How often do you top up your car oil?

londonTiger

engine oil isnt used up, its just a lubricant. if you have to top up chances are you got a leak, check for leaks in the hoses. or after a long time not driving check under the car for drips/puddles. drips and puddles are good, in their absence it could mean engine oil is leaking inside the engine itself which is bad

cyclonebri1

There is no rule, as you can see from all the replies, if you talk to Honda and say it's using a pint every 1k miles they will say it's normal, but many owners say their's uses none.

I've had both extremes, present car a renault hasn't used a drop over 5 years, previous VX used a pint every 3k, same sort of mileage on clock.

Did have 1 car though that before it expired used a pint of oil every 150 miles, when I did pull it apart after the top of 1 piston decided to part company with the rest, there was about a 1.5mm gap between the pistons and the bore, car drove fine though:T:T

Early life oil changes are the key and no one can convince me otherwise I'm afraid.;);)

GolfBravo

londonTiger wrote: »

engine oil isnt used up, its just a lubricant.

Engine oil isn't just a lubricant. Apart from reducing mechanical friction engine oil also cools heat stressed engine parts (e.g. pistons), seals (pistons, piston rings and cylinder walls), provides power transmission (hydraulic tappets), protects agains corrosion and cleans the engine with detergents. And apart from that it must withstand operating conditions from -20ºC start up to +100ºC operating temperature.

londonTiger wrote: »

drips and puddles are good, in their absence it could mean engine oil is leaking inside the engine itself which is bad

The "internal leak" that you mention is what is meant by "using up oil" - some minor quantities of oil always enter the combustion chamber through piston seals. No engine is perfect, and some engines use up microscopic quantities of oil while others need a litre or more added between oil changes.

This is generally bad for diesel engines equipped with DPF, as the burned oil ash accumulates inside the filter slowly killing it - specially formulated low-sulphur diesel engine oils minimise that.

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Early life oil changes are the key and no one can convince me otherwise I'm afraid.;);)

This is so true. I don't know why car manufacturers advertise first service in only 20K mile - this is just crazy.

Engines are made of hundreds of parts which are machined to within set tolerances - so there are no two identical engines out there. Every part that falls in within these tolerances will have a hundredth of mm more metal there, less there, etc. So when the engine is finally assembled and used all these parts bed in producing huge amounts of debris. The debris will eventually end up in the oil filter, but it can still make a lot of damage before it's trapped.

Frequent early life engine oil changes are definitely crucial.

EdGasket

The amount of oil you use is also dependent upon the viscosity. So if you use a 5W30 oil on an old/worn engine it may well drink it. Change to a 20W/50 and consumption will significantly reduce. I had a Rover that needed topping up after every 200 miles; ran OK for the six year's I owned it; I just used cheap asda oil at the time which was £4.50 a gallon as this was cheaper than a new engine or a new car .
If your car is not using much, just top up with the recommended oil. If it is burning it and getting through a lot then you may have to consider using a thicker oil.
In my experience of older cars, topping up once a fortnight is average for a car that is in use every day.

jimpix12

My V8 M3 (E92) from a few years back needed a top up every 4-5k miles. The oil wasn't cheap either... I'm not sure why it was so hungry for oil, I have owned 2 other V8s by Audi and they never really needed it.

Cash-Cow_3

If you're not supposed to wait until the oil light comes on, it begs the question what is the point of the oil light?

gkerr4

Cash-Cow wrote: »

If you're not supposed to wait until the oil light comes on, it begs the question what is the point of the oil light?

can't tell if you are serious?

it warns you of impending engine failure so you might have a chance to pull over and stop.

Wig

When I'm on the boat to France and back, I am always the only one who checks oil before disembarking, I just like using the 5 - 10 mins to do something useful, never seen anyone else doing it.

cyclonebri1

I'd be more worried if you said you only check it when you go to France:D:D

Cash cow you need to rethink your comment.

I'm not sure about the trend of manufacturers giving bar chart displays showing oil level on modern cars, just seems to lead to an inevitable reliance on instruments rather than doing a physical check.
Remember it's not just the level you need to check, it's also the possibility of contamination or even metal particles in the extreme.

londonTiger

GolfBravo wrote: »

This is so true. I don't know why car manufacturers advertise first service in only 20K mile - this is just crazy.

I guess part of that is down to the fact that servicing is covered under warranty, and if they stated service every 5k miles at the start then that's an added expense to the car company.

New car owners typically keep cars for 2-3 years and then sell on or part exchange for a new one.

lack of service at those early miles isn't going to cause the car to break down on the motorway on a new car but it will affect how the car performs in 80k+ miles later on.

The original owner will be out of the picture by then as they'd have moved onto another car and the second hand buyer is left to foot the bill.

So "you're good for 20k miles" is just cost effective for the car manufacturer and convenient for the first owner.