How much oil does your car consume in 3k?

[Patman]

I thought this would be an interesting topic, to see what the average oil consumption is on the user's engines here. My 95 Firebird leaks it's oil out through the back of the intake manifold, which needs more RTV sealant to fix it. It uses a little over a half a quart every 3k (although I think it's getting worse). My wife's 2000 Civic doesn't use much oil at all, I just checked it yesterday, and it's been 2200 miles since the last oil change and it's still on the full mark.

 

[Quick_lude]

I use about a 1/4 of a litre.. But this is due to the design/type of my engine.. 2.2L VTEC.

 

[geo]

According to Audi, 1 qt per 1000 is OK because of its use of low-friction rings. Mine burns 1.5 qts per 3000 miles

 

[Bror Jace]

My Civic, currently filled with Red Line uses none ... just like it used to with Mobil 1 from 0-95,000 miles. I only got a small amount of consumption with Synpower ... and Red Line eventually fixed that. Patman, what are you using in Wifey's ride? Any decent oil should give you zero consumption for the first 100,000 miles. I don't know what they do when these are assembled ... but they are doing sumthin' right!

 

[MCompact]

My 1995 318ti has 71000 miles and uses @1 qt. of Mobil 1 15W-50 every 3000 miles. The car is geared somewhat low, and I tend to keep the revs pretty high- especially on the track. At my normal highway cruise of 80 mph in fifth the engine is turning 4000 rpm. My wife's 528iA has 75000 miles on the clock and uses no oil between the 9000 mile changes of 5W-40 Rotella T Synthetic. My 1993 Pathfinder SE uses less than 1/2 qt. of 5W-30 BMW Synthetic between 7000 mile(essentially annual)changes. My new(to me)1999 Wrangler Sahara has 51000 miles and used no oil in the @3000 miles I've driven it; I plan to change over to 10W-30 Mobil 1 in the next week or so. OT-My Dixon 5424 ZTR mower(20hp Briggs Intek twin) uses no Pennzoil 30W between 50 hour changes. FWIW, I use OEM filters on all of my vehicles.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bror Jace: Patman, what are you using in Wifey's ride? Any decent oil should give you zero consumption for the first 100,000 miles. I don't know what they do when these are assembled ... but they are doing sumthin' right!

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Ever since the 2000 mile oil change (the second oil change) I have used Mobil 1 5w30 TriSynthetic in her car, changed generally at 5-6k intervals. I've used all the different premium filters so far, Mobil 1, PureONE, Ultraguard Gold (used this one the most) and now it's running a K&N Performance Gold. I'm probably switching it to a Purolator Premium Plus filter next time around (since it appears it's specs are the same or better than the K&N, but at less than half the price up here) I've got 4 quarts of SL TriSynthetic Mobil 1 5w30 going in her car next, then I will run the SuperSyn 5w30 to compare to these last two. Eventually I do plan on changing her car over to Schaeffers #701 5w30, however I'd like to test out the Mobil 1 oils first, and maybe do an interval with Amsoil as well, just to get a good comparison between them all. She drives her car pretty hard, it's automatic, but just about every time she takes off from a light she puts the pedal down hard enough that the tranny shifts at about 5000rpm. The reason why I'm sticking with 5w30 for her, despite my hatred for that viscosity, is that she already gets terrible gas mileage (last interval was only 24MPG!) and she also drives the car hard even when the engine is stone cold, so this thinner oil will give her a tiny bit better protection. I'm also curious to see just how much her 5w30 thins out after 5k. Eventually I'll probably try an interval with 10w30 to compare the results, but only after we've established a trend on the 5w30. (sorry about the long winded reply, that was probably way more info than you really needed!)

 

[msparks]

I changed my oil last Aug. Since then I have not had to add any. granted it was a little low, but not down to the add mark yet, acutally it was closer to half way. BTW I had 10K on the oil so far. So that is the reason I voted for 0. My will not consume any in 3000 miles

 

[satterfi]

My '88 CRX uses a little in the 8k mile oil change interval. It's not enough to add any. She only has 195k miles on her. By the looks of the trend, in the next 50 to 75k miles, I'll probably be adding 1/2 quart to her every 6 months. Not too bad.

 

[sprintman]

Bugger all to be honest, and oil type doesn't seem to make any difference. IMHO Mazda built these turbo 2.2 engines to really last even with poor maintenance. Delvac 1 and then Auto-Rx really helped ring/valve stem seal(s).

 

[Chris A]

My (wife's) '99 Firebird uses about 1 qt per 3k miles. My '69 vette uses about 1 qt per 700 miles, but I know it's getting in the intake somewhere.

