Burning oil

[mechtech2]

You would see a wet exhaust pipe, or garage floor with that much oil being lost.
The oil was probably not filled correctly at the last change. Maybe not filled at all, and an incomplete oil drain left enough to run for a while.

 

[Lazy JW]

Originally Posted By: CruzNlife1
he said it happened 3K miles after the service in the original post (if I'm reading it right) Theres no way in [censored] you lost 3 quarts of oil in 3000 miles without seeing a puddle under the car at work or at home. And without mosquito fogging your neighborhood. My old ford ranger with 350+K miles smoked like crazy and only burned a quart over a couple thousand miles. We have an 05 Corrolla here with 35K miles, and our kia and tacoma truck. Both toyotas have been flawless


My experience is quite to the contrary. Having been born on the "other" side of the tracks, I have had ample opportunity to drive numerous oil burners in my life. Typically, a vehicle traveling down the road at highway speed will have to be burning a quart in about 100 miles or so to make visible smoke. This is NOT referring to cold startups, downhill engine braking, or shifting gears, but simply cruising while fully warmed up.

One quart per 1000 miles is nothing. Why anyone would drive that far without checking the oil escapes me though.
Joe

 

[Steve S]

It is a good idea to check your oil on a regular basis.I would say 3,000 miles without checking your oil makes the failure your fault as in neglect . At 3,000 miles it would be hard for you to place blame.

 

[javacontour]

I guess I could see that.

My 66 Nova didn't have a cat, so any burnt oil would just exit the tail pipe as blue smoke. It was on the "check the gas and fill the oil" plan. Or at least a quart every other tank of fuel.

I suppose if one had a working cat, the blue smoke could be dealt with by the cat, to some extent, for a while anyway.

 

[another Todd]

When I said "I suspect you don't check your oil or other fluids much", I was refering to the original poster dpost.

 

[GMFan]

My brothers 1995 Saturn SL2 burned a quart of oil every 300 miles. He got so use to it, he automatically added a quart of the cheapest oil they had at the gas station each fill up without even checking the dipstick.

 

[bmwtechguy]

Sounds like some engines in serious need of ARX to clean the rings! Anyone tried ARX in one of these ultra oil burners? I've owned a couple of these cars in the past before finding out about this product.