Normal oil consumption?

[ice445]

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  I do a lot of rev matching ond engine braking. I also feel that a lot of the short trips hurt me. I change the oil every 4-5k miles. I took a trip to San Diego round trip is 300 miles and I checked the oil before the trip and after and it didn't budge.

Yeah, as far as I can tell if you only burn oil when properly "enjoying" the car, then there's really nothing wrong worth worrying about. I do think the "break it in like you stole it" people are onto something though with how hard these cylinder liners are. I wouldn't be surprised if oil consumption continues to fall over the life of the vehicle.

Sponsored

 

[gmupatriot]

You've had the car for a while.

Q. It just recently started doing this, within the last few thousand miles or so?

Q. Is the engine modified?

Q. Any smoke on start, when idle or accelerating?

Q. You're checking the oil at the same engine temp, same level place, same way, each time, yes?

Thanks.

Edit: Q. The picture above, is that when the engine is hot? Cold?

Thanks Again.

The car always consumed oil. However, it would go down this much over 4000-5000 miles. I do not drive the car hard all the time. It is driven on highways mostly.

When I do drive it hard, it is only for 5 -10 minutes of high speed driving. That includes hard braking and rev matching. I do that maybe once a month as I do not get a chance to do it more often given where I live and the amount of traffic and cops around my area wont allow too much hooning

Everything is stock. No smoke on start, idle or accelerating that I can see. Maybe I will have to have someone push the gas while I observe the exhaust to confirm.

Yes, checking oil at the same spot, same way, and I check when the car has been sitting overnight.

Never checked it when engine is hot, always when its been sitting overnight.

 

[gmupatriot]

Mine uses a little oil. It doesn't smoke on startup or when I am getting on it, but I still use about 1 litre of oil every 1400-1500 miles. I think it has a lot of the way I drive it, a lot of shorter trips and rev-matching. I also believe the way I broke the car in has a say in the way it uses oil. I wish I drove it like I stole it when I bought it new. I took the car to Ford and they don't consider excessive oil use until its 1 litre evey 750 miles. Which I think is ridiculous.

Yes, I told my local dealership and they scoffed at it and said its normal. I have driven performance cars (high revving engines) in the past but none of them consumed oil like this one.

 

[gmupatriot]

Gonna get grief for saying this but any amount of oil consumption in a NEW car means the dang engine was not built properly in the first place.

That's right, looking at you Ford, VW/Audi, Subaru... Oil burners should not be complimentary from the factory!

However, as an engine ages it is prone to wear so that might cause some oil consumption which could be classified as normal. OP I don't think you have anything to worry about in your car.

I am with you on this thinking. My GT has always consumed oil but not this much. For the first 30-40k miles, I would use a quart of oil over 5000-6000 miles. Now it seems the engine uses a quart over 2000 miles (assuming it would take 1 quart to get to the top hole from its current position). I have changed the PCV valve, cleaned the throttle body and have always been on top of maintenance for this car. I think what I did wrong was let my wife drive the car when it was bought new as she drove it normally. I think it should have been pushed hard through the break-in process so the rings seat properly.

 

[ice445]

I am with you on this thinking. My GT has always consumed oil but not this much. For the first 30-40k miles, I would use a quart of oil over 5000-6000 miles. Now it seems the engine uses a quart over 2000 miles (assuming it would take 1 quart to get to the top hole from its current position). I have changed the PCV valve, cleaned the throttle body and have always been on top of maintenance for this car. I think what I did wrong was let my wife drive the car when it was bought new as she drove it normally. I think it should have been pushed hard through the break-in process so the rings seat properly.

Hmmm, it shouldn't be getting worse. Try changing all the plugs and seeing if any have more deposits than others. Maybe borescope the cylinders while you're at it.

 

[2021 Mach 1]

That seems normal to me. I would say that every two months I put a small top-up in mine.

For the record, my mods are long tube headers, cats and ECU tune.

 

[Skye]

Thanks for the details. Sorry to read of the recent change.

Yes, checking oil at the same spot, same way,

Roger. I do same. Cold and in the same place.

I have changed the PCV valve

I've seen comments of this before, so great it was swapped.

New plugs and possibly a borescope is a good idea; will give you some insight into what could be happening.

Still learning of these engines myself. Thread is young. Hopefully, more suggestions will continue to come in.

 

[gmupatriot]

Hmmm, it shouldn't be getting worse. Try changing all the plugs and seeing if any have more deposits than others. Maybe borescope the cylinders while you're at it.

Thanks for the details. Sorry to read of the recent change.



Roger. I do same. Cold and in the same place.



I've seen comments of this before, so great it was swapped.

New plugs and possibly a borescope is a good idea; will give you some insight into what could be happening.

Still learning of these engines myself. Thread is young. Hopefully, more suggestions will continue to come in.

I have been thinking about changing spark plugs as well. I have to say that my MPGs over the last 15-20K miles have become worse too. Hoping a fresh set of plugs will give me back some of the MPGs. Any recommendation on the camera I can use to borescope the cylinders?

Thanks for all the input!

 

[Gfswindle]

My '19 appears to consume around 1qt over 3k miles. I don't personally consider that alot but the figures that Ford themselves consider excessive is ridiculous, and it isn't just ford. My friend had an 09 cobalt ss, that blew a ring land and GM gave him the run-around for 6 months doing oil consumption tests and even with a blown ring land it was within their "limits". I believe he said it would burn 1 quart every 750-1k miles. Finally he drove it on a 300 mile round trip and it let go on his way back cruising down the interstate, luckily the dealership was on his way home. By the time he pulled into the dealer lot it was rattling hardcore and smoking. Finally he got the engine replaced under warranty but it was a ticking time-bomb.

 

[gmupatriot]

My '19 appears to consume around 1qt over 3k miles. I don't personally consider that alot but the figures that Ford themselves consider excessive is ridiculous, and it isn't just ford. My friend had an 09 cobalt ss, that blew a ring land and GM gave him the run-around for 6 months doing oil consumption tests and even with a blown ring land it was within their "limits". I believe he said it would burn 1 quart every 750-1k miles. Finally he drove it on a 300 mile round trip and it let go on his way back cruising down the interstate, luckily the dealership was on his way home. By the time he pulled into the dealer lot it was rattling hardcore and smoking. Finally he got the engine replaced under warranty but it was a ticking time-bomb.

Yea, it seems most car companies want to avoid warranty work, especially the expensive kind. Its sad really, because an engine consuming too much oil is certainly not normal but if the company/manufacturer says its within their "normal" range how can the consumer even argue against that?

 

[ice445]

I have been thinking about changing spark plugs as well. I have to say that my MPGs over the last 15-20K miles have become worse too. Hoping a fresh set of plugs will give me back some of the MPGs. Any recommendation on the camera I can use to borescope the cylinders?

Thanks for all the input!

I have a depstech one from Amazon, works great.

Sponsored