Is this good or bad...no oil loss after 5,000+ miles

[Stabbin97Tahoe]

I have read on here and other places that it is normal for "ALL" vehicles to lose about 1 quart after 3,000 miles. In the past I have lost maybe 1/2 quart and once 1 quart after driving over 800 miles roundtrip doing 85+ mph.

This is the first time I have gone this long without changing the oil, normally go 3,000 miles. After 5,000+ miles on this oil there is NO loss at all

And I have not been driving it easy. On this 5,000 miles it includes towing a 3,500# boat under heavy acceleration, driving another 500 miles round trip 2 or 3 times back and forth to home going 80+ mph, and the everyday drive to and from work 32 miles roundtrip in both highway and city...which barely has traffic.

I check the oil hot 15 minutes after shutdown, and I also check it cold. No difference whatsoever. It is a '97 Tahoe with 104,600 miles on it using Mobil 1 10w30.

I plan on changing the oil to Mobil 1 5w30 today or tomorrow since it has been 5,000+ miles. So I am not worried about how dirty it is, that is what the oil filter is for.

But what gives, why no loss after 3,000 miles and now even 5,000?

 

[Mamala Bay]

Hmmm...I don't know but I usually lose oil the first 6,000 miles say 8oz-16oz. I will always say synthetic primes itself after 3,000 miles.

 

[olympic]

Every engine is different and it's impossible to set a standard for oil consumption that covers all of them.

On my 7 fleet vehicles, I'd say they average about 1/2 quart per 6500 miles. Back when I was doing 3-6k changes with dino, I never had to add any. By the time the consumption was noticeable on the dipstick, it was time to change it anyways.

On the flip side of that, my dad bought an 86 Ford F150 with the 5L V8 brand new back in 86. It burned a quart of oil every 1-1.5k miles right from new until he sold it with over 200k on it! It never smoked or showed any other signs of trouble and Ford kept saying it was "normal".

Personally, I feel better when an engine consumes a little oil. It means that the cylinders and valves are being well lubricated and not being scraped dry by the rings. Your engine probably consumes a little as well but you may have to greatly extend your OCI to notice it.

 

[Stabbin97Tahoe]

So, do you recommend I extend this change a little more to see if it does lose some?

 

[drm7]

Neither one of my vehicles lose any oil in 5000 mile changes. I personally do not like oil consumption. They aren't designed to use oil (as far as I know) so I don't like it when they do it. A little bit in 5000 would be ok as long as I don't have to add to it before the next change. My fear is that any oil getting burned will contribute to carbon which can lead to pinging or stuck rings. I had a 90 corolla go 140k w/o using a drop in 5000 miles. It had over 180k the last I knew before I lost touch with the new owner.

 

[Virtuoso]

I'm comfortable with some oil burning. I've never owned a car that didn't burn some at least.

For instance, my old SHO went through a quart every 800 - a bit extreme, and the intake valves showed it. Ran like a raped ape though.
My new(to me) SHO does a quart every 3,500 or so, and the valves and pistons are practically spotless. As long as it's not burning mass quanitities of oil there shouldn't be a problem with buildup.

I wouldn't be worried a bit. As olympic said, every engine is different. Yours just happens to be pretty tight oil-control wise.

 

[MikeR]

quote:

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Originally posted by Stabbin97Tahoe:
So, do you recommend I extend this change a little more to see if it does lose some?

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Hmmm.. I haven't ever heard that consumption is a good thing.

If I did extend the OCI, it wouldn't be to see if there's any consumption. Zero oil consumption in 5k+ miles is close enough to zero for me.

Drive it and enjoy it. Sounds like you've got a good one there.

mr

 

[Pablo]

Rest well assured - your engine is consuming some oil. And thank your stars it isn't a qt+ per 3K. It's just so low you don't detect it and that's a good thing.

Simplified: By the very nature of a lubricated internal combustion engine, some oil gets on the cylinder surfaces, and these surfaces are never perfect at a molecular/atomic level. This oil gets in these tiny imperfections You have probably a better than average set-up. I never get that lucky, even my new cars have consumed some oil after 5K-10K OCI's....

 

[Virtuoso]

Isn't the reason for the crosshatch pattern partially to lube the upper rings?

 

[Patman]

I love the fact that my wife's Honda uses no oil at all in between changes. After 5000 miles the level on her dipstick does not move.

I'm especially happy that my LS1 Corvette doesn't appear to be using any oil so far either, at least not at the 1700 mile mark of the interval it had not shown any consumption. A lot of LS1 owners report some pretty heavy consumption, so it's nice to own yet another one which doesn't use oil (my previous LS1 vehicle used no measurable amount in between changes either)

My old LT1 Firebird used about one quart every 5000 miles. Most of it would leak out from the back of the intake manifold, and eventually would drip onto the exhaust and then onto my driveway.

 

[michaelc80]

I have no noticable oil consuption on 5-6K OCI's on 2 Jeep 4.0's, 1 Nissan 300ZX, (synthetics since new) and 1 Nissan Sentra (dino since new, poorly maintained, some OCI's up to 7-8K). I'm sure that there is some minor oil consumption, but it's not noticable and I have never had to add any.

 

[Dr. T]

It's definately a good thing. From experience I will only use and recommend the thickest viscosity (within the ambient temp scale) that prevents consumption.

Can you just clarify a few points....are you saying your consumption use to be .5-1qt in 800 mi., but this round it's zero? And why are you switching to 5-30? Why not stick with the 10-30?

 

[Stabbin97Tahoe]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dr. T:
It's definately a good thing. From experience I will only use and recommend the thickest viscosity (within the ambient temp scale) that prevents consumption.

Can you just clarify a few points....are you saying your consumption use to be .5-1qt in 800 mi., but this round it's zero? And why are you switching to 5-30? Why not stick with the 10-30?

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Ok, so it sounds like the general consensus is - it is a good thing. Someone said, "it sounds like I have a good one here." Yeah, after $2200 in a new tranny after buying it used with 60,000 and after 10,000 miles. And numerous other things here and there that are expected. And also pinging on 87, and midgrade octanes. So I use premium (91 here) and it is fine making it sound better too

Ok, your next point...like I said it was bought used with 60,000 miles and changed the oil every 3,000 miles with dino. At 89,000 miles I changed to Mobil 1 and never had a problem. I said that one time it consumed maybe .5 qt. to 1 qt. in that one 3,000 mile change where I drove like a bat out of **** as always 85+ to IL and back (about 800+ miles round trip). This was on the third change of M1. And now at 104,500 miles with 5,000 miles on this round it hasn't consumed any.

So, maybe the old Dino oil that had been used all the way up until 89,000 miles is finally worked its way out with Mobil 1. And since it is the longest I have gone on any OCI I think it is safe to say that this stuff is working the way it is supposed to

I am going to change to 5w30 because winter is coming and I want to have the right stuff in there. The owners manual calls for 5w30 anyways. I change to 10w30 in the summer because it gets hot here and with towing a boat I want to have that extra assurance that it is lubricating and cooling things with the thicker viscosity.

I had someone tell me, why not just use 5w30 year round since that is what the owners manual calls for? Well for the reason stated above. I have thought about it and may do so next summer. But the Mobil 1 5w30 is awefully thin. And I have not had any problems using the 5w30 Mobil 1 in my engine causing no leaks. I made the switch over to Mobil 1 5w30 right off the bat at 89,000 miles and NO leaks whatsoever. And it is a thinner viscosity obviously than the 10w30.

...I was going to change the oil yesterday but will do so today. So I think now it has 5,500 miles on this change