Car oil going down

[Tommy68]

Hi

My car seems to be drinking oil I bought a 1 liter bottle of engine oil in April just finished the bottle on Sunday so 3 months all gone in that month about 350 to 400 miles I can't see any oil on floor or dark smoke from exhaust any ideas what it could be at it's a Vauxhall Corsa 2010 has 80,000 on the clock.

Edited by Tommy68 on Friday 28th June 08:10

[Fast and Spurious]

And breathe! 3 months all gone in that month?
What engine is it?

[Tommy68]

1.2

[markymarkthree]

Fast and Spurious said:

And breathe! 3 months all gone in that month?
What engine is it?

Perhaps poster should try comma oil,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Tommy68]

What's that supposed to mean?

[Alickadoo]

Tommy68 said:

What's that supposed to mean?

It is, I think, a reference to your lack of punctuation.

Commas, you see. Comma oil.

Edited by Alickadoo on Friday 28th June 09:51

[InitialDave]

Do you mean you've done 350-400 miles in those three months, or 350-400 miles a month (~1100 miles total)?

A litre of oil for the former is excessive, for the latter it's more "higher end of normal" - more than I'd expect really, but within commonly stated usage figures.

[Tommy68]

350 to 400 miles every 3 months

[ARHarh]

Burning oil produces blue (ish) smoke not black, black smoke is generally from poor running diesel engines.

Have you read the manual to find out what the maximum oil consumption should be?

[BenS94]

They're st engines sadly. Head gasket issues, timing chain issues, overheating.

It's time has come, clearly. Find something else.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

BenS94 said:

They're st engines sadly. Head gasket issues, timing chain issues, overheating.

It's time has come, clearly. Find something else.

Bit extreme!

[BenS94]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

BenS94 said:

They're st engines sadly. Head gasket issues, timing chain issues, overheating.

It's time has come, clearly. Find something else.

Bit extreme!

Some people call it tough love, others call it a reality check - I call it facts.

[SturdyHSV]

The cost of fixing the issue vs the cost of the ongoing perpetual oil change may see you stocking up on 5w30 or whatever it eats

Oil consumption will be because it's burning it off, or it's leaking out. You've said it's not leaking out, if you're that way inclined it might be worth getting under the car, spraying a lot of brake clean etc. about the place and wiping it down as best you can to get as much gunk off as possible, drive it another few months and see if an obvious new trail of oil has appeared.

If it isn't leaking, it's burning it off. If it parps out blue smoke out when you start it up, it's potentially valve stem seals. Cheap parts, expensive labour. If it's just generally burning it off it's more likely piston rings letting oil by into the combustion chamber. Slightly more expensive parts, much more expensive labour.

Or if it's turbocharged and the turbo is oil fed, something in that general area, I don't mess about with turbos so no experience with that but likely expensive parts, moderately expensive labour.

I'd get some oil in bulk from Amazon, you're going to be cycling a lot of fresh oil through it so the cheap stuff won't be in there long enough to matter

[rottenegg]

BenS94 said:

Jordie Barretts sock said:

BenS94 said:

They're st engines sadly. Head gasket issues, timing chain issues, overheating.

It's time has come, clearly. Find something else.

Bit extreme!

Some people call it tough love, others call it a reality check - I call it facts.

Come on man, it's very unPC to be factual and realistic these days. Feelings overrule facts

But yeah, a litre per 1000km is the standard issue get out of jail card for all car makers, which basically means yeah mate, your friday afternoon engine is within tolerance, so do one.

[ChocolateFrog]

It's using 3 to 4 litres a year.

That's about the same as an oil change.

As the car is worth so little and is clearly suffering from neglect or just the fact its a Vauxhall I think the best course of action is to just keep topping it up until it fails an MOT.

You might as well forego the actual oil change assuming you regularly serviced as it's effectively getting fresh oil every year anyway.

[E-bmw]

ChocolateFrog said:

You might as well forego the actual oil change assuming you regularly serviced as it's effectively getting fresh oil every year anyway.

Absolutely do not follow this advice.

The oil that is burning off is filtered.

The filter is still full of crud as is the oil in the sump.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

SturdyHSV said:

The cost of fixing the issue vs the cost of the ongoing perpetual oil change may see you stocking up on 5w30 or whatever it eats

Oil consumption will be because it's burning it off, or it's leaking out. You've said it's not leaking out, if you're that way inclined it might be worth getting under the car, spraying a lot of brake clean etc. about the place and wiping it down as best you can to get as much gunk off as possible, drive it another few months and see if an obvious new trail of oil has appeared.

If it isn't leaking, it's burning it off. If it parps out blue smoke out when you start it up, it's potentially valve stem seals. Cheap parts, expensive labour. If it's just generally burning it off it's more likely piston rings letting oil by into the combustion chamber. Slightly more expensive parts, much more expensive labour.

Or if it's turbocharged and the turbo is oil fed, something in that general area, I don't mess about with turbos so no experience with that but likely expensive parts, moderately expensive labour.

I'd get some oil in bulk from Amazon, you're going to be cycling a lot of fresh oil through it so the cheap stuff won't be in there long enough to matter

This 100%, if it is not leaking it means the engine is worn and burning oil. It will not be economically viable to get it replaced so the best thing to do is to just keep an eye on the oil and keep topping it up until it dies.