Over the past 30 years I've owned cars from Audi, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, Volvo, and Subaru and I've never had a single car burn any significant oil. I'm religious about checking oil levels monthly and while I suppose some of my fuel dilution engines could've burned some oil just to have that volume replaced with fuel, it's never been significant. I will admit I haven't kept may vehicles past 100k miles, but I read threads all the time of vehicles that seem well-maintained after just 50 or 60k miles. Anyone else never own an oil burning vehicle?
Anyone else never own an oil burning vehicle?
- Thread starter PWMDMD
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I have never owned an oil burner. My 400K Xterra is not an oil burner. It maybe uses 1/2 quart on its 3750 OCI. My Frontier - same engine, 214K, 200K on a Jeep 4.7, Olds 3.1. A bunch of Ford 300-6's.
Some use oil right from the factory. I worked with a lady that had a VW like 20 years ago that used 1 quart every 1000 miles brand new. The dealer told her that was normal.
Some use oil right from the factory. I worked with a lady that had a VW like 20 years ago that used 1 quart every 1000 miles brand new. The dealer told her that was normal.
Of modern cars, my 1998 323is and 2001 S2000 would consume some. Not a significant amount at all, but noticeable. Of some in my fun fleet, hard to tell what is lost via leaks vs. burn 
I have owned numerous Nissans and Infinitis in the last 25 years.
All them tight as a drum.
All them tight as a drum.
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All of my newer vehicles never burned oil - Hondas, Subaru (several) , Mitsubishi, Ford, VW. I was a huge Honda fan starting in 1991, they all burned oil right up to 2004, after 2004 their engine building processes seemed to change and oil consumption dropped significantly.
I know on my 2002 AP1 Honda S2000 it would consume oil pretty heavily, you had to check it at every fuel stop to keep things safe. You never saw it burning out the tailpipe but it just disappeared, lol. Then in 2004 Honda started boring their cylinders with a torque plate installed on the head, and the S2000 oil consumption issues nearly disappeared on the Ap2.
I know on my 2002 AP1 Honda S2000 it would consume oil pretty heavily, you had to check it at every fuel stop to keep things safe. You never saw it burning out the tailpipe but it just disappeared, lol. Then in 2004 Honda started boring their cylinders with a torque plate installed on the head, and the S2000 oil consumption issues nearly disappeared on the Ap2.
Only car that used oil from new was a 1996 Volvo 850. I’ve had used cars when I was young and a couple for the kids - who knows the previous history??? Some of those gulped oil.
Wife’s Hondas and my Tacoma. Even my 2014 WRX used absolutely no detectable amount of oil.
Wife’s Hondas and my Tacoma. Even my 2014 WRX used absolutely no detectable amount of oil.
FWIW, way back in the 80's Consumer Reports tested a Mercedes and they noted that it burned about a quart of oil during the instrumented testing. This was acceleration, performance and handling phase. They contacted MB and MB wrote a letter CLEARLY AND BLUNTLY stating that was to be expected because a PROPERLY engineered engine would consume oil under acceleration testing and other "hard" driving conditions. MB asked them to monitor the oil consumption during regular street use and let them know if the issue continued. CR reported that like MB stated the car did not consume any oil during its time at the magazine under normal driving conditions. My wife's 2009 Mazda CX-9 was an oil drinker. It would use a quart every 3000-5000 miles if using the specifed 5w-20. After I switched to 15w-40, the consumption fell by half. If we drove it hard in the North Georgia Mountains or hard and fast on the the interstates will vacationing it used more oil regardless of viscosity. My theory was that the high revving DOHC Ford 3.7 V6 had to work HARD to move that 4400 pound Mazda around and it just used oil. My 2009 Ford Focus was a drinker as well when fed 5w-20. After switching to 15w-40, it rarely needing topping off. I just sold the Cx-9 with 248K miles and the catalytic converters were still good! My present car, Scion XD 1.8 is not an oil burner and during a 15K mile interval might need 1/2 to 3/4 of a quart top off. I commute and cruise at 70 to 80 mph to work everyday.
Cylinder deactivation and direct injection fuel contamination and all the other new technologies required to meet the impossible to attain Obama-era EPA numbers is what is driving a lot of of this. Oh, lets not forget to throw the "low tension" piston rings under the bus as well!
