Oil consumption update

Just wanted to let everyone know that the oil consumption for my car has dramatically changed in the last 1000 miles. It used to take about 1/2 qt every 250-300 miles between miles 1000 and 3000. Since 3000 miles, I had to add only 1/2 qt for almost an entire 1000 miles. I just did my oil change now and will monitor it and report back.

With any of my performance cars, this is what I do:

- When car is cold, immediately drive off, never idle the car.
- Keep the rpms at or around 3500 rpm until 165F-170F and then 4500 rpm until 180F. Never shift gears below these numbers.
- Redline the car at least once a day (or once per drive cycle) once it reaches 190F. Sometimes I redline several times a day.

I have done the same thing in my previous M3 or M5, those cars had similar oil consumption patterns around 1000-5000 miles and then they simply wouldnt consume even a drop of oil between oil change intervals up until I got rid of them (or in the case of my M5 now it has 35000 miles and still strong).

Also when breaking the car, the first 50 miles is super critical. You need to keep the rpms up and at high rpm , let go off the throttle and perform engine breaking.

My car has never used a lot of oil but has also slowed down since I hit about 5500 miles in the last 1000 miles I used about 1/4 of quart. I think these engines just take time to be fully broken in. I also did a few 300 + mile road trips in the last month as well I think that also helped seat everything in properly. I do know this it definitely runs like a scalded ape and sounds so gooooood!

FWIW, after 6400 miles and 10.5 hours of track use, I still haven't seen any oil consumption, stick is always where I refilled it at. I'll just consider myself lucky I guess.

oil consumption

Never have used a drop of oil, 4200 miles 2 oil changes full at both changes. My break in was a 1000 mile trip from the dealer in Vegas to Oregon.

:ford::ford::ford::ford:

I heard you should start car and immediately redline engine for about 3-5 minutes. My friend's cousin did it on his uncles performance car.

What you described in the first 50 miles is the opposite of what the mfg. recommends and opposite of what most people should do.


Some cars have break-in oil from the factory so revving high from new on that thin oil is a very bad idea.

My corvette stingray and dodge hellcat both had software to stop ppl from driving hard for the first 500 miles. The stingray rpm gauge would light up in red and yellow to show the rpm limit which would get higher the more miles you put on until you've reached 500miles which was the break-in period and when the oil change was due. The hellcat software limited rpm and hp to 500hp it would not allow hard inputs and would soften the throttle until 500miles was reached. Than the full potential was opened up to 707hp and all the performance meters were accessible including launch control.

Ford dyno's the engines but does not break them in. Per page 33 of the Shelby supplemental manual

BREAKING-IN
Your vehicle requires a break-in period.

Drive your new vehicle at least 100 mi (160 km) before performing extended wide open throttle maneuvers and at least 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before performance or competition conditions.

Note: Vary your speed frequently in order to give the moving parts a chance to break in.

Lexluther said:

What you described in the first 50 miles is the opposite of what the mfg. recommends and opposite of what most people should do.


Some cars have break-in oil from the factory so revving high from new on that thin oil is a very bad idea.

My corvette stingray and dodge hellcat both had software to stop ppl from driving hard for the first 500 miles. The stingray rpm gauge would light up in red and yellow to show the rpm limit which would get higher the more miles you put on until you've reached 500miles which was the break-in period and when the oil change was due. The hellcat software limited rpm and hp to 500hp it would not allow hard inputs and would soften the throttle until 500miles was reached. Than the full potential was opened up to 707hp and all the performance meters were accessible including launch control.

Ford dyno's the engines but does not break them in. Per page 33 of the Shelby supplemental manual

BREAKING-IN
Your vehicle requires a break-in period.

Drive your new vehicle at least 100 mi (160 km) before performing extended wide open throttle maneuvers and at least 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before performance or competition conditions.

Note: Vary your speed frequently in order to give the moving parts a chance to break in.

Click to expand...

Pressing the gas pedal 50% of the way and gently going up to 6000 rpm and letting go off the gas is nothing like wide open throttle (which is pedal to the floor) and redlining the car. I didnt do that at all.

