At what level is oil consumption considered excessive in a fairly new vehicle ???
I raise this question as my sons BMW 330Ci, with only 20k miles from new, is burning a litre of oil every 2k miles, which quite frankly, I consider is totally unacceptable. If you compare this to his previous car, Audi A4 2.8 quattro, which only managed 1 litre per 1k miles, it is an improvement, but when
I compare this with my brother-in-laws Mazda 323, that has covered 167k miles and still does not burn a drop of oil between 6k mile changes.
Is it any wonder that Mazda feature so highly in all the recent car reliability surveys ????
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Dude, I agree that 1 litre per 1000 miles is unacceptable.
Try a forum search on Acceptable Oil Consumption. Plenty of comment there, including my own.
A factor in engines which exhibit high oil consumption is the driver. Two expensive and quality german vehicles from different manufacturers exhibit excessive oil consumption - nothing to do with your son's driving style then...
And your comment here:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=13...9
has come round to bite you back, rather ;-)
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CMark, I reckon you have probably hit the nail squarely on the head by placing most of the blame on the style of driving. Thankfully my own Beemer, which I ran in srictly in accordance with H.J`s guidelines, does not burn a drop of oil between 6.5k oil changes. I still believe however, that engineering tolerances on Japanese cars are light years ahead of the Europeans, which allows them to be driven hard without any adverse effect on oil consumption
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Two years ago a friend was successful in getting the Mitsubishi dealer carry out major engine work under warranty for excessive oil consumption on his 2000 model V6 Pajero/ Shogun.
Also, a little bird called rg told me that another Japanese 4x4 manufacturer may also have a problem with this. Further facts in due course.
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Dude, another Japanese manufacturer builds oil burning engines - surfing the Trooper forums I come across this:
isuzu-suvs.com/faq/index.html
Isuzu claims that 1 Quart per 1000 miles is normal on the Isuzu 3.2 and 3.5l engines. From what we have gathered through experiences it ranges widely from no oil used in 5000 miles to 1 Quart per 1000 miles. Many people have found that after switching to synthetic or synthetic blended oils they have lost less oil. I went from 1 quart per 1200 miles to about 1 quart every 3000 miles now that I switched to mobil 1 synthetic oil.
and this from planetisuzoo.com/:
Unfortunately high oil consumption is a common issue with mostly 1998-1999 isuzu 3.2 & 3.5L engines. You've probably seen this, but if you research other isuzu sites, you'll see the suspected cause is inadequate drain-back holes in the oil control rings. The consumption seems to be mostly an annoyance & doesnt effect performance or reliabilty. Old design has something like 4 holes, new design has 10+ holes. On the old design, oil gets trapped above the ring(s) and burns off in the cylinder. Gets worse as the vehicle ages & the rings get dirty with age. If you are still under warranty, Isuzu will replace the short block if they determine oil consumption is over 1qt/1000miles. Make sure your PCV system is clean to keep crank-case pressure down...
Just to say that it is a fact that the Japanese are just as prone to manufacturing errors as all the other manufacturers. They simply make less of them.
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last year, friend bought a MX5 second hand from a dealer,he was told "it's on magnatec synthetic, do not use mobil 1", also has sticker on rocker cover stating same. why is this? does mobil 1 not mix with other synthetics?
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dude, very interesting point about japanese engine tolerances being "light years ahead of europeans" on what do you actually base this claim? ive just looked at the machining tolerances for a bmw e39 block and a nissan maxima (just as a example) block and guess what? tolerances virtually identical, same for piston ring lands,crank journals valve guides cam bearings etc etc which is hardly suprising since the type of cnc machine tools used in both european and japanese factories are identical and machining to these level of accuracy is hardly a "black art"
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CMark may have a valid point about the driving style.
I kept my last car, a 1992 BMW 525i, for three years and 25,000 miles. With one notable exception, it needed no topping up between the 7,000 mile oil-changes despite the oil being a very low viscosity synthetic.
The exception was in my first year of ownership when my son drove the car about 600 miles on the North Yorkshire hills, with myself as passenger. He enjoyed extracting every ounce of power from the engine and eventually managed to get "Warning - Oil Level" to appear on the display. The oil level was near to the minimum mark even though the car was only midway between service points. I've since driven 'fairly enthusiastically' on those same hills, and on others in Wales, Lancashire, etc., without ever needing to top up the oil.
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Yo Dude,
I was reading a article in independant car mag and a reader also had a beamer that was using a lot of oil, the car was serviced at BMW specialist and filled with Shell helix. The next service, the car was filled Castrol magnatec, hey presto, oil consumption nil. Worth a try.
I can't quite remember the title, i think it was "driving club of the civil service", something like that, it was in the may 2003 issue.
This may shed some light on your problem.
Pastyman..
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Pastyman,Thanks for your thread, - the problem is the car is only just over 12 months old , so must stick with the BMW recommended Castrol SLX 0-40 synthetic, in order not to invalidate the warranty.
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Hi All,
Interested to read your threads! I have a Alfa Romeo 156 which drinks oil to. I am told from the dealership that they are all like that due to the fact its a high revving engine!
I know of one colluege in our company who seized the engine as it ran out of oil. The oil will not last for 12.5K miles which are the dealer services.
Cheers
James
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I understand that Castrol have now released another synthetic oil to replace Castrol SLX, for high performance engines such as the BMW M3`s/M 5`s and Audi S sport models with the aim of reducing oil consumption.
The new oil is called Castrol TWS and is a 10W 60 as opposed to SLX, which is 0W 30.
I was wondering if anybody in the B.R. has made the switch and how much their oil consumption may have dropped ????
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Crikey that's a wide range! I would have a concern that its loaded with viscosity extender additive - when that burns you get a deposit left behind. Oils with a very wide range are best avoided unless you really do need to use them.
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