Car burning oil question

DavidDoyle

Hi All,

I drive a 2008 1.4 Diesel Ford Fiesta which has a recent history of burning oil.

I changed the oil in the car from 5W-30 oil to the cheaper 10W-40 oil.

A few weeks later I noticed a notable increase in the rate of oil burning and more smoke from the exhaust when starting the engine from cold.

If I was to change the oil back to 5W-30, would this be constructive in reducing the rate of oil burning and the rate of emissions?

Possibly a difficult to say question, but any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

DavidDoyle

[Milage is nearly 200,000]

Chippy01

A few years ago now, we used to have an old Ford Transit at work. The boss, trying to save a few pennies went away from the recommended oil, to a cheaper variety.
Virtually from the first outing with the 'new oil' we noticed that the oil level on the dipstick was dropping weekly, as we always checked the oil level regularly, as we were constantly on the road.
At the next service we continued with the 'new oil', still registering the oil level drop.

At the next service, we reverted back to the recommended oil, and the oil level remained constant once again.

That's our experience of trying to cheap out on oil.

Manufacturers recommend a specific oil for a reason. We found our reason. Other results may differ.

extra-ordinary_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122303348#Comment_122303348

Where was the 'cheap' oil going?

User1998

Usually changing to 10w40 from 5w30 would significantly decrease oil burning as its a thicker oil

Chippy01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122303368#Comment_122303368

We could only assume that it was being burnt off, as there was no sign of a leak anywhere on, in or under the engine.

Atlantic Dawn

Have you a rough measure on how much it's burning per 1000 miles or so?

Chippy01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122303484#Comment_122303484

I think you will find that the 10w40 is the thicker oil.

The Continental Op

Its and old trick that has some merit, to put a thicker oil in a old higher mileage vehicle to reduce the amount of oil it burns.

So I would say going back to a "thinner" oil won't help much. However as Chippy01 suggests there is some value in using a quality oil.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122306306#Comment_122306306

Read my post again

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122306320#Comment_122306320

Still there is more to oil than how thick it is.

Id possibly go back to the 5w30 in a fully synthetic and see how it goes.

Chippy01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122306530#Comment_122306530

Oooops. Brain fart.
I'll blame my old age ……………..

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122307196#Comment_122307196

I could have worded it slightly better to be fair😂

Hellrazer

Nothing like a good old 20w50 to stop a bit of oil burning!!!

kirving

Generally, thicker oil would help on older/lower tolerance engines, but there could be other factors too.

Oil pressure could be higher with thicker oil, an force more of it past the pistons?

Your post is a little unclear @DavidDoyle. Was the car burning oil before you changed to 10W-40?

The cost savings from a different spec oil must be miniscule in the overall cost of running a car. That's not to say you need to buy expensive stuff, once it meets the manufacturer specification, it's perfectly fine to put in anything daily driver.

If you had a performance car, or just something very expensive/unique, using expensive oil would look better in service receipts, and would be an indication if nothing else, that you didn't cheap out on other stuff.

https://jalopnik.com/why-expensive-oil-is-a-waste-of-money-1797241527

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058357294/car-burning-oil-question

tabby aspreme

Use oil that's approved by Ford for that particular engine, not oil that's recommended for Ford by whoever packaged the oil, currently have a Toyota hybrid here and a Honda diesel, the Toyota gets 0-20 oil has 280,000 Kms and never burns any oil, same with the Honda which gets 0-30 And has 230000 Kms, the previous Honda I had with the older 2.2 engine burned oil from new and was still using the same amount when I parked it up with 601000 Kms.