MCarsFan said:

- When car is cold, immediately drive off, never idle the car.

Click to expand...

This is something you won't ever catch me doing.

While letting the car idle and come up to temperature (preheating) is not a smart practice, you are also not supposed to begin driving the car as soon as you start it. Best practice is to start the car, most cars will start at a higher RPM and begin to drop slowly, after 30seconds or so the oil should be evenly distributed to the necessary internal components, from there good to drive off keeping the RPM's under 4K until it fully comes up to temperature and then proceeding to redline pulls and heavy acceleration.

Ok let me clarify.... What I meant to say was I dont let the car idle to warm the engine. Some people, in fact many people I know, idle their cars and wait for the oil temperature to reach 170-180F and then drive. That is probably one of the worst things you can do to an engine. Its like torture.

By the time I put my seat belt, sun glasses (if its sunny), connect my phone, radar detector, and open the garage door, 30-40 seconds passes. Then i drive up my driveway and wait for traffic. Thats another 30 seconds. So say a minute before the car sees 3500 rpm.

dron_jones said:

While letting the car idle and come up to temperature (preheating) is not a smart practice, you are also not supposed to begin driving the car as soon as you start it. Best practice is to start the car, most cars will start at a higher RPM and begin to drop slowly, after 30seconds or so the oil should be evenly distributed to the necessary internal components, from there good to drive off keeping the RPM's under 4K until it fully comes up to temperature and then proceeding to redline pulls and heavy acceleration.

Click to expand...

The oil is distributed with in seconds of turning the car on. It's actually disturbributed as you crank

The problem is with an oil like this (50), running that very heavy cold oil for long periods of time is very bad. I am trying to find an internal document that came out from BMW's M division about 5-6 years ago which basically said the same thing. Never to let the car idle in cold to warm up the engine. That was the S65 motor which was a 4.0 liter V8 revving 8300 rpm and used a 60W oil. These types of engines dont like that cold oil to be circulated for long periods of time.

The other problem is the delta between the actual engine temp and the oil temp. The more the delta the worse it gets.

MCarsFan said:

Ok let me clarify.... What I meant to say was I dont let the car idle to warm the engine. Some people, in fact many people I know, idle their cars and wait for the oil temperature to reach 170-180F and then drive. That is probably one of the worst things you can do to an engine. Its like torture.

By the time I put my seat belt, sun glasses (if its sunny), connect my phone, radar detector, and open the garage door, 30-40 seconds passes. Then i drive up my driveway and wait for traffic. Thats another 30 seconds. So say a minute before the car sees 3500 rpm.

Click to expand...

Ok, that makes more sense. I usually drive off after 30 to 60 seconds after start up.

MCarsFan said:

Ok let me clarify.... What I meant to say was I dont let the car idle to warm the engine. Some people, in fact many people I know, idle their cars and wait for the oil temperature to reach 170-180F and then drive. That is probably one of the worst things you can do to an engine. Its like torture.

By the time I put my seat belt, sun glasses (if its sunny), connect my phone, radar detector, and open the garage door, 30-40 seconds passes. Then i drive up my driveway and wait for traffic. Thats another 30 seconds. So say a minute before the car sees 3500 rpm.

Click to expand...

You wait until you do all that before you open the garage door??
I'd get tested for CO ASAP....

MCarsFan said:

The problem is with an oil like this (50), running that very heavy cold oil for long periods of time is very bad. I am trying to find an internal document that came out from BMW's M division about 5-6 years ago which basically said the same thing. Never to let the car idle in cold to warm up the engine. That was the S65 motor which was a 4.0 liter V8 revving 8300 rpm and used a 60W oil. These types of engines dont like that cold oil to be circulated for long periods of time.

The other problem is the delta between the actual engine temp and the oil temp. The more the delta the worse it gets.

Click to expand...

I "think" what you are trying to say is basically you want then engine at operating temperature as fast as possible with in reason.

The oil pressure pumps usually have a ...relief? value to prevent excessive oil pressure due to cold oil