need help fast before we go any further please!!!!

ok got a 94 cav with a 2.2. daughter ran it out of oil. (leak or something somewhere, don't know where, no puddles or anything when it sits) it shut down as a saftety precaution i guess. hubby replaced the crank case sensor as we were told to do. got it half way home, oil light came on. smelled oil. was running fine. sounds like a little tapping under engine. so he called a tow to bring it home as didn't want to chance driving it anymore. called mechanic and was told as hot as it was, run 20w50 in the thing. changed the oil, put new in with filter, ect. started it up, still the same. haven't driven it anywhere until we figure this out. lite never came on, but still same sound and smell. called another mechanic, about maybe needing new head or something on it. he said absolutley do not run that thick of oil, it will blow engine. any thoughts, please???????? maybe a bent lifter, new head, oil pump, ect????? starts and runs great, just don't know if it caused any damage that we could further check. don' twant her out somewhere and breaking down. thanks for any input. you guys have been a great help on here. kim

you may have damaged one of the lifters.

what about the running that type of oil, 99cavy?

yeah that thick of oil probably isnt a good idea. i also ran my car out of oil but i think screwed it up way worse than yours. im going to make a video of it so you could hear how bad it is. will have it up in a little bit.

Hi !

I have a 96 Cavalier and 02 Sunfire, when summer comes the 20W50 goes in, we've put hundreds of thousands of kms on (213,000 on the 96 and 140,000 on the Sunfire) Not a tick or a knock.

That's my exprience.

If you can smell oil burning it has to be leaking out and landing on something hot like the exhaust pipe. I would run the engine and see where the smoke is coming from.

Take Care
Roy

putting that thick of oil in a 4 cylider is just fucking retarded, if your oil pump isnt bad already, it will go bad a hell of alot sooner trying to push that shit through the engine, the ONLY way i would use that is if the engine is already ruined, to the point of no return, like if a rod starts knocking, or if it leaks/burns a HELL of alot of oil, 5w30 is whats recommened for these engines, so if you wanted to put a thicker oil in i'd go with 10w30, if thats not good enough for you then 10w40, but 20w50, thats just fucking dumb

just curious r2+2, why do you use that in the summer?

Cool, I'm sure there is a good reason you posted my ISP, can you tell me why ?

As for "if your oil pump isnt bad already, it will go bad a hell of alot sooner trying to push that shit through the engine", let's do the math, the car is 10 years old 216,000 kms, doesn't burn oil, doesn't knock I don't plug it in the winter and it has never failed me, what do you mean "allot sooner" ?

I will assume that "putting that thick of oil in a 4 cylider is just fucking retarded" is a strong disagreement with my practice of using 20W50 and you have some information that this is harmful for the engine that maybe you would like to share with me ? I think that my many years of driving has made me comfortable with my practice of using 20W50 during the summer.

Answering your question why would I use that heavy an oil in the summer, yes is it heavy at the begining of the oil change cycle but as the oil gets broken down from the exessive heat of the summer and additional wear and tear of excessive long drives plus pulling my boat, it still has some body at the end of oil change cycle. If 5W30 meets manufatures specs at the begin of the cycle what's it vicosity at the end of the cycle in extreme weather conditions ?

Do you think the oil pump has difficulty with 20W50 in the summer, what about 5W30 at -30 in the winter ? If it can move that oil why do you have sooo much difficulty with 20W50 at 70 degrees ?

That's my 2 cents again, my only point was that in my experience my engine has never blown up with 20W50.

Take Care
Roy

Answering your question why would I use that heavy an oil in the summer, yes is it heavy at the begining of the oil change cycle but as the oil gets broken down from the exessive heat of the summer and additional wear and tear of excessive long drives plus pulling my boat, it still has some body at the end of oil change cycle. If 5W30 meets manufatures specs at the begin of the cycle what's it vicosity at the end of the cycle in extreme weather conditions ?



you dont think the car manufacturers take that into consideration before making a certain weight the recommended weight for a vehicle??

"oh the recommeded weight is 5w30, 20w50 should be fine" i just cant believe that

also, just curious, what year/engine of cavalier do you use to pull a boat, cuz i have a a 2.2 liter and it can barely move my car.....

i will be shocked if you can get one more person to say that 20w50 is GOOD for a 4 cylinder engine

are you getting any metal shavings in the oil? Do you know how long it was driven dry? Those motors are pretty bombproof. 20W50 is a little thick. could use 5 or 10w30 with Lucas oil stabiliser and that will most likely work better. If the oil light is coming on then the oil pump could be damage from being run dry, the seals could have dried and perished a bit as the oil keep then supple. This could also cause the sound. The smell I would guess is it's probably burning oil, did you get any blue smoke? The rings could have been damage and you could be getting blow-by.

I will assume that "putting that thick of oil in a 4 cylider is just fucking retarded" is a strong disagreement with my practice of using 20W50 and you have some information that this is harmful for the engine that maybe you would like to share with me ? I think that my many years of driving has made me comfortable with my practice of using 20W50 during the summer.



im not trying to be mean either, sorry, thats just how i talk, (check out some of my other posts)
i see how it can come off as "strong" if you're not familiar with me

Well I think the manufacture make a middle of the road recommendation. I think they recommend 5W30 because they don't want to recommend different grades for different season like they use to ? I believe that they just want to keep customers happy because if they didn't get the 20W50 out before January their cars would start. 5W30 just keeps things simple for the "average" user. As in most recommends or rules they are usually the minimum requirements not nessassarly the best. I choose to do a little more than the manufacture recommends and I have had good experience with this practice.

I have 2.2 liter automatic 1996 my boat weighs about 1000lbs and it takes me about 3 hours to drive to camp at 90 to 100 kms/h and as you can see by my isp I'm in Northern Ontario so I live in some hilly country.

Maybe you should try some 20W50 ?

That's cool how you post my ISP, how do you do that ?

Take Care
Roy

Hey from right next door to Oshawa. do you have anything as I asked in Post #9?

That's cool how you post my ISP, how do you do that ?
Roy

lol, its a secret, its really not that hard to figure out though....

you dont think the car manufacturers take that into consideration before making a certain weight the recommended weight for a vehicle??

"oh the recommeded weight is 5w30, 20w50 should be fine" i just cant believe that

also, just curious, what year/engine of cavalier do you use to pull a boat, cuz i have a a 2.2 liter and it can barely move my car.....

i will be shocked if you can get one more person to say that 20w50 is GOOD for a 4 cylinder engine


Jake, FYI on another topic:

"i will be shocked if you can get one more person to say that 20w50 is GOOD for a 4 cylinder engine"

Lycoming and Continental manufactures of reciprocating engines for light airplanes and helicopters recommend 100W oil for their 4 cylinder engines, I'm only using 50W ?

Take Care
Roy

i really dont know much about airplanes and helicopters but im sure there engine are built differnet than a cavalier 4 banger. so i really wouldnt use that as a comparison. plane and helicopter motors are also pushed alot harder than cavaliers. so.....all in all i dont think 50w would be a good choice for your cavalier. im with JAKEGDAY on this one.

i really dont know much about airplanes and helicopters but im sure there engine are built differnet than a cavalier 4 banger. so i really wouldnt use that as a comparison. plane and helicopter motors are also pushed alot harder than cavaliers. so.....all in all i dont think 50w would be a good choice for your cavalier. im with JAKEGDAY on this one.

lol, what he said.....

but in your defense, i didnt specify car engines, ya got me there