Originally Posted By: tomcat27
seriously, there is nothing wrong. some engines are built to different tolerances and do not use as much oil; others use even more. its pretty much a product of cylinder finish, design, ring pressure and design, compression ratios, RPM's etc.
All are contributors, but IMO the biggest single factor is total ring circumference or cylinder surface area. A big-bore v8 has a lot more ring length and cylinder surface that gets exposed to combustion than a 1.8L four-popper. If both engines have rings that leave exactly the same amount of residue per square inch on the cylinder walls, then the big-bore will burn quite a bit more oil in normal operation. And even for two engines of identical displacement, the one with bigger bore cylinders will, in all likelihood, burn more oil.
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
Historically speaking, most engines of Japanese design use less oil than American engines.
Complete baloney. Maybe if you completely eliminate every Mitsubishi engine from that calculation, but doubtful even then. I've never had a Japanese engine that burned less oil than my Jeep 4.0. About 1/8 quart in 6000 miles with 130k on the engine. The Chrysler 3.5 I sold with 257k last year would do a 7000 mile OCI with less than 1/2 quart consumption when it was in its prime at between 100-200k miles. Even at the end, it was under a quart per 3000 miles, and a fair amount of that was weepage from the valve cover gaskets.