Post by buck91 on Mar 1, 2015 5:24:44 GMT -6
I know this has been discussed many times in the past on many boards but haven't seen it pop up in a while. I have a 3.5L V6 with a little under 150,000 miles on it. Car has received MANY much needed repairs recently to prepare it as a primary commuter for 80 mile twice a day commute for the next year or so. One last problem I would like to address is oil consumption. I've owned many high mileage cars, including some Ford 4.6L that drink oil like a habit but this car is by far the worst. Goes through approx 1qt of oil per tank of gas.
After reading around the web a bit it seems like this is a family problem with the Northstar and therefore "shortstar" engines which is the result of coking/fouling of the oil control rings. Some people claim that hard driving will improve/prevent this issue, but I have not found that makes a difference. I have read a lot about various piston soaks as well, and while I don't have the actual TSB I understand GM has recommended a piston soak procedure using GM Piston and Ring Cleaner (P/N 12378549 12 ounce bottle). Other options I have seen include:
- Marvel Mystery Oil. An old standby which has the desirable trait of actually being a fairly effective lubricant as well. Some question the actual cleaning effectiveness.
- Seafoam. Over the past decade this has been VERY popular on web forums for vacuum line induction and piston soaks. Anecdotally it is known to be an effective cleaner. I haven't found any results which note oil consumption changes.
- Berryman B12 Chemtool. Less popular, more caustic alternative to Seafoam.
- GM Piston and Ring Cleaner (P/N 12378549 12 ounce bottle). The official stuff. TSB which instructs its use is very specific but I haven't found a copy of it recently. Also unable to find an online source, possibly an expensive dealer only item.
- ATF. Lots of mention about using ATF but seems nobody does. Personally not my favorite option.
- Kreen. Again, some web based anecdotes but not much info and not a product in my area.
Looks like 2oz per cylinder and varied soak times is the order of the day depending on product used. At this time I'm leaning towards seafoam and maybe a follow up of adding MMO to the oil for a while. Any thoughts?
After reading around the web a bit it seems like this is a family problem with the Northstar and therefore "shortstar" engines which is the result of coking/fouling of the oil control rings. Some people claim that hard driving will improve/prevent this issue, but I have not found that makes a difference. I have read a lot about various piston soaks as well, and while I don't have the actual TSB I understand GM has recommended a piston soak procedure using GM Piston and Ring Cleaner (P/N 12378549 12 ounce bottle). Other options I have seen include:
- Marvel Mystery Oil. An old standby which has the desirable trait of actually being a fairly effective lubricant as well. Some question the actual cleaning effectiveness.
- Seafoam. Over the past decade this has been VERY popular on web forums for vacuum line induction and piston soaks. Anecdotally it is known to be an effective cleaner. I haven't found any results which note oil consumption changes.
- Berryman B12 Chemtool. Less popular, more caustic alternative to Seafoam.
- GM Piston and Ring Cleaner (P/N 12378549 12 ounce bottle). The official stuff. TSB which instructs its use is very specific but I haven't found a copy of it recently. Also unable to find an online source, possibly an expensive dealer only item.
- ATF. Lots of mention about using ATF but seems nobody does. Personally not my favorite option.
- Kreen. Again, some web based anecdotes but not much info and not a product in my area.
Looks like 2oz per cylinder and varied soak times is the order of the day depending on product used. At this time I'm leaning towards seafoam and maybe a follow up of adding MMO to the oil for a while. Any thoughts?
