Geo Metro burns oil - solutions

Amadameus
Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:15:36 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

My '91 Geo Metro burns a LOT of oil. I have discussed this with several people, who have posed a few different solutions. Here they are:

1) Use a heavier oil. I traditionally used 10w-30 for better gas mileage and better starts in cold Wisconsin weather, but some have said that switching to 20w-50 will help slow the flow of oil past the seals, thus burning less.

2) Replacing the seals may seem like an obvious solution, but the Metro’s 1.0L I3 engine is made entirely of aluminum and prone to warping. I drive it very gently, but the last owner was not so careful - I suspect that replacing the seals in an already warped engine will not help much.

3) Crankcase additives promise to eliminate oil loss and smoke, some even say they will do it permanently. Do any actually work?

What are your thoughts?

16 posts - 11 participants