Vauxhall Astra using oil, WHY?

john432

I have a 2003 1.6 petrol, 8 valve engine, with 70,000 miles.
It is using 0.5 litres of oil every 400 miles. The car runs perfectly and their isn't any oil leaks and no blue smoke from exhaust. This seems high oil consumption.
Those of you with the same engine, how much oil do you use?
Thankyou.

s_b

a compression test is the way forward

Alter_ego

Try opening the oil filler with engine running, is it puffing out smoke?

john432

Tried that, no puffing.

Alter_ego

Are you sure there's no blue smoke from the exhaust when it's under load?

WestonDave

Had a W reg astra which I think is the same shape as yours 1.6 16v and that used to go through oil at a rate that meant I bought 5 litre bottles rather than the 1 litre top up jobs. Dealer (that I trust - private family business) seemed to think it wasn't uncommon with that range of Astra engines. Other than that, the car never gave me any hassle up to the point I sold it 3 years ago.

I know there was an issue on the previous range of Astras, where the piston size tolerances were such that if you got a small piston in a large cylinder you'd end up with wrecked EGR valves fairly frequently, but as I said the version you have seemed fine.

mikey72

Some of the astra engines just use oil. The same engine may use nothing in the next astra.
The usual answer is just to keep topping up.
I had a fiat that used nothing until you took it over 4500 rpm, then it used about a litre every 500 miles.