black oil

My saturn, 96 sc2 150k oil is getting blacker and blacker and I am
using about 1 1/2 quarts between oil changes. I use to change oil
every 3000 miles but have started moving it up to 2500 because of the
color. I started with mobil one oil synthetic from about 75k miles but
since about 125k have started using penzoil because of the cost of
mobil one and the frequent changes. Is there anything I can do to
safely clean this engine! I have also been producing a lot of carbon
for I get the occassional egr code because of a stuck pintal or
whatever it is called.
I've been thinking about taking the car into a dealer tht decarbonizes
engines but was hoping for a better remedy.
Phil

 

It is a waste of money to use SYN oil in a older engine that is
showing signs of wear. Use a good conventail oil in a 10w30 grade as
it will cut consumption and cost and keep changing oil frequently at
2500 or less miles. You can keep a old engine alive for a very long
time if you do this and keep it full of oil too. Most negelect engines
when they get old and never change oil when they add to it often and
hasten engines demise.

 

My oil is black as can be after a few miles, in ALL 3 of my current
vehicles. And it has been this way in all the vehicles I've ever owned.

If you're making the assumption that it shouldn't be - what is your basis
for thinking this (links)?

If you're concerned about the content of the oil (which it seems that you
are more than most), have you sent it in for an oil analysis? That would
mean more than a judgement based on its color, IMO.

Thanks,
Lane [ lane (at) evilplastic.com ]

 

I guess what my concern is I have 2 different satuns, the 96sc2 and I
also have a 97sl2 The sl2 use nothing but mobil one and oil seems to
stay lighter longer before getting darker and never gets black so I
stayed with mobile one and chage it every 3000 miles OR 3months
whichever comes first. The 96 seems to get dark after about 100 miles
and pretty black by 2500 miles. I would say the oil is fine for the
amount that is added to keep it filled. The 96 also seems to produce
much more carbon albiet the egr valve acting up ( it is a new valve).
I was just wondering if these problems might be all connected like
maybe carbonized and a stuck ring and if maybe some sort of cleaner
would take care of this

 

This is no surprize because it is burning a bit more oil and that fact
that it is getting black sooner shows that rings are leaking. I am not
knocking SYN oil because I have used it in a few vechiles (one for 19
years so far) but I do not switch to it in a used engine nor continue
to use it when engine becomes worn and needs frequent oil changes. SYN
oil tend to "slip" through rings more than conventional oil in a worn
engine. It can do well in a nice tight engine but not best choice for
a older one showing signs of wear.

 

Please fix your broken newsreader configuration.

 

Nothin to "fix" just because you do not like it. It is not "broken",
you just do not like current configuration because your client or you
have issues with it. Prehaps you should contant the authors of "Agent"
and tell them that it is a defective product.

 

Yes, it is. It's prepending superfluous "Re: " strings at the beginning of
every followup that you post.

As I have already pointed out to you before, (a) I'm not the only person
either to see the problem, or to complain to you about it, (b) you *are* the
only poster I see whose posts exhibit this problem, and (c) if you look in
Google you'll see that the problem is in the text that you posted. My
newsreader has nothing to do with it.

Perhaps you should contact the authors of Agent and ask them for assistance in
configuring it properly.

 

You are under estimating how dense this guy is Doug. You and everyone
else can tell him the world is round and show him pictures from space
proving it but if he believes it is a flat rectangle then by golly
that's what it is, evidence be damned.

Again, evidence be damned. I have no doubt he went in and screwed with
Agents settings. I had to Google the fix because it is blatantly obvious
he doesn't know how to use Google either. You told him how to verify
that it is clearly "HIS" problem and he still doesnt get it. He lives in
a land of absolute denial.


-----------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------THE FIX--------------------------
Options > General Preferences > Message List
Reply prefixes: re re^2 re^3 aw

"This is about the default value. Agent recognizes these introductions
of the subject, and ignores them when deciding if it is a new thread.
Further, when posting a follow-up or a reply, Agent removes all of
these, and places its own Re: in front of the subject."
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------

That would require the admission that "he" is wrong and at fault... Your
posts have been well written, kind, and to the point Doug...But being
nice to this guy still wont change a thing. I think the best fix would
be telling him to get lost. Of course this post will throw him into a
tizzy and he still will not fix Agent. Instead he'll probably spend his
time trying in vain to smear me. One good thing about this though is
when someone sorts by "Subject" his re re re replies aren't even grouped
with the subject being discussed.

 

Yes, it is, and now, having downloaded a copy of Agent and replicated
the problem myself, I can tell you *exactly* what's broken.

Locate your Agent.ini file. In my copy of Agent, it's at
C:\Program Files\Agent\Data\Agent.ini
Depending on what version of Agent you have, it may be in a different
place on your machine.

Now open Agent.ini in Notepad, and locate the line that begins with
ReplyPrefixes=

That line *should* say
ReplyPrefixes=re

In your [broken] configuration, it doesn't. Probably, it just says
ReplyPrefixes=

Or perhaps it's missing altogether, in which case you can fix your
broken configuration by locating the [Article] section in Agent.ini and
adding that line somewhere after [Article] and before the next [ ]
section header.

 

One more thing -- you can also get there, in my copy of Agent, by
selecting Tools | Options | Display | Message List Pane | Threading.

The 'Reply Prefixes' setting is near the bottom.