Lots and lots of oil

jackieb

rachie_2011 wrote: »

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?

I've never had a car before or since the Audi that ever needed topping up between its regular oil changes. People who didn't know always told me there must be something wrong with my car because it needed regular top-ups, but there was nothing wrong with it.

Weird_Nev

OP, it would really help us if you told us what car make and model, and engine type you have. Some cars are reknowned for using a bit of oil, others really don't use any at all if they're in good order. Engine size has little bearing on it: Some 1.2's may use a bit of oil, some 1.6's may use none at all. Both could drink oil excessively if they have a major problem!

If a car is using oil, one of three things must be happening:
1) It's leaking out. Check under the car and around the sump, and also where the engine meets the gearbox for any leaks, or pools of oil under the car. This is particularly noticable on wet days when the film of oil sitting on water is very noticable.
2) The car is burning it. This can be because the piston rings no longer form a good seal in the cylinders. A sign of this is the car smoking (blue smoke) on startup or hard acceleration. A garage can perform a compression test which will tell you if they're working well or not. Some engines are simply designed to burn a bit of oil, or manufactured such that they do and this can be considered "normal". Diesels or turbo petrols may burn oil if the turbo oil seals go. Again, copious blue smoke from the exhaust is the tell tale. If this is the case the car should not be driven. A petrol engine may irrevokably damage the turbo (although it's probably dead already) but for a diesel it's particularly dangerous and expensive: Youtube "Runaway diesel engine" for the reasons why.
3) The oil is leaking into the coolant. In this case either oil, or coolant, or both may appear "sludgy". The car may well produce clouds of steam as water gets into the cylinders via a compromised head gasket. You may also get "bubbles" in the coolant header tank, and loss of water or oil or both. The car may overheat. Again, this is a really BAD thing. A garage will need to take a look ASAP, and it IS a problem.

Monitor the oil levels (ensuring you check on level ground after the car's been stationary and off for at least a quarter of an hour) until you have a really good idea how much it's using. Have a search on owners clubs to see if your particular make and model uses some oil, or if it points to common problems. If it's using less than a pint every 1,000 miles it'sunlikey to be something fatal, but finding out what it is may put your mind at rest. The biggest risk really is the car running dry of oil and the resulting engine failure/seizure. Bit heavy on the wallet, that. Even if an engine usesoil, and you keep topping it up, no major damage is likely to be done.

My BMW, with 177k miles on it, used to use about 1L per 1000 miles which I founda touch excessive. Having changed some gaskets and the crank case breather valve, it now uses less than 0.5L per 1000 miles which I judge is acceptable for a big old barge with a tonne of miles.

robbies_gal

my sisters car uses alot of oil although i think theres an actual problem theres no leak no smoke comes out just gets low quickly about once a month she has to top it up

it passed its mot i know they dont check oil but other than that seems to work fine

Strider590

Flearoy wrote: »

... 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.

Just to point out that cheapo nasty engine oil vaporises much more at running temps, it's then vented into the inlet manifold and burnt up in the engine.

Burning oil is not always a sign of a fault, but excessive oil vapour can cause big problems with your inlet manifold, the MAP/MAF sensors, the fuel injectors, the idle valve and the EGR.

I used cheap oil in my Westfield after the engine rebuild, just to bed in the new piston rings, my Westfield vents oil vapour into a catch tank instead of the inlet manifold (illegal? and MOT fail on modern road cars), it would literally sit there at idle bellowing out oil vapour from the breather hose, you could see it all around the front of the car. The catch tank would also need emptying (and the oil topping up) every 30 miles or so.
I ran it for 500 miles, then swapped to the good stuff.... No more oil vapour and no more emptying the catch tank.

Changing to a better quality of oil might prevent both yours and the OPs problem.

There's a reason why cheap oil is so cheap.

LandyAndy

MX5huggy wrote: »

You bought a Mazda RX8

Ours used a litre every 2500-3000 miles.

oldhand

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?

Your putting it in the washer bottle again????????:cool:

johnson293

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?

Had a similiar problem with a Renault Scenic 1.5 DCi which led to me getting rid, a little over a year ago.

I was using approx a litre of oil/week, and it was burning it - white/blue smoke out the back.

After replacing the turbo, everything started pointing towards the piston rings being worn, which was a major/expensive job. Had read they may just have been sticking, but after 2 or 3 engine flushes, the problem remained, and hence, it got traded in for the 1.6 petrol Astra I own now - and its been 12 months of trouble free motoring since.

Flearoy

Strider590 wrote: »

Just to point out that cheapo nasty engine oil vaporises much more at running temps, it's then vented into the inlet manifold and burnt up in the engine.

Burning oil is not always a sign of a fault, but excessive oil vapour can cause big problems with your inlet manifold, the MAP/MAF sensors, the fuel injectors, the idle valve and the EGR.

I used cheap oil in my Westfield after the engine rebuild, just to bed in the new piston rings, my Westfield vents oil vapour into a catch tank instead of the inlet manifold (illegal? and MOT fail on modern road cars), it would literally sit there at idle bellowing out oil vapour from the breather hose, you could see it all around the front of the car. The catch tank would also need emptying (and the oil topping up) every 30 miles or so.
I ran it for 500 miles, then swapped to the good stuff.... No more oil vapour and no more emptying the catch tank.

Changing to a better quality of oil might prevent both yours and the OPs problem.

There's a reason why cheap oil is so cheap.

Alas, it unfortunately makes no difference in the case of my car. I was loathe to use cheap oil initially and ran it on decent quality oil.