Consumer Reports finds some newer cars burn too much oil

[Ramses]

There have been more than a few times over the decades that Euro car manufacturers have had to convince American customers that oil usage, even a fair bit, was "normal". And in retrospect it generally was normal, as none of the offending motors seemed to be bothered by it as long as they weren't run out of oil. Not to say a quart in 1K is any way acceptable, but Europeans were generally a bit more tolerant of such than Americans for whatever reason in years past. Quart, quart and a half every 3k wasn't unheard of, the fuel filler door used to have "check engine oil" stickers on a lot of em, and they weren't kidding.

 

[thomsbrain]

That was not the case for me. I followed the break-in schedule. It was my wife's car, but she doesn't drive like a grandma. She doesn't go WOT to and from work, but she is not easy on it. Typically, it would see some WOT pulls when I'd drive. Mainly because the 4 cylinder is weak.

For that gen Honda Accord, it is known problem that Honda tried to hide well. I have heard they have started to rebuild more engines due to the problem. Ultimately, you buy a Honda for it to be reliable. That was not the case with this car.

Back to the topic - no car should burn excessive amounts of oil as compromise for better MPG.

Dang, that's a real bummer!

 

[angminas]

I have a 1999 Oldsmobile Alero with the 3.4L V6. 218k miles. If I keep the PCV changed, it uses no oil. A quart every 600 miles? Fuuuuuuuuuuuck that.

 

[nerp]

I can't seem to detect any oil consumption in my 2012 Pentastar 3.6 with 60k on it. I have never added oil between changes.

 

[LTC8K6]

I can't seem to detect any oil consumption in my 2012 Pentastar 3.6 with 60k on it. I have never added oil between changes.

Keep an eye on it.

You are at the mileage where Chrysler says it's acceptable to burn a quart every 750 miles when driven normally, and higher when driven aggressively...

http://www.wk2jeeps.com/tsb/tsb_wk2_0900112.pdf

 

[Raizinman]

Using a 0w20 synthetic in virtually any new engine is not going to seat the rings. Thus oil consumption. I've taken many a new engine apart. My personal cars get 10w30 Non-Synthetic after the first 400 or 500 miles. When the odometer hits around 15,000 miles, I'll switch to 0w20 synthetic. I don't want a engine that uses oil, as it causes other problems with sensors later on. It's my car and I'll break it in anyway I want. I don't want oil consumption.

 

[Ramses]

Using a 0w20 synthetic in virtually any new engine is not going to seat the rings. Thus oil consumption. I've taken many a new engine apart. My personal cars get 10w30 Non-Synthetic after the first 400 or 500 miles. When the odometer hits around 15,000 miles, I'll switch to 0w20 synthetic. I don't want a engine that uses oil, as it causes other problems with sensors later on. It's my car and I'll break it in anyway I want. I don't want oil consumption.

I've often wondered about modern oil and breakin periods. I tend to agree with your method unless there is some science to say otherwise. Breakin can have a huuuge impact on the performance and longevity of an engine over the long run.

 

[exar333]

A quart every 6k is nothing. A quart every 1000 is what my 2004 Forester did with 150k miles on it when I sold it.

A quart every 6-700 on a brand new luxury vehicle is going to piss off a lot of people.

Viper GTS

This.

Also, I may not be a mathematician, but how exactly does 10-15k oil change intervals 'work' with also burning a quart every <1000mi? :hmm:

smh

 

[Yuriman]

This.

Also, I may not be a mathematician, but how exactly does 10-15k oil change intervals 'work' with also burning a quart every <1000mi? :hmm:

smh

Because you always have fresh oil in the engine. No need to change it so frequently.

 

[BUTCH1]

A quart every 6k is nothing. A quart every 1000 is what my 2004 Forester did with 150k miles on it when I sold it.

A quart every 6-700 on a brand new luxury vehicle is going to piss off a lot of people.

Viper GTS

Yup, and one has to wonder what (if any) effect this will have on catalytic converter life. I'm sure they are designed with the fact that ICE's do burn some oil to varying degrees but a full quart every 600 miles?, that's nuts IMO. My 3.5L GM will burn one quart every 5K miles which I consider acceptable @96K miles. Then there's the added cost to consider, if you change at 6k intervals that's 6 quarts you have to buy and if it's expensive synthetic 6X6.50=$65.00. Not a fortune, but not chump-change either.

 

[BUTCH1]

I have a 1999 Oldsmobile Alero with the 3.4L V6. 218k miles. If I keep the PCV changed, it uses no oil. A quart every 600 miles? Fuuuuuuuuuuuck that.

Check it frequently, although itself a sound engine, those were the years GM's had the lower intake manifold gasket issue. Many 3800's (which otherwise were almost indestructible) fell victim to that crappy gasket design.

 

[HeXen]

I had a chevy blazer once that burned 1 quart a week.

 

[BUTCH1]

I had a chevy blazer once that burned 1 quart a week.

