My VW Passat takes 4.5 qts of 5w-30

She has to add a qt. in between oil changes...

I find out today that she has been using 20w-50...

I wonder if thats causing the car to burn oil...

I'm not too keen on weights in gas engines, but do you guys think its OK?

I just found out today that she has been doing this...

She told me that if I can work on my truck that she can check her oil and add if necessary

 

As long as it's still running good just switch back to a diesel rated oil and keep driving it. A VW isn't the same as a CTD engine so I doubt if there's much extra wear. I think the main reason to use a diesel oil is for the additives which give it better film strength and ability to withstand the "BANG" when the fuel is injected. That's why a diesel rattles so much.

Edwin

 

Its a gasser

 

Oh, no worries then.

 

low oil is worse that 20w-50, it wont hurt it, might help thicken it up some and keep it from burning so easy.

 

One quart of 20W-50 as make-up oil isn't going to hurt anything. The thick oil will help reduce consumption a little.

 

Oil burner? That doesn't mean the engine is an oil burner (not in the diesel sense anyways).

How many miles on the engine? Whats the oil change interval?

If you do an oil change every 1000 miles then I'd say it might be an oil burner, but if you change it every 3-5 k miles, I wouldn't even worry about it.

Your wife checks the oil and adds oil when necessary? - she's a keeper.

 

One quart in five won't hurt a thing. It might be just what the doctor ordered to slow down the consumption.

 

it'll run a little quieter maybe.

 

Might flow a little slower in the winter but won't hurt it in the summer.
I had an old 307 Chevy that I had to run four quarts of 50 weight and two cans of STP just to get it to run and not burn it.