"Doesn't burn a drop of oil" ??

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rationull

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All over the web (here and elsewhere) I've seen hundreds of message board posts from people whose cars "don't burn a drop of oil" between changes. I've had three cars and each of them burned some oil. The 1988 Tercel had a worn ring in one cylinder, and I'm pretty sure the 1983 280zx had stale valve seals which seemed to cause the engine to burn oil only on extended trips at highway speeds, so I figured they had excuses. My 07 Civic (w/ about 13k miles on it) seems to burn roughly 1 quart per ~6000 mile OCI (going by the OLM). I don't have a problem with checking the oil and topping it off (indeed, I kind of miss having to tinker more often like I did with my previous two cars
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) but it just seems like it'd be nicer if the new engine didn't burn meaningful amounts of oil.

I can think of a couple of possibilities:

1) I attract oil burning engines. I don't really believe this is true, because that would be rather superstitious.
2) A good number of engines (old and new) actually burn oil and some percentage of the people who claim their engines "burn no oil at all" don't really know what they're talking about. (I do know that *some* engines don't really burn any oil to speak of. My girlfriend's high mileage 1993 Volvo 850 is in this category. I have it running Valvoline MaxLife 10w-30 and have never had it drop more than 1/8 of a quart or so in a 4000 mile OCI. It usually doesn't drop at all).

I don't thrash on my cars, but I do drive spiritedly sometimes. My daily commute is about 15 minutes on the highway one way, and includes 3 or so miles at medium/high RPMs (3500-4000 in the Civic) to ascend a long grade. This high RPM section never seemed to contribute to oil burning in my 280zx (which was spinning at 3200-3500 for the ascent) but it could have an effect on the Civic I suppose.

I'm running Exxon Superflo 5w-20 right now, and wondering if switching to a slightly heavier oil (like perhaps MobilClean 5000 5w-20) would help, although there doesn't seem to be a huge viscosity difference among the conventional 5w-20 oils.

There are lifetimes more experience on this board than I have. So what's the skinny? Is this kind of oil burning on a new but broken-in engine normal or not? I figured any burning would've been stopped by around 10k miles but that doesn't seem to be the case.
 
According to some mfg's, their cars are allowed to burn x qts in x miles and consider it normal. My 2003 Toyota Matrix and my 2004 Tacoma don't consume any noticible oil in my 5k OCI's. My 1993 Corolla didn't consume any oil until after about 125k and I'm not too sure that was entirely consumption as there was a minor leak. It would only use about 1/4-1/2 qt in 3k.

Do you know if you're having an issue with fuel dilution which can give the appearance of a drop in oil level after extended trips?
 
I dont know how much Royal Purple 5w20 my Mazda6i burns, but the level on the dipstick does not change any measurable amount during a 7,500 miles OCI.
 
My VW requires 10K mile oil change intervals (first two at 5K). After the first 4 changes I stopped checking each time I filled up. I can not see any oil lost on the dipstick in 10K miles...
 
Many years ago the Engineering department at GM did some testing on new V8 engines. They said that an IC car engine in good condition would consume 0.1 to 0.2 OZ of oil for every gallon of gas consumed. That came out to about 1 quart per 3000 miles @ 20 mpg. Based on that data GM calibrated the oil dipstick to show that the car add mark was two quarts from full. That year they set the maximum oil change interval at 6,000 miles or haha 2 quarts of oil. I may be off on the 0.1-0.2 OZ as it has been a long time since I read this. Years later GM stated that it was OK to burn one quart per 1000 miles which is was ---- in my book. Just an interesting tid bit. Ed
 
It depends on engine, driving habit, oil, and age of the engine. I had Honda Civic that did not burn oil with dino but with M1 used some. Most oil lose ase as they age and hence get burned. The harder you drive and less often you change the oil more likely your engine would burn the oil.
Some engines also have more tension on the piston ring than others.
 
rationull, how did you break-in each of these cars? Putting heavy load on the engine early, with several WOT runs is a good way to full seat the rings.

Fuel dilution is another problem that can cause oil consumption not matter how well the car was broken in. Normally, the fuel in the oil will burn off along with some oil causing some oil consumption. Some oils mask it and it stays in the oil, showing the oil level at full when it's really not.

High rpm driving also causes oil consumption in many engines. Oil consumption can be a good thing too in some instances.
 
I did not break in the Tercel or the 280zx, got them at 90k and 120k miles respectively (and I know the tercel got some pretty severe service from its original owner). When breaking in the Civic I kept the engine under 4k RPM or so and pretty much drove normally. I did not give it many WOT runs, but I did plenty of engine braking. The owners manual recommended against "full throttle starts and rapid acceleration" which I took to mean no WOT runs, so I figured I'd avoid them. Could that really be the cause of this?

High RPM driving could be a factor although the 3500-4000 RPM grade ascent I mentioned is generally the highest sustained speed the engine sees and that doesn't seem all that high to me.

Fuel dilution hadn't really crossed my mind since the car's so new. I have not had a UOA done so it is a possibility I suppose. Can anyone else w/ an 06/07 Civic (R18 engine) provide any other data points as to whether their engines burn a bit of oil?
 
My 1993 F-150 does not consume any oil. I think it has to do with some oils "boiling off" more than others.
 
I know this probably sounds rediculous, but I can't ever remember owning a new car that used any oil at all during a 3-5K mile OCI. Even as they aged...nada. My first new car was a 1974 Ford Pinto too! I sure had lots of spare quarts of oil laying around for top off that I never used. I wonder what happened to them?
 
Honestly I didn't expect most of the responses here to go the way they did. Kind of depressing.
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buster, I have read that page before, didn't really know what to make of it. It's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, when reading up on such topics.

Superflo is a little on the thin side for 5w-20s. On my next change (although, it'll be a while before I need one) maybe I'll use up the remaining quart I have of that and mix in something on the thicker side and see what happens after a few more OCIs.

Maybe I'll also stop being lazy and get a UOA to check on fuel dilution when that time comes around.
 
With all our technology, there is NO EXCUSE for oil burning in a well maintained engine.

My mom owned a 1985 Nissan Maxima, and despite the fact that many things on that car broke, The engine never lost a noticeable level of oil at 3,000 mile intervals. She had that car until 1994, when the timing belt broke, and that killed the otherwise great VG30E engine. That car had no coolant leaks either. That car never failed a smog test, or showed a "Check engine" light, in the 9 years and 90K miles mom had it.

It is for that reason, that I find it amazing that automakers STILL have oil losses and failed emission controls in this day and age, and it AMAZES me that Zinc had to be reduced because of it.
 
artificialist, low tension rings, more horsepower, high engine temps are some reasons why certain engines use some amount of oil. You also said "at 3,000 mile intervals". Try extending that out to 5k-10k for the average today in that same car and you might have had some.
 
My Grandma's 2003 Chrysler Town and Country van gets 3000 mile oil changes, yet it loses nearly 1 quart between changes. It has about 60,000 miles. Plenty of people still use 3000 mile oil changes.
 
Quote:

artificialist, low tension rings, more horsepower, high engine temps are some reasons why certain engines use some amount of oil. You also said "at 3,000 mile intervals". Try extending that out to 5k-10k for the average today in that same car and you might have had some.

Click to expand...


Two questions,

1) By "low tension rings" do you mean defective rings? Or would a manufacturer use lower tension rings to reduce friction losses or similar?

2) How would having more horsepower make an engine more prone to oil burning? Not challenging the notion, just asking because I'm curious.
 
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