acceptable oil consumption

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Strategies, huh?

Well, number one... don't top off until it needs a full quart. I've found that a car that burns oil will often burn off that first half quart (or so, relative to actual sump capacity) rapidly, then taper off. Be a little more careful with that if your car has a very low sump capacity, but I believe the engine designer wouldn't have established an "add" mark without knowing the engine will be fine at or near that level. There are exceptions. I have used this philosophy successfully many times with many of my old tires engines. . . .


The Buick (@ 67K miles) isn't bad, a hair over a quart in 5K miles. I'll have to try that -- instead of adding a pint now and then, wait until the "low oil" message displays, then pour in a quart. And I may try using a thicker oil, same brand, as the makeup oil.

 

[hounddog]

Every Chevy V8 I ever owned and I bet its 10 plus used a Qt every 3k to 4k. A few used more then that.Several Dodge V8s I owned same deal.My last Dodge 1998 318 Magnum used a Qt about every 3500 miles from day 1 and still was when I just sold it with 105k on it.It ran great.had a Chevy caprice 305 that used 1 qt of Castrol 10w30 every 1500 miles,1qt of Syntec 10w30 every 2000 miles and 1 qt of Amsoil 10w30 full synthetic every 3500 miles.So oil brand makes a big difference also.

 

[StevieC]

^^^ Another reason not to buy "domestic". Look at all the "foreign" engines I listed above compared to the "domestic" shows a pattern maybe?

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
^^^ Another reason not to buy "domestic". Look at all the "foreign" engines I listed above compared to the "domestic" shows a pattern maybe?


Doesn't that Mitsubishi engine in your dad's Caravan qualify as a foreign engine?

Originally Posted By: StevieC
My dads '94 Caravan which has over 300K KM (180K miles) burns 1/2 quart in 10K KM (6K mile) OCI's on Dino. This van has the nitorious 3.0 Litre Mitsubishi engine that is known for burning oil so the 1/2 quart doesn't really count IMO.


Being a little selective? It either counts or it doesn't.

Google a manufacturer (yes, even your "coveted" list) along with "oil consumption" and you'll see an ample number of oil consumption problems.

 

[StevieC]

That is why I said "Engine" I have only listed one "Domestic" engine which is the FORD that didn't use oil yet all those "Foreign" engines I listed didn't use oil even after high mileage.

Of all the vehicles we have serviced and seen over the years it appears that the "Domestics" have a far bigger problem keeping their fluids in the right places. The only exception to this is some Hondas and a few Mitsubishi's they seem to have intermittent issues with oil consumption.

 

[fsskier]

440Magnum says it best, they all burn a little oil there would be now way to lubricate the upper half of the cylinder and not expose the oil to some combustion!!

Interestingly, in my vehicles oil consumption has not related to engine life. Examples:

Audi - always burned a qt a thousand, ran 300k before the floor fell out.

87 commuter Escort: Burned a qt every 10K (10 k oil changes,
using Mobil 1 5W30, sold to another commuter at 240K, He commuted till 310 K and STILL only burned 1 qt between 10K changes!

94 Commuter Escort: Always burned 1 qt per 4K miles using either Mobil 1 5W30, or 0W20, so I started using 20K mile oil changes. this burned a qt per 4K miles, consumption still the same at 250 K, still using it today.

3.1 Litre V6 1994 Chevy APV tow vehicle, burned a qt every 4 K miles, so I also put it on the 0W20 every 20K mile oil change schedule. Tows a 5,000 lb trailer 4 days a week sometimes long distances, still burns a qt every 4 K miles after 250K miles of severe use.

A previous Ford V8 used "no oil" at all when new, and was shot by 100K miles with terrible bore wear. Perhaps not enough oil in the upper cylinder.....

But now, our pair of new Toyotas (Sienna and Corolla) seem to burn almost no oil, still using warranty required 5 K changes.

Buy your oil cheap, get good at adding it and quit worrying!

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
^^^ Another reason not to buy "domestic". Look at all the "foreign" engines I listed above compared to the "domestic" shows a pattern maybe?


The only engines I have ever had trouble of any kind with was a Mitsubishi 4cyl in an 88 Ram 50( head gasket blew 2X's )and the 4.0L V6 in my 05 Toyota Tacoma. The rest of my engines have been V8 and V6 Domestics( Dodge and GM ).

 

[Jim Allen]

I would add one thing:

WHEN you check and add oil is another consideration. Have a look at whether your engine manufacturer calls for a hot or cold check.

If you fill an engine to "full" when cold then later check it when the oil is hot (but has had a few minutes to drain down) you will find it somewhat overfull (yes, liquid volumes do expand when heated from 75 to 200 degrees). For those folks that top off in small amounts, keep count in milliliters
< ) and check in both hot and cold states, they may keep their engine slightly overfull, which will promote oil consumption.

