Hey i'm new to the 5th gens. Ive been a 4th gen guy forever and i'm currently looking to buy a 5.5 gen max. I want to find a clean low mile 6spd car but i just sold my srt4 because i had to put a new motor in it and i dont want to deal with that again. This will be the car i drive my kids in and let my wife drive. When i go see the cars is there anything that give away if it's burning besides visable smoke of course. And how big of an issue is it? I guess i'm just paranoid cause of my old money pit srt4. My 3rd gen max had 220,000 on it when i finally let somebody pry the keys from my hand and i'm looking for some more of that action ha ha

 

If you look at a car for sale from a private owner, ask how often he has to top off the oil between oil changes.

 

.....and expect an honest answer

DW

 

 

You will be surprised how far you get with someone when you're friendly and strike up a conversation with some small talk to get them to open up.

OP, if it's a private seller, look to see if they keep quarts of oil in the trunk or if you see quarts of oil in their garage, etc. Ask the owner what oil he uses, and if you see a couple of those in the garage then you will have the answer to your question about it being an oil burner.

If you're looking at the car on a car lot, then to my knowledge there really isn't any way to tell if it's going to use oil or not, besides the obvious smoke from the exhaust. I'd take a friend with me and have him stand behind the car as you start it.

 

Someone who actually checks the oil in between changes and tops it up will take better care of the car than someone whose car burns oil but is oblivious to it.

If the owner has been topping it up (or at least checking) in between changes, thats a good sign.

 

That is a great point. My car has no smoke and runs perfectly strong but does burn about 1.5 quarts every 3,000 miles. I also use 5w30 full synthetic so I am more inclined to say don't worry too much about getting an oil burner. Ask the seller when was the last time they got an oil change and then proceed to check the dip stick but do it before a test drive because these things are nearly impossible to get an accurate oil level reading on if the engine is hot. That should hopefully give you an idea. If the level is full and it does turn out to be a burner then at least they kept an eye on the oil level.