When I was 16 my brother gave me a '62 Galaxy, it's compression was so bad you needed a running start to get up steep hills. I had to pull and clean the plugs every 2nd day, (luckily a straight-6 in '62 was easy to work on). My friends called me "Mr. fogger" as clouds of blue smoke constantly spewed from the exhaust LOL, I used to beg people for used drain oil to keep it going, it burned over a quart a day and that was just riding around town.

 

[Vetterin]

I remember my 1980 Mercury Zephyr 200ci straight six that got around 250 mpq (MILES PER QUART)! Even funnier was the fact that that wasn't even the worst thing wrong with it.

 

[exar333]

Because you always have fresh oil in the engine. No need to change it so frequently.

Yeah, I guess so. The 'oil change' is really just a filter change because the oil gets refreshed 1-2x already during the change cycle.

That's just crazy...

Anything more than adding a partial quart during each oil-change interval is too much for a car <100k miles. Obviously things get a bit different for older engines, but adding a quart of oil 1-2x month on a brand-new car is insane....

 

[Zorba]

My 2014 Forester with 24K, seems to burn about 1/2 quart every 7500 miles, which I am okay with. I just got back from Colorado where I did a bunch of high revs (both acceleration and engine braking), so I need to check to see if that increased the burn.

The 0W-20 oil is thinner than water. The first oil change I did it splashed out of the panel so bad it coated my entire face/neck/shirt with the initial surge. Now I hold the drain pan as close as possible to the drain plug until it starts flowing.

 

[Demo24]

I'm not so sure its low weight oil being the problem. 11k on a new Mazda 3, ow-20, and it doesnt appear to be burning any significant amount (curiously 5k oil intervals though). Gti only has 1200 miles so its too early, but so far it's fine.

However, Hondas have been running lighter weight oils for many years without significant problems (overall at least). Moms accord uses I think 5w-20, has miles nearing 200k and is fine. I suspect my dad's crv also uses a similar weight, and his is going on 150k or so.

The bigger problem I could see is that if someone's Audi starts burning that much oil, they'd be empty well before the change interval. I wouldn't blame them for not checking initially as you don't think of new cars burning oil like that. But it seems like we'd be hearing of many engine failures due to this problem?

 

[pauldun170]

Have a Mazda6
When we first got it it burned a quart every 2K.
Nowadays its about 1qt every 4K.

 

[PricklyPete]

Had a '10 A4 and never had any significant oil burn up till we got rid of it at 50K. Now have a 2013 4Runner with the 4.0L V6. No noticeable burn either during the recommended 5K intervals with 0W-20 synthetic. At 42K miles now.

 

[PottedMeat]

The magazine says that standards for certain Audi and BMW cars say that it's reasonable to burn a quart of oil every 600 to 700 miles.

lets say 20mpg
600mi/20mpg = 30 gallons of gas
1 gallon oil / 120 gallons of gas

maybe they'll hit 300mi/qt -> luxury 2 stroke :awe:

 

[joutlaw]

The bigger problem I could see is that if someone's Audi starts burning that much oil, they'd be empty well before the change interval. I wouldn't blame them for not checking initially as you don't think of new cars burning oil like that. But it seems like we'd be hearing of many engine failures due to this problem?

On our Honda, this was the same problem. The oil indicator light would flash under hard acceleration and on inclines. I checked the oil and the dipstick was bone dry. I'm sure Honda would blame the engine seizing on the operator because they ignore the oil indicator light.

 

[tortillasoup]

On our Honda, this was the same problem. The oil indicator light would flash under hard acceleration and on inclines. I checked the oil and the dipstick was bone dry. I'm sure Honda would blame the engine seizing on the operator because they ignore the oil indicator light.

That oil indicator light is just an oil pressure light, not an oil level light. The fact that the light came on at all is a very bad sign. Some of the idiot lights aren't useful to most people.

 

[Auric]

When I was 16 my brother gave me a '62 Galaxy, it's compression was so bad you needed a running start to get up steep hills. I had to pull and clean the plugs every 2nd day, (luckily a straight-6 in '62 was easy to work on). My friends called me "Mr. fogger" as clouds of blue smoke constantly spewed from the exhaust LOL, I used to beg people for used drain oil to keep it going, it burned over a quart a day and that was just riding around town.

Thus starting the "rolling coal" fad. Oh, you!

 

[LTC8K6]

On our Honda, this was the same problem. The oil indicator light would flash under hard acceleration and on inclines. I checked the oil and the dipstick was bone dry. I'm sure Honda would blame the engine seizing on the operator because they ignore the oil indicator light.

That's an oil pressure light, as already posted, so Honda would be correct.

Ignoring the oil pressure light is never a good idea.

 

[JimKiler]

That oil indicator light is just an oil pressure light, not an oil level light. The fact that the light came on at all is a very bad sign. Some of the idiot lights aren't useful to most people.

So why would pressure lower when i take a fast corner in my first car, a ford escort, which was low on oil? I used the engine stop burning addictive twice and it stopped losing oil.