CR Reveals the "Thirsty Thirty" Oil Burners

[jennings]

I recommended a Subaru Legacy to a lady at work. Her 2013 is using 2 quarts in a 5000 mile oil change. That's 2 quarts of pricey synthetic. And she is not happy. Getting the run-around from the dealership.

My 2005 Turbo Legacy wouldn't use a half quart in 5000 miles.

There is a class action suit filed against Subaru. It is a shame that they have decided not to back their product and customers.

 

[Moondawg]

I am driving a 4.0L 08 Tacoma and my wife is driving an 08 4.0L 4Runner. Both of these vehicles have well over 100K miles, did not have a soft break in. They have been on M1 their entire lives. I check oil and other fluid levels weekly. Neither of our Toyota's burns (no leaks) more than a half qt. or so oil in a 10K OCI. They get mostly highway.
miles. Before these vehicles I had a 99 Tacoma with the oldr V6 and my wife's 2000 4Runner had a V6. Neither of these vehicles burned more than about a cup of oil in a 5K OCI. Maybe we have been lucky but our Toyota's have never drank any oil to speak of. I was brought up to check oil once a week and I automatically still do so.

 

[Capa]

My Lexus GS400 also doesn't burn any oil, and I do a yearly OCI (usually around 7,500 miles).

My 2006 3.8 liter Grand Caravan, on the other hand, has started to drink oil. It also has a leak and so it is difficult to measure which is more culpable. I just switched from 0W-20's to a high mileage 5W-30 and have seen a reduction (I added 1/2 quart at about 1,800 miles).

 

[bulwnkl]

Overkill, my references were also not personal/individual, they were to some of the sentiments in the thread here. I think that you and I agree much more than we disagree on this issue overall.

Subaru still has no excuse. ;-)

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: bulwnkl
Overkill, my references were also not personal/individual, they were to some of the sentiments in the thread here. I think that you and I agree much more than we disagree on this issue overall.

Subaru still has no excuse. ;-)

and agreed

 

[camrydriver111]

How does CR collect its data? Is it some sort of survey?

 

[Festiva_Man]

Originally Posted By: omegaspeedy
Has anyone thought that some of these cars may not actually be burning oil due to bypass of the rings, but instead the PCV system is a 'thirsty' one. i.e. due to it's possible poor design, it allows excessive amounts of vaporised oil to escape via the PCV system where its just burnt?

For anyone worried about excessive burn, install an effective catch can and see if its just escaping via that system. If this is the case, theres an easy fix.


it does seem to be more the performance engines. while the spark is on the list its numbers are almost insignificant. could it be something like people driving them harder? or piston oil squirters putting more mist into the crankcase air that gets sucked out? maybe to protect them better they design them to burn oil so its like a 2 stroke and lubricates the inside of the combustion chamber too maybe turbo's heat the oil so much it just all evaporates away!

noack volitility test many syns have 10% evaporation after an hour of high shear at 300F right? so on a 5L sump thats 0.5L right there! lol
the other thing with some of these cars having extended oci's- as soon as you start adding oil you can go farther on that 'oil change'. maybe in the interest of 'you can do less oil changes on our car than our competitors car' they design it to burn oil so you add some and boost the additives