 

[Chris]

Wifes '95 Saturn doing the classic Saturn drink of 1q. per 1000 miles. We need the cheap, good stuff.

 

[Spector]

Obviously people have a different interpretations of an engine using oil. Some feel that if the level is within the hashmarks and none is added that it has not consumed any oil. To me this is incorrect. Unless the level is the same as when you first changed the oil you have consumed oil. I always check when engine cold after sitting all night. My 92 Camry with 146,000 miles uses about 28 ounces in 7,500 miles and has for the past several years. 2000 Buick GSE uses about 3/4 of a quart in 12,000 miles in addition to the filter change at 6000 miles. Other cars are basically 5-10 ounces between changes. All of them consume some oil between changes, even if only a few ounces. [ July 29, 2002, 08:06 AM: Message edited by: Spector ]

 

[msparks]

quote:

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Originally posted by Spector: Obviously people have a different interpretations of an engine using oil. Some feel that if the level is within the hashmarks and none is added that it has not consumed any oil. To me this is incorrect. Unless the level is the same as when you first changed the oil you have consumed oil. I always check when engine cold after sitting all night. My 92 Camry with 146,000 miles uses about 28 ounces in 7,500 miles and has for the past several years. 2000 Buick GSE uses about 3/4 of a quart in 12,000 miles in addition to the filter change at 6000 miles. Other cars are basically 5-10 ounces between changes. All of them consume some oil between changes, even if only a few ounces.

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Well some of us arn't as anal about our oil consumption in our vehicles. Though I will say, my BMW motorcycle(which I am anal about) only consums about 1 oz per 1000 miles. Maybe he should have stated the poll differently since not everyone changes at 3000 miles. Even on my BMW it doesn't see an oil change for at least 8,000 miles.

 

[Patman]

I simply picked 3k as a standard way of measurement since most people don't change out sooner than this, but some are still changing at this mark, so it was an easy target number to pick. My feeling on oil consumption is that whatever oil you add to keep it at the top level of the stick is the amount used. So if I add a 1/2 quart of oil every 3k but at the end of the interval my dipstick isn't right at the top still, then it's not a reasonable number for me to quote. Some people say they don't burn oil because they don't have to add any between changes, but they fail to mention that at the end of their interval they are a 1/2 a quart to a quart low on the dipstick.

 

[The_Oz]

My car is a Mazda Protege 1996 LX 1.8L. Using Tech2000 Synthetic 10W30, I consumed roughly 200-300ml in 3000km. Switched to Delvac1 5W40, and had to add 200ml in 1000km...weird. Regards, Oz

 

[MolaKule]

The '92 Burb doesn't "burn" any oil and no longer has a leak, since I replaced the engine oil cooler lines. The Lines (factory hydraulic hoses) lasted 250,000 miles, so I can't complain. The 2001 Nissan 2.4L Frontier uses about 8 ounces bewteen 5k oil changes.

 

[Bror Jace]

Spector, to be clear, when I say “zero consumption” I mean the mark on the dipstick doesn’t move at all. Some will say that fuel getting into your crankcase can make up for oil consumed and the result is that this mark does not move … but testing I’ve done shows little or no fuel in my sample so I feel pretty confident saying my car uses (essentially) zero oil. Whatever is consumed is too small to be measured by the dipstick. Patman, just be aware that Mobil 1 & 5K-6K mile intervals led to my car knocking like crazy for the first few minutes in sub-zero weather (at around 70,000 miles) … until I switched to Red Line, that is. Current theory seems to be that Mobil might be trying to make up for the lack of barrier additive with a higher viscosity index in their SuperSyn. Don’t be surprised if this doesn’t work 100% and your wife’s Civic experiences the same kind of premature wear mine did. However, my car went to about 95,000 miles without using a drop of make-up oil (mostly Mobil 1). If, after an oil change, it was 1/16” above the fill mark, it was still 1/16” above the mark when I went to change my oil & filter again 6,000 miles or so later. The piston slap wear still occurred, however.

 

[Patman]

Not to worry Bror, after my Mobil 1 oil analysis results are finished, I plan on switching my wife's car over to Schaeffers. It's only got 36k on the clock now, so it's not too late to save this patient from piston slap!

 

[westex39]

5.3L Chevy in 2001 Tahoe and 2002 Silverado. Use less than a 1/4 of a quart in 3000 miles. However, both of these are low mileage engines. I run Amsoil 5W-30.

 

[ajax]

2k,ls1,no oil used,4k on this oil now.