What causes oil consumption

#XADO #Revitalizant #oil #consumption

One of the most common problems with a car is increased oil consumption, which is related to many factors and can affect the car performance. Late diagnostics of a car with increased oil consumption can lead to critical failures of the engine as a whole.

Oil consumption in engines of modern passenger cars usually does not exceed 0.05%; the maximum allowable oil consumption is 0.5% (all percentages refer to actual fuel consumption). Normal oil consumption may be higher for older types of engines, stationary engines, and under special operating conditions.

The main causes of increased oil consumption are as follows:

1. Oil (quality, improperly selected oil in terms of viscosity and other characteristics, incorrect oil change schedule, etc.);

2. Severe vehicle operating conditions (urban operating conditions, driving on a “cold” engine, engine overheating, etc.);

3. Engine wear (wear of the CPG, pistons, valve seals, and rings, natural wear and increase of the thermal gap between the walls of the CPG, etc.);

4. Problems with air–fuel mixture formation; oversaturated or lean air–fuel mixture (problems with air intake and air filter capacity, problems with the valve train, incorrect valve clearances, tension of the valve train chain, etc.).

1. Oil as a cause of increased oil consumption.

The most common problem is incorrectly selected oil or its quality.

Oil with a high viscosity can lead to increased pressure in the oil system, which in turn increases the temperature of the engine, resulting in overheating and formation of sludge on operating surfaces. All this can cause engine failure in the shortest possible time, which is why it is necessary to pay attention to the oil pressure indicator. Indirectly, it can show that the oil viscosity is higher than it should be, or that the oil has exhausted its service life and it is time to change it. You can also open the oil filler neck, but do it very carefully: if the oil is bubbling and splashing out of the neck, then this indicates a large amount of crankcase gases and high oil volatility (the engine is clearly overheated). In such cases, it is urgent to measure the amount of oil with a dipstick, add or replace the oil. It is also worth cleaning the oil system with special flushes like TotalFlush or VitaFlush, or using flushing oils.

Oil with a low viscosity can lead to loss of sealing function in the cylinder-piston group, which in turn results in a significant amount of oil entering the combustion chamber. An abundant amount of oil in the combustion chamber will lead to coking, carbon deposits, and rapid wear of the CPG.

If the oil amount decreases, and there is heavy gray smoke, dripping, or soot in the exhaust pipe, this may indirectly indicate that the oil viscosity is lower than it should be (especially if the car is not that old and doesn’t have a significant run), or that the oil is of bad quality or incorrectly selected. It can also indirectly indicate wear of the CPG (item 3). It is worth trying to increase the viscosity with the help of special additives like Atomex Complex Oil Treatment (if the oil consumption has increased slightly) or changing to a higher viscosity oil.

NOTE! SAE viscosity grade does not indicate that the oil is suitable for your engine. For example, there are three types of 5W-30 oils, different in their characteristics and properties (full ash, medium ash, low ash). You should also pay attention to the viscosity index, base and ash numbers, as well as to certain indicators, which usually correspond to particular approvals of the car manufacturer. If you are not sure that this oil is 100% suitable for your engine, then you should ask a technical specialist for help.

Oil quality is usually influenced by the base oils and additive packages used as well as conditions and terms of oil storage.

Always follow the recommendations of the manufacturers of the equipment you are using. Only the car manufacturer can prescribe fluid change intervals. In turn, we, as manufacturers of lubricants, develop the product based on the standards and approvals established by car manufacturers.

2. Severe vehicle operating conditions usually affect the service life of motor oil in general. Roughly speaking, the more often your car runs at idle or at high speeds, that is, not warming up or overheating the engine, the faster the acid number (TAN) in the oil grows, the faster the alkaline reserves of TBN (detergent additives) are used up, and the faster the oil loses its properties, which leads to sludge and soot formation and rapid engine failure.

neutralization number

It is important to understand that urban driving conditions are more difficult for the car than, let’s say, driving on a highway. Lubricant “ages” faster and needs to be changed more often due to traffic, constant “start-stop” driving, and other factors. For example, with busy traffic, you can spend an hour in a traffic jam, having driven just 10 km, while in the same hour you could drive 100 km or more on the highway where 10 km of road would not take more than 10 minutes. The distance covered may be the same, but the engine operation time and load may be completely different. That is why there is such an indicator as engine hours, which is usually used for commercial vehicles and equipment.

Consequently, under severe operating conditions, it is desirable to reduce the oil change interval by about 2 times (say, 7,000–7,500 km would be more appropriate instead of 15,000 km if you want to keep your engine clean and operable for a long time).

NOTE! Warm up the engine for at least 3–5 minutes in cold weather as this will help you avoid wear of a “cold” engine. Also, properly warm up the particulate filter before operating the car.

3. Engine wear can be even. During long-term operation, the engine has even wear, just like any operating mechanism. Typically, such wear is called abrasive because it’s characterized by mutual abrasion of the operating surfaces with the formation of wear particles during long-term operation (this is a natural wear process).

Wear can also be uneven due to improper operation or unforeseen factors. With even wear, motor oil consumption also increases gradually. No mechanism is eternal, but the problem can partially be solved by using special friction modifiers (XADO REVITALIZANT® compositions can restore the operating surfaces of the CPG and reduce thermal gaps to the nominal value) or increasing the oil viscosity (with the help of Atomex Complex Oil Treatment or by using higher viscosity oils on the recommendation of a technical specialist).

With uneven wear, such as various burnouts, abrasion of piston rings and other components, the problem can be solved only by replacing worn-out parts. In case of minor problems, such as small scuffs or scratches, products containing XADO REVITALIZANT® may be just the right solution to the problem. Such products can completely or partially eliminate problems, depending on the severity of the damages (depth and size of scratches, etc.).

Also, REVITALIZANT® compositions are capable of minimizing the loss of the oil’s TBN, which may slightly extend the service life of oils in case of their strong oxidation.

It is quite easy to diagnose burnouts and coking: you just have to measure the engine compression. If it is decreased, this may indirectly indicate a burnout or coking. To distinguish one from the other, just pour a cap of oil into the CPG and repeat the measurement. If the compression increases, then this indicates that the rings are stuck and do not perform their sealing function; but if nothing changes, then this indicates burnout of the piston, valves, valve gasket, wear of the piston rings, etc. (in any case, you will have to disassemble the engine and subsequently replace the worn-out parts).

4. Problems with the valve train can be divided into two types: problems with the air intake and problems with the fuel system and valve train. With poor air filtration as well as with loss of tightness inside the intake tract, contaminants begin to enter the combustion chamber, affecting the CPG and wearing out the surface of the cylinders, rings, and the pistons themselves. In this case, cracks forming on cylinder walls fill with oil which then burns there. Moreover, the lubricant can mix with dirt, forming a mixture resembling a paste with microgranules. Such a paste abrades moving parts of the engine, reduces the tightness of the cylinder, and increases oil consumption through burning. The capacity of the air filter also affects the air–fuel mixture; for example, the fuel does not burn completely.

Too much fuel can accumulate inside the cylinder, which usually occurs when the air–fuel mixture is too rich. If the fuel has not burnt out inside the cylinder, it begins to wash off the oil from the walls, with further friction leading to wear of the CPG. As a result, the car’s power drops, and the lubricant consumption increases. Most often, the cause of incomplete fuel combustion lies in a malfunction of the injection system nozzles or adjustment of clearances in the valve train.

NOTE! Also do not forget about the quality of the fuel. Low-quality fuel directly affects the service life of both the oil and the engine as a whole.