I have a 99 Honda Prelude, 106,000 miles & it burns oil quickly so I refill after 1500-2000mi and change oil and filter at 3000-3500mi. Recently guy at car shop told me to use 10W40 oil instead of 5W40 in addition to an engine lubricant. After putting both in, my engine immediately sounded much louder, almost like it is revving louder and maybe earlier. Dipstick shows appropriate amount of oil.
The sound is not a knocking, ticking, or something bad, just noticeabely louder.
Taryn, Specifically Which Additional Engine Lubricant Was Added?
“Recently guy at car shop told me to use 10W40 oil instead of 5W40 in addition to an engine lubricant.”
CSA
I filled up with 10W40 that was recommended at the shop, the car is supposed to use 5W40. He recommended 10W40 because the car is over 100,000 miles and burning oil quickly.
Do you know how little difference in the two oils you ask about? just not enough to change anything, for good or bad.
There is no connection between the noise you are hearing and your change in oils.
I figured there couldn’t be much of a difference. I did also add an engine lubricant, but I have used that before. Maybe it is nothing to worry about.
Thanks.
Tarynj–As CSA asked you earlier–Specifically what is the “engine lubricant” that you used? Please tell us the brand name of this product.
While I agree with oldschool that the viscosity of 10w-40 motor oil is unrelated to this problem, until we know what else you added to the engine’s crankcase, we will not know the full story.
Sorry for the confusion, this is the additive I used: Lucas Oil Products OIL STABILIZER
Since this is a “legitimate” product–unlike the ones hawked on late-night TV–I think we can rule out both the additive and the motor oil as a source of the problem. This does not really bring you any closer to the source of the noise, but at least you can eliminate the lubricants from the list of suspects.
How much oil does it burn? A quart every 1500-2000 miles? Has the usage increased over these past years?
Your mileage and year suggest a life of lots of short distance drives. Is my perception accurate?
And, if the sound is not knocking or ticking, can you describe what it is?
I’m trying to get a feel for how worn the engine really is and what to sugget to look for the source of the sound. These two things might suggest indeas to look at.
In what way is it louder? The mechanical noise of the engine, the exhaust note, or something else?
If you don’t mind a little extra expense, it may be worth trying a full-synthetic oil like Mobil-1. Your car may use less oil and have reduced mechanical noise. Mine did. YMMV.
It burns a quart every 500-1000 miles and this definitely increased within the last couple of years.
You are partially right on the mileage, the first 5 years I had the car I rarely drove anywhere. The latter 5 years I have commuted 15-30 miles each way to work.
In general the sound is only louder and it seems to be coming from the engine. It could be nothing, but it was noticeably louder. A little online research from the additive proved it doesn’t have a lot of fans, though, so I will stop using that and consider synthetic oil in the future.
“so I will stop using that and consider synthetic oil in the future.”
IMHO it’s way too late for synthetic. A quart every 500-1000? Might as well burn your dollars directly. Consider getting a re-manufactured engine with a warranty if the rest of the car is in good shape.
When you drove it little did you change the oil by time instead of mileage?
I have an '88 Accord that I now drive about 2000 miles a year for the last few years (bike to work). I still change the oil every 6 months. It has 219K miles and burns no oil.
It is probably closer to a quart per 1000 miles if I do the math, but that is still a lot. When I mentioned it to mechanics they did not seem concerned, but I don’t know much about cars so I had no reason not to believe them.
When I did not drive it often I made sure to change the oil still relatively often despite the mileage (never went more than 6mo, but I also put a lot more than 2000mi/yr).