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Hi, I was wondering how on earth would my engine burn oil so fast. i burn approximately 1L of synth oil per 1000km thats insane. I have the 1.8l V6 and this recent oil change i did, I added some Lucas oil stabilizer to see if it helps. the only thing i did to my engine this summe rwas the timing belt and oddly, My problem seems to have started since that 2 oil changes with same problem.

are you sure it's not leaking?

there are only a few ways that oil can be consumed. 1) Getting past the rings and being burned. This usually means that the oil control ring is worn, but you may still have good compression. 2) Getting past the valve stem seals and being burned. 3) Excessive crankcase pressure is pushing vaporized oil out through the PCV Valve into the intake. Remove the PCV vent hose from the intake and see if it's really oily in there. Excessive case pressure often means that the two piston rings that control pressure are worn and lettign combustion pressure into the case but the oil control ring is still keeping the cylinder walls pretty clean. In that case you would have poor compression but the engine may still run just fine.

My instinct is that if you're losing that much you have a steady leak somewhere. If that much was burning you'd definitely notice it in the look and smell of the exhaust. It could be leaking from one of the main seals which can disguise the leak a little. You can pull your timing cover and see if there's any pooling in the bottom.

its also not the greatest idea to run synthetic on an older motor thats never had synthetic throughout its lifetime... like wytbishop said you probably have a leak. youd notice that much oil being burned for sure. is there any puddles under your car after youve left it parked for a while? is the engine oily and dirty underneath?

no puddles anywhere, my driveway is clean and as for the synth oil, i just continued what the last owner was doing engine has 128000km on it so it shouldnt be that bad....i think
and thanks wytbi ill look into that.

No oil on the front at all? My k8 was burning through oil that fast but it was partially coming from the front main seal and probably the rest was the rings before it died

check your oil pressure sending unit. I remember my factory one broke and oil literally shot out of engine as I drove. Lucky me I discovered it before all of the oil came out of engine. Check your valve covers also, around the gaskets, pull your spark plug wires and check if there's oil.

1 spark plug has oil on it, valve covers are unimaginably clean and no dripping no leak at all, it burns.

I'd start by replacing valve cover gaskets, especially one that leaks. check your oil sending unit also. Have someone follow you as you drive to see if it smokes.

My old k8 was burning 1l in roughly a tank of fuel. It smoked a fairbit however and had around 265,000km at that time. Your engine is fairly young tho. How many liters have you gone through? If it were leaking it and you've gone through even just a liter or 2, you should still see it on the ground after it was parked. If it were squirting out through the sending unit, the driveway would be covered in oil most likely. Unless he backs up or starts off with no throttle.

no leak as i said before, and i havent seen any oil stains on the engine so far. nothing on the ground and it burns around 1L of oil per 800km approximately. I shift gears at 3000rpm and drive at around 120km/h always. meaning i don't beat the car.

Well if that's the case its almost certainly the rings. Thats really the only likely way for that much oil to get in the combustion chamber.

Drive it till it explodes and save your money for a ZE swap.

Pritchett wrote:Your engine is fairly young tho.

wytbishop wrote:Well if that's the case its almost certainly the rings. Thats really the only likely way for that much oil to get in the combustion chamber.

That's part of what I would guess to be the problem. The fact that the car has little milleage for it's age means that it sat alot and hasn't been driven enough. Means the motor sat dry and had many dry starts. It could also mean the opposite, he's done A LOT of idling which would put more wear on the motor than the odo would account for. My Mx-3 had only 109'000kms on it when I got it, she was just 10 years old at the time, and failed the e-test the following year, was burning oil, could see it coming through the exhaust, than the waterpump started to leak, so it became ZE time at only 141'000kms on her. My ZE started to burn oil at the end, 1L between oil changes. At that point, she had 100'000kms on the ZE itself, and it was a not healthy looking, sludgy engine, could of been high milleage to begin with, despite the guarantee, or just never had an oil change in her life, lol.

Give the car some throttle from a stand still and take off - get someone to look and see if you get smoke coming out of the exhaust.

Before my ZE was rebuilt I blew clouds of smoke and it was a whitey blue colour. I never saw it when driving until someone told me!