd that I'm buring oil, then what? Am I screwed?

That's really not a huge amount of oil for 10K miles. The plugs are likely not going to look oil covered.

Inside the intake is going to look a little oily due to the PCV system. It's normal.

open the throttle body up with engine off of course and see if there is alot of oil in the intake, i have seen the plenum gasket under the intake blow many times. Takes some time but easy fix, about 30 bucks for gasket set. alot of people do very expensive repairs to there engines but replace this gasket. use a inch pound torque wrench and clean everything very well. the slimmy stuff is normal its just condensation build up mixed with oil

The 4.7 does not suffer from this problem, there is no plenum gasket.

 

[bigpav7]

Might want to give Auto-RX a shot.

 

[4bydak]

yep ur right i missed the 4.7 part

 

[DrPepper]

better than 2500 miles per quart...

that is pretty good! I was taught that the bottom was less than 1500 miles to a quart and you need to do some serious work. Check your oil... :funny:

 

[kthejoker20]

I'm gonna try the Auto-RX.

Also, it says not to use synthetic oil with it.


SO I currently run synthetic. I read that I can't put normal oil back in, once I use synthentic.

Is that true? or just a myth?


Anyone else ever try Auto-RX and any good results?

 

[Josh_101]

You went 10,000 miles without an oil change, much less even check the oil. I would think the level will decrease over time anyways regardless of everything being sealed like it should be. If there's oil leaking anywhere then it must ben going into a cylinder, but if none of the spark plugs are showing signs of oil, then I wouldn't worry about it. Just check and change your oil more often.

 

[Josh_101]

I didn't think you could get sludge with synthetic oil? but thats separate...

Synthetics can sludge up too when you don't change them often enough. My brother had this issue where he racked up around 10,000 miles without an oil change (in his 95 z28 Camaro) and the oil pressure guage was reading low and doing strange stuff. When he got around to changing the oil, it was completely black, and gunky as hell. He used Mobil 1 synthetic 5w30 for the whole life of that LT1 engine till it threw a rod at 232k miles.

BTW, what oil are you using?

 

[kthejoker20]

I was running royal purple 5-30, but that got expensive.

So last change I put castrol full sythentic 5-20 in it.

Wisconsin winter...

 

[stashu7408]

Four quarts in 10k miles is not that bad. I personally would NEVER go that far on an oil change, even if it's synthetic, but i am super anal with my vehicles.

a little history on me...
I was a Honda Technician for five years and now work on school buses. Honda began using a maintenance minder system in 2006 using oil percentage and recommended the oil be changed at 15%. only problem is that for some people it takes 10k miles or more to get there and they would end up having their low oil light come on. The maximum allowable oil consumption according to honda is 1 quart per thousand miles. Some customers would rant and rave that they need a new engine under warranty and we would tell them they just need to check their oil regularly. Your consumption is well below that threshold, so i would not be worried

Moral of the story:
If you choose to go 10k between changes be sure to check your oil every 1k miles