No Oil Consumption

[joekingcorvette]

Your Corvette doesn’t even use oil? All of mine have consumed a little bit. My C7 uses roughly half a quart every 7k. It’s perfectly normal for a high performance engine that’s driven hard from time to time.

Not yet. I purchased it in June of 2023 with 22,000 miles and just changed it a few days ago at 27,000 miles. It's only 5,000 miles but it did not move at all on the dipstick. My 05 C6 that I purchased brand new used no oil either and I sold it with 82,000 miles. 2001 was a bad year for Corvettes as far as oil consumption. I have the factory NPP exhaust and it's difficult not thrash on it once in a while. I agree it is normal for a 460 HP engine to consume some oil but mine doesn't. A half quart at 7,000 miles would not be considered excessive by any means. I like the red on yours...very nice!

 

[Hermann]

Owner's manual of most old cars will typically say something to the effect of:

"If you prefer oil consumption, start using 0W-X especially 0W-20."

It's a fine print somewhere if you look for it.

Mine only consumed a 1/4 qt in 7749 miles.

 

[Patman]

Not yet. I purchased it in June of 2023 with 22,000 miles and just changed it a few days ago at 27,000 miles. It's only 5,000 miles but it did not move at all on the dipstick. My 05 C6 that I purchased brand new used no oil either and I sold it with 82,000 miles. 2001 was a bad year for Corvettes as far as oil consumption. I have the factory NPP exhaust and it's difficult not thrash on it once in a while. I agree it is normal for a 460 HP engine to consume some oil but mine doesn't. A half quart at 7,000 miles would not be considered excessive by any means. I like the red on yours...very nice!

Thanks! My C5 was the worst consumer of the bunch but it wasn’t as bad as other C5s I’ve heard about. IIRC mine consumed about a quart every 6000 miles. My C6 was about the same as my C7 as far as consumption.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Red is the best color for Corvette looks.
Orange was the best color for my former 1969 Chevy Camaro
Yellow was the best color for my former 1970 Plymouth 'Cuda'.

Back then, I almost bought a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner R/T (sublime green) instead.

(Boy Oh Boy) All four of these colors were easiest for road patrol radar cops to spot.

 

[OVERKILL]

I've not had to add any oil to our RAM 1500 (@High Performance Lubricants "overkill" Super Car 0W-20 in the pan) and it's currently at around 14,000 miles on this fill. Longest interval I've ever run.

 

[vavavroom]

I had a 1.8T. It never burned oil either.

Did it leak onto the ground? No matter what, my 1980 Rabbit always marked its territory.

 

[vavavroom]

How could an engine have zero oil consumption? I have never had a car that did not use a measurable amount of oil between oil changes.

Despite its turbo engine my Mini consumes less oil than any other car I've owned - less than 120ml/4 oz over 9,000 miles. 5 quarts is more than enough for an oil change and the remainder goes in the boot.

 

[addyguy]

My 09 G5 with just over 200k miles uses no oil at all between changes.

 

[hemioiler]

How could an engine have zero oil consumption? I have never had a car that did not use a measurable amount of oil between oil changes.

I've never had a car that did? That includes the pentastar 3.6 which I drove from 36,000 km to 160,000 km, a GM 3.8 which I sold at 200,000 kms, and a GM 3100 at roughly same mileage.

Only since reading forums have I been introduced to this idea that seeing it drop down the dipstick is "normal".

 

[Braapdaddy]

Of my current vehicles only the 2023 2.7 silverado uses oil at the 4k mark it's consistently down half a quart ......I top it off with GTX 5w30 until the 5k mark

AC Delco dexos 5w30 consumed 1/2 quart @4k
Lucas 5w30 full syn dexos consumed 1/2 quart @4k ( 3 runs of 5k with this oil )

Next up i bought a bunch of bag in box Castrol Edge 5w30 ......will see if this cuts back on the small amount of consumption

1/2 a quart is not extreme but this is a company truck and if i let employees run up the miles it could be dangerous and costly as the truck ages I may have to put a warning label on the dash

 

[TurboZedd-R]

How could an engine have zero oil consumption? I have never had a car that did not use a measurable amount of oil between oil changes.

