> Wow, you know how a piston ring works. The ring in question here, however, is
> the oil control ring. I know what causes oil consumption in Saturn engines
> because I have taken them apart myself before. I'll take your line. Have you
> ever taken your own engine apart to figure out what is wrong with it? Didn't
> think so.
>
Replacing the oil rings on the Saturn engine is a great idea and I
am confident that would also fix the oil burning problem. However I
can guarantee 99% of the people on this newsgroup wouldn't know how to
take the engine out of their car, let alone take it apart to replace
oil rings. Plus the investment in time, parts, and tools is alot more
money for most people than a bypass filter installation.

> How are you saving on new oil, filter elements, and engine repairs? Are you
> suggesting that your change your oil less regularly now? With the bypass
> filter, you now have 2 filters to change, and added cost in oil(how much extra
> do you need per change?). PLUS the original "not too much money" couple hundred
> bucks.

Quoting from http://www.afcee.brooks.af.mil/eq/mo...ask=changeoil:
"By keeping the engine oil cleaner, and by removing water entrained in
the oil, bypass filters can extend the useful life of oil and better
protect the engine from damage."
With a bypass filter, the oil can be changed less often. This is
because there is roughly 100x (or more depending on model) the filter
medium in a bypass filter than an OEM spin-on filter and it keeps your
oil perpetually clean. The spin-on filter becomes irrelevant because
the bypass filter gives you an equivalent of 2-2.5 engine flushes
every hour (8-10L/hour oil flow). As long as the anti-drainback
doesn't get old on the OEM filter you can continue to use it. Amsoil,
the maker of the dual remote bypass filter, recommends a spin-on (OEM)
filter change once every year. For Synthetic oil, www.wefilterit.com
recommends 25k change intervals and OEM filter replacements every 12k
miles. With the Frantz, gulf coast, and motorguard filters, the cost
is cheap because they use either bathroom tissue (toilet paper rolls)
or paper towel rolls (about 50 cents per BP element). The length of
extended oil change interval depends on the type of oil you have and
how the car is driven, etc. But in the end you win because it is a
return of investment. The initial costs of the bypass filter are
anywhere between $100-200 depending on if you get a complete kit or
decide to buy a working used filter from Ebay. Each oil change that
you don't need to do saves you at least $10. You also save on engine
repairs. Thus, even if your engine doesn't reduce in oil consumption,
you will still get an ROI. Not so much with a piston ring swap.


http://www.orau.gov/deer/presentatio...ession%203.pdf
http://www.puradyn.com/news/101404_DOE.pdf

The department of energy's ongoing bypass filter study:
http://avt.inel.gov/obp