Cold start oil consumption

[UnhandledException]

As I keep my car outdoors and temperatures in the morning is around 30F, I have started waiting for the revs to drop to 800 rpm (basically wait for the cold start routine to complete to warm up the cats). This usually takes around 2 minutes and by the time I drive off, cylinder head temps are around 125F and oil temp is 70F.

My car consumed 1 qt per 1250 miles since brand new (now at 73,500 miles). This consumption now seems to have increased to 1 qt 750 miles due to extended cold starts. Prior, the car was kept indoors and the cold start would take 15-20 seconds.

The reason for waiting is because my oil analysis reports started showing increased lead levels and I suspect bearings are wearing off and the 50W oil does not help during cold starts.

Sponsored

 

[luc]

As I keep my car outdoors and temperatures in the morning is around 30F, I have started waiting for the revs to drop to 800 rpm (basically wait for the cold start routine to complete to warm up the cats). This usually takes around 2 minutes and by the time I drive off, cylinder head temps are around 125F and oil temp is 70F.

My car consumed 1 qt per 1250 miles since brand new (now at 73,500 miles). This consumption now seems to have increased to 1 qt 750 miles due to extended cold starts. Prior, the car was kept indoors and the cold start would take 15-20 seconds.

The reason for waiting is because my oil analysis reports started showing increased lead levels and I suspect bearings are wearing off and the 50W oil does not help during cold starts.

What is the first set of numbers for the oil ?. “50” is after the w and is the viscosity at high temperature

 

[Rapid Red]

50w is for track, 30w is street, 73,500 is also bound to show some wear.
Increased level, what's the base line new ? Nothing to worry about.

 

[pilotgore]

What is the first set of numbers for the oil ?. “50” is after the w and is the viscosity at high temperature

I'm guessing the stock 5w50. For cold climate, it'd definitely be worth investigating going to a 0w50 to help with consumption. Mobile 1 makes a synthetic 0w50

 

[EFI]

This usually takes around 2 minutes and by the time I drive off, cylinder head temps are around 125F and oil temp is 70F.

You idling that long is only complicating the matter and making it worse.

By driving the car shortly after startup, you warmup the engine much faster than if you were to just idle. You idling the engine for such a long time, you increase the amount of time the engine spends outside of its operating temperature, thus increasing wear and oil consumption.

 

[Rapid Red]

I'm guessing the stock 5w50. For cold climate, it'd definitely be worth investigating going to a 0w50 to help with consumption. Mobile 1 makes a synthetic 0w50

50w is the standard street/track ?

 

[EFI]

50w is for track, 30w is street, 73,500 is also bound to show some wear.

This is a Voodoo engine, which calls for 5w50 at all times not just track. Putting in 30w oil in it is not a good idea even for the street.

 

[pilotgore]

50w is the standard street/track ?

For the GT350 yes, 5w-50 synthetic is the only oil that ford recommends under all conditions. They do have recommendations for changing the oil sooner if you operate in certain conditions though.

 

[UnhandledException]

It is 5w50.

The flipside is the bearings are bone dry when the engine is 30F. Even slightly exceeding 1200 rpm cold start rpm to say 2300-3000 rpm will wear those bearings in that very short time frame much more than the engine idling at 1200 rpm for 2 minutes. At least this is my view.

I did not know there was a 0w50. The car is 2017. I know 2019 GT350 says to use 0w40 in cold climate but mine does not and I dont know if the engine tolerances of this car is different than 2019 GT350 where 0w40 will cause even more oil consumption.

 

[Rapid Red]

For the GT350 yes, 5w-50 synthetic is the only oil that ford recommends under all conditions. They do have recommendations for changing the oil sooner if you operate in certain conditions though.

Yup, stand corrected, just looked it up, thanks

 

[pilotgore]

It is 5w50.

The flipside is the bearings are bone dry when the engine is 30F. Even slightly exceeding 1200 rpm cold start rpm to say 2300-3000 rpm will wear those bearings in that very short time frame much more than the engine idling at 1200 rpm for 2 minutes. At least this is my view.

I did not know there was a 0w50. The car is 2017. I know 2019 GT350 says to use 0w40 in cold climate but mine does not and I dont know if the engine tolerances of this car is different than 2019 GT350 where 0w40 will cause even more oil consumption.

Interesting, I looked in my '19 manual and didn't see the 0w40 recommendation. Any chance you can copy/paste it? Makes sense.

Heres the 0w-50 from mobile 1. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Mobi...MI27CnwfSu9AIV9IJbCh2ZLga7EAQYAiABEgJSufD_BwE

 

[UnhandledException]

Interesting, I looked in my '19 manual and didn't see the 0w40 recommendation. Any chance you can copy/paste it? Makes sense.

Heres the 0w-50 from mobile 1. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Mobi...MI27CnwfSu9AIV9IJbCh2ZLga7EAQYAiABEgJSufD_BwE

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/attachments/oilspecs-png.539479/

 

[EFI]

The flipside is the bearings are bone dry when the engine is 30F. Even slightly exceeding 1200 rpm cold start rpm to say 2300-3000 rpm will wear those bearings in that very short time frame much more than the engine idling at 1200 rpm for 2 minutes. At least this is my view.

Bearings should never be "bone dry" with modern lubricants. Synthetic oils stick to metal particles very well even after years of sitting. Temperature has nothing to do with that either.

The oil pump is a positive displacement unit, which builds pressure instantly. Even if the bearings were indeed bone dry, literally within half a second of starting up the engine the bearings would have full oil on them. No way the bearings would still be dry after 5 seconds of idle. If your bearings are truly dry, then you have much bigger problems with your oil pump. A bone dry bearing with no oil on it would be destroyed quickly even just idling.

 

[pilotgore]

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/attachments/oilspecs-png.539479/

Odd. . . this is what I see when viewing it directly from ford. No mention of cold weather.

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/...350-Supplement-version-1_sg_EN-US_12_2018.pdf

 

[UnhandledException]

Bearings should never be "bone dry" with modern lubricants. Temperature has nothing to do with that either.

Also the oil pump is a positive displacement unit, which builds pressure instantly. Even if the bearings were bone dry, literally within half a second of starting up the engine the bearings would have full oil on them. No way the bearings would be dry driving on it after 5 seconds of idle. If your bearings are truly dry, then you have much bigger problems with your oil pump. Also, a bone dry bearing with no oil would be destroyed quickly even with just idling.

Well, I am going to change the oil soon and send it for oil analysis again. We'll see whether my little experiment has actually worked or made things worse. I know that the previous oil change period I basically did what you are saying (start the car and drive off after 10 seconds) and I have seen very increased lead levels (went from 4 ppm to 37, thats 9 times).

Sponsored