Best Oil For Emission Control

I've had limited success with Wynn's 'Smoke Stop' - got my old Escort through an MOT with no problems.

Don't know what long-term effects it would have, though, I sold the car not long after putting a couple of bottles in ;-)

Ron,

Unfortunately in your case, the smoke is most likely due to sticking rings... a problem with those loveable ole D24 engines. Heavier weight oil will help I believe, and maybe even some Lucas Motor Oil Stabilizer (Motor Honey), but your best current bet is going to be a product called AutoRX which will help un-stick those rings:

The best stuff was Lubro-Moly OL Shalaam Spulung, but since it was imported to the USA/Canada as "Engine Flush", the contents have changed significantly and it's not very effective anymore.

If you really want to cure the problem for good, a rebuild is in order. Replace those rings and change your oil ever 3000 miles after your rebuild with quality stuff (or 7500+ with quality synthetics) and you'll be good for several hundred thousand more miles without problem, and much more power/less smoke. Volvo's worst call ever was putting 7000 mile reccomended oil-change intervals in their 1980's volvo diesel owners manuals... it sent most of em to the junkyard at right around 160,000 miles. Anything to make a diesel sale in the 80's, eh?

By the way, a few of us diesel-brickers have a Yahoo! group just for us... come on over and join up!

If you're an '86, you must have the last year of the 740 Turbodiesel... invest some time and a few dollars on that rebuild, and you can push 270hp out of that little straight-6 while getting 46mpg on the freeway at 75mph - It's been done! There's a lot of potential in that engine...

-Mike

82 Volvo 245GL Diesel

Don't know Volvos, but one method for fixing stuck rings that I've heard:

-Remove spark plugs

-Dump something like Marvel Mystery Oil or GM Top Engine Cleaner into cylinders, let sit overnight

-Put rag over spark plug holes, crank engine to blow out remaining cleaner

-Reinstall spark plugs

-Change engine oil

Kind of hard to do on the diesel engine that the original poster was having the problem with...

So, what's the best oil to keep down emissions for now to pass a test;

10-40 Penzoil natural or some 10-40 synthetic(which)? And then use one of these additives on top of that?

significantly

Since you have a diesel engine, you probably want a diesel rated oil (e.g. API CH-4 or CI-4, although CF is acceptable for older diesel engines that specified CC or CD); typically these come in 15W-40 conventional or 5W-40 synthetic, though some 10W-30 and 5W-30 varieties may be found. No idea what effect that can have on the smoking, though.

Duh, right.. glow plugs then, maybe? ;-)

So, what's the best oil to keep down emissions(blue smoke) for now to pass a test; 10-40 Penzoil natural or some 10-40 synthetic(which)? And then use one of these additives on top of that?

If your car is burning enough oil to be smoking, I don't think changing the oil will cause it to burn clean enough to pass the emissions test. You need to stop it from burning oil or it's not going to pass.

I believe in some areas that do emissions testing, if your vehicle is producing visible exhaust smoke then they will not even test it, it's an automatic failure.

The smoke is rather marginal now and any small improvement would allow passage. Light duty desiels are exempt in the US from normal emission testing. So the question remains: What would be the lowest smoker 10-40 natural oil or 10-40 synthetic??

message

I guess I will let the secret out if nobody else will. Common lavender scented bubble bath is just the thing you need. Cheap and available at any corner drug store. Just fill 'er up! Problem solved.

He did answer your question. He said if your car is burning oil, it won't pass inspection. It doesn't matter what kind of oil you put it in.

You could try running your car without oil. Then it wouldn't have any oil to burn. :)

---------------- Alex

The message from Alex Rodriguez contains these words:

Think how much Slick50 [1] you'd need though!

[1] Or other snakeoil.

The message from Duncan Wood contains these words:

Wasn't there a 2CV that did it with bananananas once?

Wouldn't it be as important or more important to use a good diesel-rated oil (e.g. API CH-4 or CI-4) in order to handle the soot?

Every VW LT Diesel I can remember having anything to do with has snapped at least one.

I would have to agree with someone above who said about a diesel oil... My reasons in this are:

1) there is no true synthetic 10w-40 oil (castrol syntec, pennzoil, etc ARE NOT TRUE PAO or ester synthetics) that youll find over the counter. Mobil 1 doesnt make one, and Redline does, but good luck finding that for under $8/qt.

Your best bet is a diesel rated oil, either, in my order of choice:

Mobil Delvac 1300 super ($5.88/gal at walmart) Pennzoil Long life Chevron Delo 400 Shell Rotella T

These are designed to stand up to the issues in diesel engines. To my knowledge there are no 10w-40 oils out there that are rated even API CF, which is the Minimum you need to control soot. Soot is most liekly what has either caused stuff to stick in your engine, or has caused your engine to wear to the point that it just plain burns oil.

If youre set on a 10 wt oil, I would seriously consider using (I use it in my 83 MB 300D diesel with 210k trouble free miles):

1/2 Mobil Delvac 1300 super 1/2 Mobil delvac 1 (synthetic diesel rated oil)

Thsi will keep things super clean, the 1300 has a shot of moly for wear protection, and the delvac 1 has enhanced soot protection so soot loading beyond 2% isnt an issue.

Otherwise, I would have to suggest Mobil 1 15w-50 which is API CF (the correct minimum spec for your engine), so it can handle soot loads to 2%, will keep things clean, and, contrary to urban legends, will not cause your engien to leak, will clean it out a bit, and may actually swell oil pan seals

DOnt be worried about using synth in an older car. I was using straight Delvac 1 synthetic for a while around the 200k mark after only using dino for the first 200K, and ther ewas no leaks or issues at all...

Hope this helps,

JMH

snipped-for-privacy@worldnet.att.net (Ron Reaugh) wrote in :

At the risk of asking a silly question I must know if all this advice especially about diesel oil from walmart (Mobil Delvac) or pennzoil longlife will be beneficial in a 87 and 88 240 DL but is gasoline run engines. I do not have any real problems with burning oil just some leaking and the numbers on E-test in the past have been good, but the recent one for the

1988 was close to our limits for curb idling: HC ppm limit 200 reading 113ppm CO% ppm limit 1.00 reading taken 0.73 in the other cat. where engine is run at 1599 rpm HC ppm limit 71ppm - reading = 42ppm CO% limit 0.40ppm - reading = 0.25ppm NO ppm limit 805 reading = 182 note: test taken June 3rd 2003. Software version 3.16 Here's my concerns I change oil at regular intervals every 3 months or 5000klms which ever comes first (usually it's done because of time passed - not mileage) has had new plugs wires rotor and cap in the last 14 months and not done more than about 17,000klms of driving ago. The test with a brand new catylitic convertor (not OEM) on January 15th 2001 went like this (no curb idle taken at this time I think it may have not been required) also note there was no rpm figure given at this test (read valid only) HC ppm limit 80 reading 21 CO% ppm limit 0.45 reading 0.14 NO ppm limit 910 reading 41 with software version used 3.00 So what is happening here with the test showing alot more emissions escaping tailpipe? Should I be thinking twice about spending anymore money on her or think more about unloading her?

any and all advice most appreciated.

Just use normal 10W30 oil and a quality filter, it's not a turbo so there's no special requirements. If the emissions are getting worse try a tuneup, new plugs and wires, cap, rotor, clean the throttle body, replace the flame trap, run a bottle of fuel system cleaner through it, all that stuff together should only cost you about $100 and no special tools or advanced knowledge is required. Also fix the leak, if the flametrap is clean there's only a few places where oil commonly leaks. These things should run pretty much forever as long as they aren't neglected.