Since I learned that, I find out the way a particular mfr wants the oil checked and use that as the baseline. I then see what the correct level looks like in the other state so I know what it looks like if I'm forced to check it that way.

Oil consumption has become more of an issue these days because of emissions and the "poisoning" of catalytic converters with ZDDP. From what I've seen, oil consumption has made a vast improvement in general. Many engines these days don't consume enough to add a full quart between changes.Zero consumption was very unusual back in, "the day."

 

[KrisZ]

To me an acceptable oil useage would be a quart per OCI or less. Having said that I never owned a vehicle that burned that much oil, but the one that did, was 95 Honda Accord. It would go about half the way on the dipstick between 3-4k OCI's, I never bothered adding any make up oil.

The 92 3.1 Chevy Corsica, I had in college never burned any oil, as well as 91 Mercury Tracer that I had for a year in high-school.
The Corsica was given to my FIL at around 300,000KM, all on cheapest dino, and the engine was very clean inside and out, no dripping oil and a little seapage from the oil pan seal, just enough to attract dust. It usually sits over the winter months, very little use, the oil may have been changed 2 years ago, and it starts instantly with absolutley no hickups everytime.

My current car doesn't burn any oil as well.

I had good luck with both domestic and foreighn cars as far as eengines are concerned, and I honestly can't say that one has a clear advantage over the other, actually if I look at Corsica's engine (I disliked the car otherwise), I would give the advantage to GM.

 

[wander2039]

None in my book. The Escape I figure lost 12 ounces over the last 10k oci... the Ranger hasn't lost any in 7k. The only time I had oil usage in any vehicle was when I put Mobil 1 in my 5.4L about a quart every 3k. Syntec before, Havoline or MC after the max was 1/4 quart low or less.

 

[webfors]

5 speed manual in a 08 Forester. Gets a lot of WOT and engine breaking (downshifting) for long periods. Uses approximately 1/2 quart every 6k miles on PP5w30. Totally acceptable consumption IMHO. Yes, I would be concerned if it were more than 1 quart in the same interval.

 

[1 SX]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
^^^ Another reason not to buy "domestic". Look at all the "foreign" engines I listed above compared to the "domestic" shows a pattern maybe?


Hey!, I do not have to add oil to my Ford 95 Taurus 3.8 for 4k mile OC... and that was using synthetic 5W30. It was only about 1/2 Qt low... The engine had 101K miles... and the engine is DONE FOR. Spun a bearing or something, and now the car does not run..

So, there is another "domestic" down... Oh yeah Did i say it only had 101K miles on it?? Stay away from the 3.8L's...

I really loved this engine, It was GREAT in the 89 Cougar, For 200K miles too!

When i had both Saturns, An SL1 and SL2 of the same year, 1994, Both burned oil. In the Sl1, i was using PYB 5W30, and went about a Qt every 3000K miles.
With the SL2, It was a QT every 1600 miles. Oil was Walmart Synthetic 5W30.

But EVERY other car we have had, not one burned oil..
2000 Grand Marquis. 4.6L
2002 Elantra 2.0L
2004 Hyundai Xg350 3.5L
2005 Hyundai Xg350L. 3.5L

 

[Max_Wander]

Originally Posted By: SL2
Stay away from the 3.8L's...

Oh lordly, the Essux 3.8 engine is the head gasket eater right? What a terrible engine. They kept that thing in production for farrrr too long!

 

[JohnBrowning]

I agree all engines burn some oil. That is why I always say it like " My engines do not use any oil that can be observed ont he dip stick. If it read fulls after I change the oil and it is still reeading full at the end of the oil change interval via dipstick then as far as can be observed it has used no oil. I tend to do enough hwy driving that I am not being fooled by oil dilution which happens mostly to those that do nothing but round town driving with lots of idle time. This is a condition where your engine has used some oil but the blow by fuel has replaced the lost volume to the point that it still reads full onthe dip stick. Normaly what happens is a city diver will make a 3 hur trip some place and check his oil while getting gas and will flip out thinking his car used an entire quart of oil inthat short 3 hour drive. In fact what happened is that all the fuel that was in the oil got boiled off so know you can see the true amount of oil that had been consumed dureing the OCI etc.....This happens less today with injection instead of carberation but you still see it.

I think that getting back to the question at hand with todays materials,designs and everything being able to be built with very little tolerance stacking if desired anything more then 1 quart per 3000 miles is really a failure of the OEM to design and build a quality product.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Max_Wander
Originally Posted By: SL2
Stay away from the 3.8L's...

Oh lordly, the Essux 3.8 engine is the head gasket eater right? What a terrible engine. They kept that thing in production for farrrr too long!


An engine that benefits heavily from MLS head gaskets I would say.

RWD cars equipped with the 3.8 seemed to always have the 5.0L as an option.... And was always the wiser choice