Who else notices used GDI oil differences?

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Dec 3, 2016
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I've had several newer GDI engines and most recently a 2017 Pathfinder. After 6k miles of full synthetic oil with an OEM filter, the oil was black and smelled terrible. It's SO strong. I had a 2017 SantaFe V6 before and had the same thing. Same with a Sonata I4. Hyundai says to change the oil every 3k and massive oil consumption is normal, hence why I left the brand after my 2017 drank 5qts in 2k miles. (That was 'normal'). My VVT engines or anything that is port-injected the oil is decent looking and smells mostly like oil after at least 6k.
Should I be safe and change my Nissans oil every 3k? These motors seem picky.
 
Had a 1026 Ford Fusion with the 1.5 Turbo for 4.5 years. Loved the car overall, but right away I noticed how black the oil was at 3000mi.
I run my truck(F150-5.0) 5000mi, but never past 4000 on the Fusion. It never used any oil though.

Yeah, I know you can't tell about the oil from color...bla...bla....
 
Most GDI's generate more soot than a port injected engine. My kids white Civic would be coated in days as opposed to weeks for my port inject J-Series cars. Some of that is bound to end up in the oil.


Old article, but simple.
 
First time I changed the oil in dads SHO, my brother was standing there supervising and thought he smelled a skunk. Had about 600 miles on the oil IIRC.

It sees basically nothing but highway. I try not to go over 5k and use 5w30 Magnatec. Will probably go to a 0w40 eventually.
 
I've had several newer GDI engines and most recently a 2017 Pathfinder. After 6k miles of full synthetic oil with an OEM filter, the oil was black and smelled terrible. It's SO strong. I had a 2017 SantaFe V6 before and had the same thing. Same with a Sonata I4. Hyundai says to change the oil every 3k and massive oil consumption is normal, hence why I left the brand after my 2017 drank 5qts in 2k miles. (That was 'normal'). My VVT engines or anything that is port-injected the oil is decent looking and smells mostly like oil after at least 6k.
Should I be safe and change my Nissans oil every 3k? These motors seem picky.
Yes. My fiance's 2013 sonata turns the oil black on the stick almost immediately after an oil change in the winter time. It goes about 2k on an oil change (3-6 months). My friend in the garage says every Hyundai/Kia he sees for oil changes has blackish oil.

For some reason it doesn't seem as consistent with other gdi engine's. Fiance's parents have an Equinox which was at 0% oil life. I was concerned because they're known for timing chain issues. The oil still looked okay and it was overdue.
 
... massive oil consumption is normal ...

We have 2 Tuscons a 2.4L DI 4-cyl 96K miles and a 2.7L v6 mpfi over 220K and neither one burns oil. Both purchased new. Our 2005 reliability was the reason we got the 2014.

Oil consumption is not a "normal" Hyundai thing based on my experience and also couple other Hyundai in immediate family ...

DI oil gets black. It used to bug me as it was our first and only DI and I wasn't used to dark oil ... but I got over it. lol

I think if you change oil (syn) before 5-6K miles you are ok. When I use M1 EP in our DI, I try to dump it before 7K. Any other cheaper syn, I dump before 6K. With dino which I no longer use, dumped it at 3500-4500.
 
I've had several newer GDI engines and most recently a 2017 Pathfinder. After 6k miles of full synthetic oil with an OEM filter, the oil was black and smelled terrible. It's SO strong. I had a 2017 SantaFe V6 before and had the same thing. Same with a Sonata I4. Hyundai says to change the oil every 3k and massive oil consumption is normal, hence why I left the brand after my 2017 drank 5qts in 2k miles. (That was 'normal'). My VVT engines or anything that is port-injected the oil is decent looking and smells mostly like oil after at least 6k.
Should I be safe and change my Nissans oil every 3k? These motors seem picky.


What is your usual driving routine? Short trips? All highway? A mix?
 
My Sonata Hybrid stinks of fuel every time, and the oil level gets higher too. The '16 Sorento that we have also smells like fuel but not as bad and doesn't "make" or burn oil.
 
Have not noticed this and I'm on my 2nd GDI vehicle. First was 2.0l EB Fusion.
 
