Lots and lots of oil

rachie_2011

If your car was getting through a lot of oil, with no evidence of a leak, what would you suggest might be the problem?

djheath

Head gasket - oil getting into coolant system. You would see possibly: 1: milky oil. 2. dirty coolant. If you're using a lot of oil, then the car probably isn't running too great in this scenario!

Piston rings - letting the oil past the rings and it's been burnt in the engine and coming out the exhaust. look for lots of blue smoke out the exhaust.

Flearoy

How old is the car? What miles has it done?

as per djheath, check your oil isn't looking like rancid mayo and your coolant isn't sludgy. If not, and there's no leak...

... I've got an old Toyota Corolla that burns a fair bit of oil (like 1litre every 1000 miles at least) that doesn't smoke at all. I just keep it topped up with inexpensive oil as the car doesn't owe me anything, is worth not a lot, keeps on going and it'd be darn expensive to have the engine in bits to see how the oil is getting into the cylinders.

Some cars burn a bit of oil even from new. I've heard (and only heard, so it may be rubbish!) that Alfa Romeo's get through a fair bit of oil.

rodenal

Pretty much agree with the above, check for head gasket problems and if you're sure there are none then just keep an eye on the level. Up to around half a litre every 1000 miles is normal for some cars, on others it can signal a problem.

Usually signals rings / bore issues but it's something you won't be able to really do anything about until the engine is either stripped or goes completely which can take years. Oils such as valvoline maxlife can help too if the car burns a bit more than it should

MX5huggy

rachie_2011 wrote: »

If your car was getting through a lot of oil, with no evidence of a leak, what would you suggest might be the problem?

You bought a Mazda RX8

rachie_2011

Thanks for the replies guys. The car is 6 years old, and there is no smoke from the car and don't think the oil or the coolant is any different but will check over the weekend. So, if there isn't any clear signs (as mentioned above) then it's best to not worry about it to much you reckon?

One thing I did think of is that i'm used to having 1.2 small cars... this one is a 1.6 and bigger car. Could that have some thing to do with it...? Or do all cars no matter what size or engine, all should use the same amount of oil?

morizot

djheath wrote: »

Head gasket - oil getting into coolant system. You would see possibly: 1: milky oil. 2. dirty coolant. If you're using a lot of oil, then the car probably isn't running too great in this scenario!

Piston rings - letting the oil past the rings and it's been burnt in the engine and coming out the exhaust. look for lots of blue smoke out the exhaust.

Many thanks for this, you have also solved a question on my ancient Volvo s70. This explains why the oil looks strange and yellowish. Is it a big problem to fix?

rodenal

In most cars it's not a particularly expensive fix (few hundred) so long as you get it sorted asap and no more damage is done. Car may be off the road for a few days.

I have no experience of the volvo in question though and some cars can't have the gasket repaired easily(or they can, but bolts in the head need to be torqued up in the proper sequence etc so need to be done by a dealer or specialist which is usually too many £££ for an older car), this is by exception though - google should help you.

molerat

Many cars have 1l/1000m as normal, VW diesels at £15 per litre :eek:

Hammyman

As above. OP, what do you class as a lot of oil?

jackieb

My Audi's handbook said it would need 500ml about every 2000 miles. I usually had to top it up every 1000 miles though. Had the car for 5 years, it was regularly serviced, just seemed to use oil, even though there was never any smoke, or warning lights apart from the low oil warning light.