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Oil consumption – what is normal?

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  • #546025
    aaronac8aaronac8
    Participant

      My 2006 lexus gs300 awd is consuming oil. The dealer states that it is normal to lose 1 quart of oil every 1000-1500 miles. Does this make sense? My car has about 137000 miles.

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    • #546041
      college mancollege man
      Moderator

        In my opinion that is excessive.

        #546218
        Gumpy GussGumpy Guss
        Participant

          That sounds a bit high. Does it leave little black spots where it’s parked? If so the problem could be as inexpensive as a new valve cover gasket.

          If it doesn’t drip, but instead burns it, that could be much bigger bucks, for new valve seals, or really big bucks, for a rebore and new rings.
          Could be worse. In the 1950’s, there was an old radial airplane engine, the 4360, with 28 cylinders, which could burn 200 gallons of oil during a 24-hour mission. Not quarts, gallons.

          #546497
          EricTheCarGuy 1EricTheCarGuy
          Keymaster

            To me, that’s excessive, but when I worked at the dealer we were told the same thing. I guess that’s the yard stick the warranty company uses. Also, keep in mind that if you do a lot of high speed driving it will accelerate oil consumption. BTW, if you’re running synthetic, try switching to conventional oil of the correct viscosity and see if the problem persists. If it doesn’t, use conventional oil from now on and you should be good. Keep us posted.

            #546611
            KevKev
            Participant

              1 Litre per 1000 KM is the default get out clause here in Europe. Even worse than 1 quart per 1000 miles!

              When there is a disparity in consumption for the same engine, I think it possibly comes down to how the engine was treated in it’s first few hundred miles. Engines made by robots can’t really be made inconsistently (unless humans don’t periodically check the tooling sharpness / wear), so it’s got to be owner treatment related, in my opinion.

              For the first time in my life I have an engine that uses no oil at all between changes. Such a treat!

              #546718
              pilotvppilotvp
              Participant

                Look really good around your engine for external leaks which may not touch the ground. I have a 08 Pilot with an “oil consumption” problem, that is actually leaking into my intake manifold / block area I found by looking closely. :whistle:

                #546772
                KasraKasra
                Participant

                  Seems excessive.

                  Depends how old the oil is in my experience. For my 2006 BMW 323i (E90) It consumes roughly 2-4 quarts between every oil change depending on many variables (season, more highway or road driving, temperature, etc). However, this heavy consumptions seems to take place near the end of an oil change cycle, at around 20,000KM. (BMW oil change is required every 30,000 KM). It seems I am putting in a quart of oil very often near the end of the cycle.

                  However, the consumption completely disappears once I change the oil and filter. I use Royal Purple.

                  #546789
                  BluesnutBluesnut
                  Participant

                    Just about every car maker on the planet claims that type of consumption is normal; even on a near new car with only 20k miles on it. The alternative is to say that it’s abnormal and then face countless billions in warranty repairs or lawsuits.

                    Given the mileage on your car however, it could be that it’s going to be normal. A lot would depend on driving habits, oil change intervals, any overheating episodes, and so on.

                    You might consider having the PCV system checked as a stuck PCV valve can pressure up the crankcase and cause oil consumption past the piston rings or even leaks.
                    If the PCV is good then the next step is a compression and leakdown test. This will provide some info about piston rings but will reveal nothing about any valve seal problem. There is no test for valve seals unfortunately.

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