I've had several newer GDI engines and most recently a 2017 Pathfinder. After 6k miles of full synthetic oil with an OEM filter, the oil was black and smelled terrible. It's SO strong. I had a 2017 SantaFe V6 before and had the same thing. Same with a Sonata I4. Hyundai says to change the oil every 3k and massive oil consumption is normal, hence why I left the brand after my 2017 drank 5qts in 2k miles. (That was 'normal'). My VVT engines or anything that is port-injected the oil is decent looking and smells mostly like oil after at least 6k.
Should I be safe and change my Nissans oil every 3k? These motors seem picky.

My 2011 Sonata with the 2.4L GDi 4-cyl was drinking 1qt of oil every 800 miles after 70,000 miles. The oil would also reek of fuel and seem water thin after only several hundred miles after a full oil change. Oil was changed every 5,000 miles at the dealer.

On the other hand, my 2015 Chevy Equinox with the 3.6L direct injected V6 (and VVT) has none of these issues. Approaching 60,000 miles and the oil doesn't have the strong fuel smell or dilution that I experienced with the Hyundai. Oil and filter gets changed every 5,000-7,000 miles with an OEM filter and dexos full synthetic.
 
Even the tiny NA 1.6 GDI in my Accent is the same, turns very dark, almost diesel engine levels, and reeks of fuel. Viscosity doesn't take too much of a hit so I know the fuel smell isn't extreme dilution, plus it gets driven for hours most days.
The oil consumption issues in those Theta engines was two fold. Suck piston rings where synthetic oil wasn't used, plus irregular spray patterns caused by coked injectors from poor quality fuel, leading to oil being washed from the cylinder walls, leading to the MoS2 coating on the piston skirts wearing off, leading to scoring of the bores.
Although the 1.6 GDI never had these issues, and I know of one with 566,000 MILES that has never even had the intake valves cleaned, I still use full synthetic and regularly add injector cleaners.
I also recently added 1/3 can of LM MoS2. I figured at least the iron cylinder liners should develop a nice Moly layer, which should preserve the Moly coating on the pistons while also increasing compression slightly, thus reducing fuel and soot contamination of the oil. I'll see how that theory goes next oil change! 😝
 
Have / had 3 Hyundai / KIAs
1.6L 2015 Rio, no issues with oil use. - traded in on the Sorento
2.4L 2013 Sonata, no issues with oil use - written off in a crash
3.3L V6 2016 Sorento, no issues with oil use - still in service

As per OPs post, I would not consider 400 miles to the oil quart to be normal, did OP push the issue up the Hyundai corporate ladder?
 
Not in the focus - 1.0L, TDI, oil still look pretty decent at OCI time every 5K miles.

In my friend's Q50S (DI, non-turbo) it smells heavily of fuel and consumes about half a quart every ~7K miles but they don't necessarily wait for the RPMs to drop to idle before taking off.
 
I've had several newer GDI engines and most recently a 2017 Pathfinder. After 6k miles of full synthetic oil with an OEM filter, the oil was black and smelled terrible. It's SO strong. I had a 2017 SantaFe V6 before and had the same thing. Same with a Sonata I4. Hyundai says to change the oil every 3k and massive oil consumption is normal, hence why I left the brand after my 2017 drank 5qts in 2k miles. (That was 'normal'). My VVT engines or anything that is port-injected the oil is decent looking and smells mostly like oil after at least 6k.
Should I be safe and change my Nissans oil every 3k? These motors seem picky.
Mine looks the same as what came out of my HEMI and LS1 and LS7 after 5K miles. I note no meaningful oil usage in my 5K service intervals. I'd say you got a problem.
 
I’ve had two direct injected engines over the last 8 years and yes, no doubt the oil looked nasty/smelled when it came out. Sometimes like fuel, sometimes I don’t know what. But it looked “bad”.

Surprisingly my car now doesn’t have direct injection and I’m loving it. It’s a 2016 Toyota Avalon...think it was the last year before Toyota went to DI. I don’t use oil between oil changes, the oil still looks very good when I change it. It’s kind of boring actually - nothing to really keep an eye, no fooling around with different oil brands and viscosities, no arguing online about oil consumption. I feel left out. Haha.
 
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