Despite its turbo engine my Mini consumes less oil than any other car I've owned - less than 120ml/4 oz over 9,000 miles. 5 quarts is more than enough for an oil change and the remainder goes in the boot.

My 2015 Sti, 2017 Nismo Z, 2020 TTs, 2022 Amg Cla 45, and 2024 FL5 Type R have consumed no measurable amount of oil between 5k intervals. Each have ran their respective weights, all tuned and tracked. All were purchased new, ran WOT after startup.

 

[OilUzer]

Noack numbers used to be readily available when I joined bitog, however most oil companies are hiding them these days.

Range is not useful to me!
It's less than 13% ...
Last I checked, both 12.9 and 4.1 are less than 13.

Typically oils with a narrower spread do better in that department.

 

[MotoGuzzi]

My last 7 vehicles, all Chrysler products have never needed a top off between oil changes. I use a 5 k service interval using Pennzoil Synthetic oil .

1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0 L 195k
2007 Dodge Charger 3.5 L 145 k
2014 Dodge Charger 3.6 L 85K
2018 Chrysler 300 3.6 L 82 K
2013 Dodge Durango 3.6 L 176 K Still in service
2021 Dodge Durango 3.6 L 36 K Still in service
2019 Dodge Charger Scat Pack 6.4 L 33 K Still in service

 

[vavavroom]

My 2015 Sti, 2017 Nismo Z, 2020 TTs, 2022 Amg Cla 45, and 2024 FL5 Type R have consumed no measurable amount of oil between 5k intervals. Each have ran their respective weights, all tuned and tracked. All were purchased new, ran WOT after startup.

"Measurable" is the critical term. A dipstick doesn't allow for a super-accurate measurement. Zero oil consumption is a technical impossibility. I believe it's quite possible that fuel dilution can more than make up for a very small amount of oil consumption.

 

[Yuk]

Did it leak onto the ground? No matter what, my 1980 Rabbit always marked its territory.

Nope. However, It only made it to 135,000km, then the timing belt let go.

 

[Yuk]

How could an engine have zero oil consumption? I have never had a car that did not use a measurable amount of oil between oil changes.

Despite its turbo engine my Mini consumes less oil than any other car I've owned - less than 120ml/4 oz over 9,000 miles. 5 quarts is more than enough for an oil change and the remainder goes in the boot.

I can't explain how. I can only say there is no visible drop on the dip stick of these four cars.

 

[vavavroom]

I can't explain how. I can only say there is no visible drop on the dip stick of these four cars.

I don't think that's surprising but I'm also sure it doesn't indicate zero oil consumption. A four ounce drop barely registers on my car's dipstick even in the exact same location and checking after the car has been sitting for hours. As has been mentioned by others, the shape of the oil pan may cause a nonlinear drop in oil level. As some have observed, a dipstick may show no drop in oil level for a few thousand miles followed by a sudden drop over a shorter distance. Oil pans have irregular volumetric shapes.

 

[TurboZedd-R]

"Measurable" is the critical term. A dipstick doesn't allow for a super-accurate measurement. Zero oil consumption is a technical impossibility. I believe it's quite possible that fuel dilution can more than make up for a very small amount of oil consumption.

Someone would have to take an entirely empty engine, fill it with X amount of oil, run an interval, ENTIRELY drain it, measure it and do a UOA to check for fuel. Until that's done we have no idea how much oil, if any is being burned.

 

[Patman]

It is a little bit tricky to figure out the exact amount of oil you consume in an interval. What I like to do is measure how much I have drained out and compare that to how much I put in (including top up during the OCI). But even this isn’t 100% accurate because some of the oil I put in stays absorbed in the oil filter media. And how long I drain the oil can affect how much comes out by a few ounces too.