How much oil does your car use

obi_waynne

obi_waynne

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How much oil does your car use and how often do you top it up?

If you haven't checked your oil levels for a few weeks may I strongly suggest that you do so now.

The cold weather seems to cause more oil consumption but this might just be me.

I top mine up by about 1 litre per year which I think is quite good. A friend with an S2000 has to top his up with a litre a month though.

What do you consider to be a normal rate of oil consumption?
 
At the rate the 3.0 is going it will probably work out to around half a litre a year. But I have mine changed every 1500 miles so I always have good quality in the engine.
 
W8 uses nothing. R36 seems was eating about 1.0L per month when I first got it (running in) but it seems be slowing down now.
 
Oil consumption can be pretty random. Often two identical cars that are treated the same way will drink oil at completely different rates. A lot of manufacturers will say a litre per 1000 miles is fine, but that can get annoying and expensive, depending on the car.
 
mine takes 5L of oil, and lose just under a liter a year, what inst bad, when i change mine every year at tops anyway. and in that year i prob stick 1/2L in there just to make sure its toped up.
 
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that the veg oil as well ;)
 
waynne said:
How much oil does your car use and how often do you top it up?

If you haven't checked your oil levels for a few weeks may I strongly suggest that you do so now.

The cold weather seems to cause more oil consumption but this might just be me.

I top mine up by about 1 litre per year which I think is quite good. A friend with an S2000 has to top his up with a litre a month though.

What do you consider to be a normal rate of oil consumption?
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a litre a year?, when do you service your car then? when your 40 lol
how are you mate

the cold does consume oil, especially in freezing temps
the s2000 is a vtec so should burn some bit of oil, but thats a bit too much,
mine dont burn oil at all, but i will have to put just a top up in the cold weather, its fine the other 3 seasons
 
My new one has drunk 2 litres so far in 4 months! (Not sure if it was fully topped up when I got it though.)
 
This one doesn't appear to use any. I've checked the stick a few times and nothing has changed in over 12,000 miles since service in September last year so I'll just leave it be either service lights indicate oil change due or the low oil warning light comes on.
 
HDi fun said:
Keep an eye on it Waynne, just in case. That's quite a lot for someone who doesn't cover much mileage.
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Will do, these FSI engines are notorious for drinking oil. A lot of it just builds up on the intake and bakes on! I just wish i'd checked the level when I first bought it.
 
It should be fine. As you say they have a reputation for being a bit thirsty. It's not the first VAG engine to be a bit like this. The early 1.9 TDi PD 115 derv units could sink a litre every 600 miles. Personally I think this is too high and is perhaps a spec the manufacturer set to avoid excessive warranty claims being presented.
 
I'll add to this and say that VAG engines do seem to be pretty durable whether or not you have an oil hungry one.

Serious problems only occur when people don't check it for weeks on end. If the light comes on the it should be checked and replenished ASAP.

My mate Liz did this with her A3 1.8T and it nearly died bar the fact I loaded in nearly a whole litre to bring it back up to the MINIMUM mark when I borrowed it for a couple of hours in early 2009 and spotted the warning light.

She's lovely though - been a good friend to me and my family over the years, and I'll give her a stay of execution on that basis alone.
 
I'm wary buying a car with low oil levels, it shows the owner has not been all that fastidious and low oil really does accelerate engine wear.
 
HDi fun said:
It should be fine. As you say they have a reputation for being a bit thirsty. It's not the first VAG engine to be a bit like this. The early 1.9 TDi PD 115 derv units could sink a litre every 600 miles. Personally I think this is too high and is perhaps a spec the manufacturer set to avoid excessive warranty claims being presented.
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Aye, I was always surprised that VAG found this acceptable. I dont mind mine using a litre every 9k, as I only do about that between my yearly services anyway so the car gets a dose of fresh oil through the year.
 
I think VAG's guidelines on my engines are set at 1 litre per month! If mine got that high then I think there would be something wrong. The pollution control valve seems to be the culprit in these engines so I'll just get an uprated one sooner rather than later.
 
Yup it is the PCV. One solution to PCV venting is to use a catch tank, why this wasn't done originally i'll never know! Even to a limited technical mind, spewing oil particles into an air intake that isn't cleaned with fuel regularly is just asking for trouble.
 
waynne said:
Yup it is the PCV. One solution to PCV venting is to use a catch tank, why this wasn't done originally i'll never know! Even to a limited technical mind, spewing oil particles into an air intake that isn't cleaned with fuel regularly is just asking for trouble.
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Diesel engines all have dry intake manifolds ie. fuel injected downstream of intake valves. Turbochargers do chuck a fine oil mist into the intake tract on any car and these cars don't seen to suffer. Perhaps because there is no throttle - the airflow is much more consistent. Even under foot off conditions the engine is still breathing properly.

Siphoning crank case gases away is a good plan, they can cause massive corrosion problems if allowed to accumulate.
 
To be honest I don't know how much oil my car uses, I check it regually and as long as it's above half way then that's fine. My oil gets changed every 6 months as advised by Peugeot so by the time it needs a top up the whole lot gets replaced any way.

I filter out my used engine oil and throw it back in the tank in small quantities, as it lubricates the fuel pump and injectors. Since ULS diesel a lot of old diesel cars have suffered with seals breaking because injector pumps are working harder as the Sulphur is a lubricant (i don't see how but it works....) but as you know Sulphur Dioxide is very harmful to the environment. 2 stroke oil works and so does clean engine oil. small quanties only though as it becomes expensive
 
something like 300 ml per 25 litres, so very small amounts. Just enough to lubricate everything, forgot to mention that veg oil also does the trick but you need to use it in larger quantitys. VAG PD engines should be fine with it provided it's a non DPF/FAP model however not really nessercary as most were made around the time that "city diesel" was the only stuff you could get but I guess it can't hurt. I wouldn't entertain it on a common rail diesel though, the injection nozzles are too fine...
 
Quite agree. Common rail cars don't like anything bar forecourt fuels.

Two stroke oil is a good thing to use in pump rotary and inline injector diesels.
 
Yeah, some also use cheap mineral oil, but then again any form of car lubeicant isn't cheap....(or anything else to do with cars is.....)
 
jarrus said:
Yeah, some also use cheap mineral oil, but then again any form of car lubeicant isn't cheap....(or anything else to do with cars is.....)
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I'm looking at about £12 a litre and the cost of this is racking up at a fair old rate of knots.
 
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