4agze using oil

**Thirteen13** · 14-11-2011, 08:57 AM

Hey

my mate had a ke70 which I helped him put a 4agze into few months ago. It's all running ok however, it seems to be going through some oil. When he first got the motor it had about a litre left in it but we've done all the routine maintenance stuff on it. Just noticed the other day that after about 3000 km it had used up about 500ml-1L of oil.
It's got no leaks which are evident, runs well and makes good power, was run on a dyno and made 140rwhp.
The only guess I could come up with is, it's just a 20ish y/o motor thats just getting old probably after a life of abuse. Doesn't blow anything but fuel smoke.
I've heard 4agze will chew a bit of oil. I thought that amount is a little excessive but it's not exactly a new motor that we know of.

Could there be anything we could look at besides just age as a factor to the oil use?

**BenAw11** · 14-11-2011, 09:09 AM

Check the compression on the cylinders mate. Im surprised that it doesn't have blow by as if there is no leaks thats where i would be guessing the oil is going. My old motor was very similar ended up being shitty compression on the 3rd cylinder and was giving it mad blow by.

**old_mr2** · 14-11-2011, 10:07 AM

possibly time for a hone and re-ring mate. Fun times ahead!

**Thirteen13** · 14-11-2011, 11:47 AM

Yesssss my mate is gonna love hearing that! I reckon it's the rings too

**Hen** · 15-11-2011, 09:23 PM

If it still runs well, makes power and doesn't blow smoke then ignore it. Checking your oil regularly and topping up once or twice between changes isn't rocket science.

**Thirteen13** · 16-11-2011, 02:08 AM

yeah your spot on hen. My mate is changing out from 10w-40 to 15w-50 too reckon that's a good move?

**Aust162** · 16-11-2011, 10:25 PM

i'd would try running 15w-50 or 10w-50,yep. i use hpr10 penrite which is 10w-50 semi syth in my old n/a 4age and it works good for me. 10w-40 is good for a rebuilt or very-very low km 4ag.

**Thirteen13** · 17-11-2011, 09:20 AM

Yeah my mate said next change he wants to goto hpr15. Guess they are getting pretty old these motors

**Aust162** · 17-11-2011, 10:44 AM

hpr15 is 15w-60 though. should be ok still.

**-GT-** · 17-11-2011, 03:10 PM

Yeah i with the boys above on this one; i've been through a few 4A-GEs now that have seen plenty of track time and you tend to get a bit of oil usage on older engines. Just keep an eye on it and top it up when needed - going to a thicker oil will help a bit but you shouldn't need to go too heavy. There's nothing to worry about until it gets really heavy; i ran one engine for a long while having to put 750-1000ml in every couple of sessions at the track. It got to the point it didn't like idling and stop start traffic as it was drowning, but it still made as much (or more) power than ever.

**Thirteen13** · 18-11-2011, 05:43 PM

Lol that's awesome gt!!
What oil do u guys reckon? Hpr15? Thats what I'm thinking

**-GT-** · 19-11-2011, 02:33 PM

Depends what you're running now - just go up the smallest increment you can and see if it improves much. I run 10w-40 and get a little usage on the track (with a good oil cooler) but minimal on the street (but it does only the occasional street trip). I've rarely gone much further than a 15w-40/50.

**Thirteen13** · 20-11-2011, 12:09 PM

it was running motul 10w-40 full synth, i think turbolite, gone upto a penrite hpr15 now. My mate reckons it runs pretty much the same with that oil he said he will keep an eye on it every 500km and see how much it uses, hopefully slows it with a thicker oil, maybe!

**-GT-** · 20-11-2011, 02:10 PM

Is he running an oil cooler? If not and it gets driven hard it might be worth installing one as you'll use more oil when it gets really hot, that might help slow the usage too - apart from them being a really good idea anyway.