Cylinder deactivation and direct injection fuel contamination and all the other new technologies required to meet the impossible to attain Obama-era EPA numbers is what is driving a lot of of this. Oh, lets not forget to throw the "low tension" piston rings under the bus as well!
Yes, a 1974 Chevy 3/4 ton truck with a 292ci straight six. That is a great motor, but the guy who we bought it from used the cheapest oil he could find, then use the truck to pull heavy loads. It drank oil, like 1 quart every 250 miles. We overhauled it and it never used oil again, then ran HDEO in it the rest of the time we owned it.
my old Y2k Hyundai Sonata. 2.4l 4 cyl.
used a qt every 1000-1500 mi. from around 40k mi, still going when i sold it around 120k mi.
never got worse, stayed right around a qt/1000-1500 mi
used a qt every 1000-1500 mi. from around 40k mi, still going when i sold it around 120k mi.
never got worse, stayed right around a qt/1000-1500 mi
Most of my cars have not used a noticeable amount of oil, with 2 exceptions.
My '65 Comet with a 289 V8 drank oil and became an oil fogger by about 80,000 miles. I bought it when it was 3 years old (with about 28,000 miles) and maintained it well, but who knows how the first owner treated it.
My '86 Volvo 740 Turbo always used a bit of oil. I bought it new and changed the oil every 3 months. I never had to add oil but did have to keep a close eye on the dipstick. The oil usage didn't increase materially over the 18 years and 285,000 km I owned it.
My '65 Comet with a 289 V8 drank oil and became an oil fogger by about 80,000 miles. I bought it when it was 3 years old (with about 28,000 miles) and maintained it well, but who knows how the first owner treated it.
My '86 Volvo 740 Turbo always used a bit of oil. I bought it new and changed the oil every 3 months. I never had to add oil but did have to keep a close eye on the dipstick. The oil usage didn't increase materially over the 18 years and 285,000 km I owned it.
None of my VWs (two diesels, two gassers in my signature) ever burned any oil. I had a 2003 Saturn (V6) that had about 115,000 on it when we sold it that never burned any oil
Soon as I seen your title I said "They may not keep their cars around long enough".
I've had one 95' F250 7.3L that consumed a lot of oil but I'm almost certain it was some bad turbo seals that needed replaced but I know it had some blowby as well that I'm sure was burning some. Drove it from 225k to 273k before I sold it with that information to the next owner. I'm sure there are a few more in my 35-40 vehicles in my lifetime (Most were well used vehicles & I've never bought new). I'm now able to afford to buy older low mileage examples that are doing good. The F350 doesn't move on the dipstick but puts about 2.4% fuel in over 9,500 miles. The Volvo XC90 puts in 1.4% over an 8,500 mile interval. It burns around 0.75 qt over 5,100-5,500 miles. I don't consider that too bad at 131k.
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The '11 Chevy Equinox we have has burned oil from day 1. We got it with 35k miles on it from a family member ,so we know it's history. Using 5w30 wt oil no matter what brand, dexos approved or not, it will use 1 qt in 750 miles of driving. I've tried different weight oils in it, and the best I can do is 1 qt every 1500 miles. And that is achieved by running 10w40 wt oil. I cab live with that at this point. The engine has no leaks, and the chevy dealer said changing the rings should cure the consumption issue. But they were't gonna do it for free, and I wasn't going to pay for a ring job on a car with 35k on the clock.,,
I had a 1999 Ford Taurus with the 3.0 24V V6 which used a bit of oil during the 5k oil changes- maybe 3/4 of a quart. The old 2001 Windstar 3.8 used maybe 1/2 quart during 5k changes. My 2012 Rav4 doesn't use any oil (not that I can notice at 203,000miles) during 6k oil changes. My wife's 2018 Equinox doesn't use any oil either.
1976 Chevrolet Vega……..”Check the gas, fill the Oil”
My L200 w/2.2L was also 2 qts during my ownership between 128k-150k. Niece took it to 190k last time I talked to her 2 months ago.
I've never owned a vehicle that burned oil before 100k miles. You get to 200k miles and there can be some oil consumption.
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