even new cars use oil

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Originally Posted By: WobblyElvis
GM [new car policy] does not consider oil consumption to be a problem until it uses more than a quart every 2,000 miles.


back in 1972 that was a quart every 500 miles!!!

Only one vehicle here in an extensive stable that uses any visible oil in between OCI's
 
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I can turn any of my cars in the driveway and have the dipstick change by 1/8 inch or more. And depending on when I check it can change levels. Any new car that loses oil after the break in should be considered a lemon.. may it be a design flaw or someone forgetting a bolt on the assembly line.
 
Originally Posted By: Eric Smith
Any new car that loses oil after the break in should be considered a lemon.. may it be a design flaw or someone forgetting a bolt on the assembly line.


There'd be a lot of bankrupt automakers and a lot of lemons on the road. While I agree a new car shouldn't consume oil at a rate that is considered acceptable by automakers, a qt./1,000 miles or even more, like a qt./600 miles. That rate changes depending on how much oil the customer tells the service writer they're using. As far as them being considered lemons it will never fly..........
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Originally Posted By: ram_man
I run it hard frequently to. Plenty of wot. 6000rpm shifts

4oz in 2K under those conditions is not a problem. Even parking a little different can throw the stick off more than that.

Originally Posted By: Eric Smith
Any new car that loses oil after the break in should be considered a lemon.. may it be a design flaw or someone forgetting a bolt on the assembly line.

Lots of BMW's and MB must be either be lemons or have some bolt missing. Many older British engines were actually designed to use a little oil (most used a lot).
Almost any engine run at those RPM's will consume some oil.
 
Originally Posted By: bvance554
I know people claim that their cars burn no oil, but isn't impossible to burn NO oil? Rings aren't a 100% seal, a tiny amount of oil is left on the cylinder walls, right? Even if the dipstick still shows full couldn't contaminants be making up for the oil that was burned?


Correct. Anyone who claims that their engine doesn't use ANY oil doesn't understand how a piston engine operates. Valve guides are lubricated by oil, and engine vacuum sucks this small bit of oil down into the cylinder. Piston walls are hatched and oil clings to the walls and provides good upper cylinder lubrication. During the ignition event, some of this oil will be consumed. Vaporized oil will get consumed through the intake system from crankcase venting.

All engines consume oil. If they didn't, they'd burn up in short order. When people say, "my engine doesn't burn any oil", we BITOGers can translate that to, "I can't measure the small amount of oil that my engine does consume on the dipstick".
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
No new car of ours has consumed oil.


The vast majority do not consume oil. Odds are your in favor they never will. No oil burners yet.

I will state though my rings were redone in my 2005 Legacy GT during a valve job and it consumed a quart in 3000 miles. It has 1500 miles and not a drop burned. Crossing my fingers.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Consumption on a five year old vehicle?! To be honest I find that disgraceful, indicative of the worst kind of corner cutting by the manufacturer.

My 32 year old daily driver doesn't leak or drip or burn any, and I don't have to top up between OCIs. It really amazes me that people will accept such substandard products and continue to buy from the same marque..


I recall that VW/Audi considers 1 quart in 1000 miles to be "acceptable" consumption! (As does, IIRC, Porsche.)

My Magnum used about a quart and a half in the first ~2000 miles...then nothing in the next 86K! (At 7500 miles, the oil level on the dipstick never moved.) It got exclusively 5W-20.
 
Just because the manufacter says a consumption is considered normal in the owners manual doesnt mean they expect all of them to do it or that tgey actually think that it is normal. It just sets a certain minimum level of consumotion for warranty work (especially for federal emissions) so that they are not liable for all consumption levels. If greater than 50% of the cars they made actually consumed at that normal level it would be very bad. But the fact is that only a small percentage actually consume at or greater than that normal level.
 
