Help me pick an engine oil

I sold my beloved s2000 in a dual effort to obtain a nationally competitive autocross car and lower my yearly racing expenses. The replacement is a 2000 MR-2 (MR-not!!) spyder for E-Street. The only real drawback so far is that the 1zz-fe is a notorious oil burner and this car is no exception. The only event I’ve taken it to was and 80 mle round trip with 10 runs between myself and my codriver and it burned just over a quart of oil. What concerns me is the destroying of the catalytic converters in the manifold. They have a tendency to break apart from the oil passing through them and fragments getting sucked back into the engine. Not fun, but the long term view for the car is to source a second 1zz and give a thorough rebuild to hopefully eliminate the issue. I’m not an oil guru by any stretch, but I’m curious if there is a particular type of oil that is less harmful to the cats or at least prolonging the inevitable. 

What sayeth the hive?

What grade of oil is the engine supposed to use?

I think an air/oil seperator  is in your future regardless of oil viscosity ......Moroso & APex are just two out there...

Honestly, if it burned over a quart in less than 100 miles (even with some autocross runs in there), that's not in the realm of "pick the right oil and run it".  That's in the realm of "the motor is totally berkeleyed and needs a rebuild".  The only time I've seen an engine suck down that much oil was cruising on the highway with a failed intake manifold gasket where it was just sucking oil right out of the lifter valley.  

At that rate of consumption, I'd expect it's probably quite smoky, right?  

It calls for 5w30 oil. 

Ill be inspecting the PCV system thanksgiving weekend. If I find oil there then I’ll put a catch can in it and see how much that changes it. 

Surprisingly it doesn’t smoke much. The only time it’s noticeable is at launch at autocross. There’s a puff of gray smoke when you leave the line, but then unnoticeable after that. 

uhh.. Whats on sale at fleet farm?  Cause at that rate you're going to need a lot of it...

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

It’s a second car for me, autocross only, so it won’t be seeing many miles. 

Amazon has 5w30 Havoline for $13 and some change in a five quart jug.  You're burning it that fast, it's not going to "age out".

Motor sounds like it needs real attention.  Good luck!

start with a compression test and go from there. 

Years ago, I had an E30 track rat with tired M20 engine that burned a ton of oil under track use. I tried Lucas HD Oil Stabilizer for a couple of events. 

Its a little weird: feels like pouring molasses into your engine. As far as I know, it’s basically just a straight ~250 wt gear oil. Adding just a little will increase your oil viscosity dramatically.

Seemed to work. Cut consumption by maybe half. The top-end seemed quieter, too (maybe placebo effect). 

Not something I’d use on an engine I cared about. If it’s going to be rebuilt/replaced soon anyway, then you might give it a shot. 

I'm not familiar with the peculiarities of that motor, but my inclination would be to try to free up the rings and do some general clean-up with a Seafoam (or water - works just fine) treatment through the intake, then see if the consumption continues.

Try some 15W-40 diesel oil, $10 for a gallon at Wally-World.  

I already started hunting for another engine to freshen up for the car. In the meantime I’m going to check all the basics and hope I can slow it down some. 

found some issues that may be the problem. First, the PCV hose was completely split in two. Second, the timing chain tensioner is leaking quite badly. I haven't seen any leaks on the floor, because it was all collecting in the undertray. there is some heat padding there and it is completely oil soaked. 

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New tensioner ordered and the PCV hose repaired. I'll track the oil level from here and see if it improves. 

I have a standard procedure for oil consumption.

Seafoam it, new pcv valve, inspect the hoses, 5w40 rotella and go dog the crap out of it.

Had good luck years ago on an sbc with a can of engine restore

These days I run Rotella T6 diesel oil in pretty much everything it was 40 bucks for 9 litres at walmart (2gallons?)

I had a Vega that would burn a qt in 125 miles and it didn’t smoke either.  I could not figure out where it went.  

In reply to Spoolpigeon :

Hmmm.  The Passat I bought from the same guy had catastrophic oil leaks that collected on the undertray and weren't immediately noticed.  I'm sensing a trend.

(that said, I bought the car sight unseen and with no guarantees so I'm not mad.  It was a learning experience)

If you fix the issue, there is a backdated tsb from toyota that states you can use 5w-20 oil in the 1zz-fe. not that it will work great for racing, but apparently they designed small oil ports that got clogged up pretty easily. they redesigned the part in 2003 I believe to have twice the ports and that has lessened the problems they have with them. 

changing the oil every 3000 miles helps, as well as using synthetic oil. my 1zz-fe uses oil but it has gone from 2 quarts every 3000 miles to 1 quart every 3000 miles since I went to 5w-20.  My oil consumption started out of the blue at 60k miles (I believe caused by autocrossing it) and with 220500 miles on it now it still runs well as long as I don't let the oil get low.

The PCV system is really not a source of oil usage .   If the engine is getting excessive blow by, perhaps.  All a catch can does is keep the oil vapors from being recirculated  through the intake.

Oil usage comes from bad oil control rings.  This will often show up upon deceleration as vacuum draws oil past the rings.   combined with leaks.

Excessive blow by can cause more crankcase pressure than the PCV system can handle and pushes oil vapors else where.  Past seals.

Does this engine have a windage tray ?  

On what oil, here is a possibility.

2 cycle oil.  

2 cycle oil was certainly a thought haha. 

Cleaned off around the TCT and started the car and it leaked immediately. I think that’s the majority of the problem. 

I also pulled the upper O2 sensors and took a peak at the precats. I could see some cracks in the honeycomb on both cats. I’m glad I checked before they broke apart and kicked the engine. For the time being, I ordered a cheap header. A new manifold will come before race season starts up next year.