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oil consumption

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Old Sep 11, 2003 | 05:51 AM
  #1  
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oil consumption

I have been having to add about two quarts of oil between oil changes. I was wondering if this is normal. I use mobil 1 10w 30 and the change interval is about 5000 miles. My 98 has about 120K miles on it.
Thanks
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 06:13 AM
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normal...

I have a 98 w just over 121k and burn through a quart every 2500mi or so, although I run 5W30 year round. Some oil is bound to get by the valve guides (more so on a 4 valve/cyl eng),piston rings and even a little through the PCV lines.
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 06:27 AM
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i have a 95 with 165k and have never have any noticable oil loss. i change my oil every 5k.
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 07:02 AM
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I use up about a half quart or so between 3k oil changes. Nothing out of the ordinary. I got it used at 43k so I can't vouch for whether it was broken in or not. It was off-lease, so maybe not, but whatever.
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 08:10 AM
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My previous engine went through about a quart every 5k miles. Not sure about this engine yet.
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 09:42 AM
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Originally Posted by maximaseefu
i have a 95 with 165k and have never have any noticable oil loss. i change my oil every 5k.
What oil are you running? Synth, 50/50 or dino?
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 06:23 PM
  #7  
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i'm running mobil 1 10w 30
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 08:17 PM
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'98's seem to have this problem more than any other year. If I am driving hard, I can lose 1/2 qt per 1000 miles too.
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 08:26 PM
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It also make a difference on whether you have 5spd or automagic and your driving style.

When I drive my 5spd like a maniac, my oil consumption goes up because I use a lot of engine braking with zero throttle at higher revs. The vaccuum in the engine tends to suck oil past the rings I think and my oil consumption goes up. I've been driving much slower recently and have noticed that I barely have had any oil consumption since my last change.

Automagics always have you in the highest gear, and you don't usually use engine braking, so that would help to keep oil consumption lower.
Old Sep 11, 2003 | 11:31 PM
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mine never seems to burn. i drive it moderately and it never even looks too bad. usually change it every 3.5-4k.
Old Sep 12, 2003 | 08:06 AM
  #11  
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I had the same problem but it's more like a quart every 500-1000 miles. I changed the oil pressure sending unit and that didn't do a damn thing. oh well, as long as I'm not the only one it can't be that bad......right?
Old Sep 12, 2003 | 08:09 AM
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Originally Posted by SteVTEC
It also make a difference on whether you have 5spd or automagic and your driving style.

When I drive my 5spd like a maniac, my oil consumption goes up because I use a lot of engine braking with zero throttle at higher revs. The vaccuum in the engine tends to suck oil past the rings I think and my oil consumption goes up. I've been driving much slower recently and have noticed that I barely have had any oil consumption since my last change.

Automagics always have you in the highest gear, and you don't usually use engine braking, so that would help to keep oil consumption lower.
Good point about the engine braking. I also noticed in my old engine the gaps in the rings were lined up on 1 pistion...which is troubling, but would surly help to explain oil consumption.

However, I didn't have compression problems.
Old Sep 12, 2003 | 10:29 AM
  #13  
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i use 5w30 from mobil1 on my 98 with 113,500 miles change it every 4-5 K but never notice any dramatic loss.
Old Sep 12, 2003 | 10:36 AM
  #14  
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I had the same problem, changed the PCV valve and that fixed it. Do this or jack the car up and look at your oil pressure sensor (towards the rear of your oil pan) if you see some oil collecting (even though you may not get oil puddles it could be seeping out slowly and burning off) then go ahead and change it. The part costs about 7.00. It does use a special wrench to screw and unscrew it but you may be able to borrow one or use channel locks.
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