I have the 3900 V6 in a '06 Malibu thats always burned more than I'm used to, but still not 'excessive' by a reasonable measure=1 quart/5000k miles with 5-40 Rotella or 0-40 Mobil 1. This in 'normal' daily metro use. If I take it out a road trip, there's basically no measurable loss-so almost seems like valve stem sealing and cold startups-now with 55k miles. I've had several Mazda products from new to around 150k miles at bye bye time that not only burned no measurable oil-they hardly discolored/darkened it in 4k miles=pretty good. Thinner oils today and hotter running engines make a little loss explainable with those engines built at the edge of some tolerance stackup. At least we aren't dealing with leaded fuels anymore and with modern spark plug materials and the much higher secondary voltages make them nearly lifetime parts rather than 6-8000 miles on many years ago-or less with fouling on an oil burner!
 
I was wondering the same thing about excessive oil consumption. I have a 2011 Silverado w/the 5.3 and cylinder deactivation. It has used a quart of oil in 4,400 miles. I called the dealer and the service guy said it was normal. I always run the oil out to 10% to 15% on the OLM. The truck has 45,000 miles on it.

I just finished a 300 miles towing trip. I have a 5,500 pound travel trailer.

Any thoughts?
 
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Originally Posted By: CKN
I was wondering the same thing about excessive oil consumption. I have a 2011 Silverado w/the 5.3 and cylinder deactivation. It has used a quart of oil in 4,400 miles. I called the dealer and the service guy said it was normal. I always run the oil out to 10% to 15% on the OLM. The truck has 45,000 miles on it.

I just finished a 300 miles towing trip. I have a 5,500 pound travel trailer.

Any thoughts?


There is a wealth of info on the AFM oil burning but your consumption isn't excessive yet......
Example here:

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/127812-is-your-gmt-900-truck-or-suv-using-oil/
 
If the level-change indicated by the dipstick is too small to see or measure, do you consider it to have changed?

Kinda like the tree falling in the forest but not making any sound unless there is anyone there to hear it..
 
My '08 Hyundai Accent has used a 1 qt between changes since it was new. But I have extended the OCI from 3500 miles on regular 5w30 to 7500 miles on M1 0w20. It's at 107000 miles now.

My 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2L turbo never has used any oil between changes on 5000 mile OCI and M1 of some sort. It's at 60k now.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
It's got 4000 miles on it. How long tI'll it's 100% broken in? I run it hard frequently to. Plenty of wot. 6000rpm shifts
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My 2011 Focus with the port injected 2.0 was over 15K miles before it was broke in.

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Some have 1 qt per 1000 miles policy.


Which is insane. Some worn out engines don't even consume that much.


My Jeep leaks that much haha


Originally Posted By: NeilR
Then there were the early 2000s Chrysler 3.8L V6s that apparently had their rings installed incorrectly. Burned a quart over 3k off the lot.

I'd say for a new engine you're doing just fine. Keep tabs on it and do frequent oil changes for the first several thousand miles to get as much metal particles out as you can.


My parents was a quart /650 miles


Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
You mean you actually expect those piston rings to hold back 0W-20 ?


The piston rings on my 2011 Focus have no problem holing back 0w-20 in the summer ...
 
I'd like to mention as a few people didn't catch it. I am not concerned with the amount it's using. It's hardly anything. Using a little bit is considered a good thing potentially keeps valves lubricated . I just was making the point that several new cars I see use some oil.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
I'd like to mention as a few people didn't catch it. I am not concerned with the amount it's using. It's hardly anything. Using a little bit is considered a good thing potentially keeps valves lubricated . I just was making the point that several new cars I see use some oil.


Check the sparkplug wells. Mine uses a super small amount and fills the sparkplug wells.
 
My 2011 Hyundai Sonata, now with just about 61,000 miles on it, uses a quart of conventional 5w-20 every 1,000 miles. I just check it regularly and keep it topped off. Since it is still under the 10yr/100K powertrain warranty, the oil and filter get changed every 5,000 miles at the dealer. Helps officially record the service history just "in case".
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
It's got 4000 miles on it. How long tI'll it's 100% broken in? I run it hard frequently to. Plenty of wot. 6000rpm shifts
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I have had many a conversation with people who know, like GM G team engineers and SRT boys. They all pretty much agree that the break in process is greatly over exaggerated and is generally over far earlier than commonly believed. On some newer designs it may be over before you drive it!

But in the old daze it typically required 10k miles before you knew what you had...
 
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