Any tips for quietening a rattly/slightly smoky engine and making it last a bit longer? I gave my mate my '95 Cavalier (16v 2l engine, 108k miles) with the warning that it needed an oil change and it was leaking oil from the rocker cover, and it needed regular oil checks.
Of course, he did nothing and let the oil fall below the bottom of the dipstick. The engine is now rattling - it sounds tappety - and burns oil (exhaust has blue-white smoke.) Engine was pretty good before this.
I've replaced the rocker cover gasket - it's a flexible rubber seal and had gone brittle and had cracked in several places - and have topped up the oil.
Any tips for making the engine last 11 months to the next MOT (I don't expect it'll pass on emissions, at which point he'll scrap the car) - will a heavier oil, any of the snake oil stuff (Wynn's, STP, Slick 50 etc.) help? It has 10/50 in at the mo, and I was thinking a cheap
20/50 might help.Thanks.