E39

About 1500 miles ago I put in redline 5w30 and the engine has burned up about half a quart of oil. Prior to this I would use mobil 1 synthetic and the car did not burn oil. Certainly not half a quart in 1500 miles. Why would the car start burning oil after putting in redline? The only other variable I can think of is installing a cold air intake on the car about 500 miles ago. Motor has 140k.

thoiboi

try putting mobil 1 back in to rule out the CAI

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

in all honesty, half a quart isnt abnormal.

if you keep loosing it at the same rate, then yes, a problem.

so, be sure to check it often.

E39

Can a CAI be a cause for oil to burn?

thoiboi

Not usually.. but when troubleshooting, you want to rule out all variables.

thoiboi

great thinking justin!

thoiboi

god damnit, you deleted your post should've quoted it.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

i'll write it out again, just for you.

the question was; can CAI fuck with oil?

my answer was;
no, thats why thoiboi chose an obscure analogy.
to troubleshoot, you put everything back to original.
mobil1 =/= CAI

E39

I guess I'll try swapping out the redline even though it only has about 1500k miles on it. Or should I just add some more redline and monitor it? I put in redline thinking it would provide better protection when driving hard. Whats a good off the shelf brand with high HTHS etc from amongst your mobils, pennzoils, castrols?

TacoBello

It's likely not the oil or the CAI.

You're driving your car hard and it has a lot of miles. Engine wear is unavoidable in the long term and guys do start to eventually consume oil.

I thought there was something else that can contribute to oil consumption, if it gets clogged. Don't remember what it's called. PCV valve? Naw.. maybe someone else can chime in

thoiboi

I haven't heard PCV consuming oil, more so PCV being clogged caused oil to leak through the rear main seal


but i may be wrong

E39

Yea I hear what you're saying but still it seems a little odd to me that it starts burning oil right after redline. I have swapped out the PCV valve.

thoiboi

correlation =/= causation though. troubleshooting problems cars or elsewher ein life is always a headache but it's part of being an enthusiast/ DIYer.

the alternative is to throw money at the problem and take it to a shop that will charge you an arm and a leg for 'diagnosis'

nfnsquared

OP, are you sure you got a good starting reading on the dipstick after changing oil?

I'd say that 1/2 qt in 1500 miles is abnormal for a J32, even if driven hard. I have 230K on my J32 and I don't burn over 1/2 qt in 7500 miles.

How many quarts of Redline did you add? Did you change the filter at the same time?

You can rule out the CAI...

E39

Yea im confident that its not an error on my part with reading the oil level. I did 5 quarts of redline with filter change. With 5 quarts im always at the top mark of the dipstick maybe slightly above but not by much. Right now im at the middle of the high and low marks.

I was doing some research and came across some posts by "i hate cars" where he states that at first running redline in the first 1000 miles, for unknown reasons, 1 quart burning off is expected at which point after this the oil does not burn. I have no idea if this is the case for me and it doesn't make sense why redline would burn at first and then stabilize but I guess its possible. I'll add half a quart and monitor it.

Taquila1

iTrader: (1)

just go bac 2 M1

Kingdbox96

This spooks me. Im due for an oil change and thought redline would be the best option. I have just enough to give my car the best, but idk about repairs lol


Guess ill go with m1 ep to be safe?

E39

Dont be spooked I have continued monitoring the oil and no oil burning. I want to apologize in saying that I may have made an error in getting an accurate dipstick reading. Ever since I have suspected oil burning I have made sure to park on a level surface and check oil in the same manner and haven't noticed any drop in oil level over another about 1000 miles. So I can say with confidence now that redline isnt at fault and isn't behaving any differently than any other oil I've used in the past when it comes to oil loss. I'd like to apologize for any confusion I may have caused by human error.

The redline oil has seemed have gotten blacker quicker to me which I guess is an indication that its doing its job in cleaning up the engine. From what I've gathered online redline is a great oil. That being said on my next oil change I personally will probably give pennzoil platinum or pennzoil ultra a try due to redlines pricing and it probably being overkill of a oil for my situation.

I initially went with redline thinking I drive the car hard and its probably a good idea to invest in redline but since then I am thinking pennzoil ultra or platinum should also be good enough even when pushing the car. Plus redline being high in ZDDP that potentially may be harmful to cats is also another concern of mine.

Kingdbox96

thanks for coming back to clear this up. It means alot.

Im glad nothing has happened to your car as well.

I dont drive hard either. About 80% of the time im in the slow lane going 35.and I also accelerate slowly. But for that other 20% percent, im hitting vtec on every green light. I guess for your right for the driving habit, redline may be overkill for oil

I'll definitely use their transmission fluid tho.

thank you again

E39

So I recently changed my oil to pennzoil ultra platinum and noticed immediately on WOT what sounds like pinging to me. When using mobil 1 synthetics I also noticed pinging under WOT. Whats strange is in about 3k of me running redline 5w30 I cant remember a single instance where i heard pinging, even on WOT. If the car made the noise of what sounds like pinging to me I would take note of it and when I swapped to penn from redline that pinging sound to me was like wait a second I remember that sound, it hasn't been there for a while and now its back. Can oil make a difference in pinging? Maybe the redline runs cooler?