by K_Watson, December 12, 2006
K_Watson
As you can guess by the title, I have burned a quart of oil since the last change 2,950 miles ago. The car is a 1998 Chevy Prizm 1.8L the oil was changed at Wal-Mart (not by my choice) with bulk oil the car is driven pretty hard it has 85,000 miles. Does this sound normal?
Bikeman982
Sounds pretty low to me. I use a quart about every 1000 miles.As you can guess by the title, I have burned a quart of oil since the last change 2,950 miles ago. The car is a 1998 Chevy Prizm 1.8L the oil was changed at Wal-Mart (not by my choice) with bulk oil the car is driven pretty hard it has 85,000 miles. Does this sound normal?
That's about normal. Nothing to worry about. I got a 96 Prizm 1.6. I use around a quart between 3-5k miles.
Bikeman982
Should be fine. Check the oil frequently to see if it leaks or if you need to top it off. Also note the color and smell to see if it is burnt.
Sounds pretty low to me. I use a quart about every 1000 miles.As you can guess by the title, I have burned a quart of oil since the last change 2,950 miles ago. The car is a 1998 Chevy Prizm 1.8L the oil was changed at Wal-Mart (not by my choice) with bulk oil the car is driven pretty hard it has 85,000 miles. Does this sound normal?
Has this caused any problems for your catalytic converter?
I also burn a quart per 1000 miles but I have had a check engine light on for quite awhile (P0420 code) I suspect that the burning oil may have damaged the catalytic converter. So I keep trying different things to slow down the rate at which the oil is lost before I get it replaced. Right now I'm running Auto-rx. However, if you are losing oil just as quickly and are not getting a check engine lights then maybe a new converter won't also get damaged.
Not to worry, that is normal oil comsumption.
My 2000 Corolla uses about a quart of oil every 3,000 miles or so and I only have 37,000 miles on it right now.
My factors to take into consideration; mileage, type of driving, (frequent starting of engine, high speed driving, etc.) They all seem to play a role in oil comsumption.
Plus, the fact that the recommended oil is 5W30, a very light weight of oil, it can get past the rings a little easier.
All in all, nothing to worry about......
A quart every 1,000? Well, that's another story for another post.........
Hope this helps!
Regards,
timkedz
It can be considered normal, but also keep in ming that it is a pretty subjective question - will vary from one person's perspective to another.
But one quart every 3K miles is still way inside spec. for normal operation. Also take into account that the fill might be a little short (technician underfilled crankcase) or overfilled and your engine had no choice but to burn it off. Almost all internal combustion engines will consume some oil during operation.
On both my current cars - ~135K on Corolla, ~60K on Matrix - both maybe burn an ounce or two of oil (32 ounces in a quart) over a 7,500-8,000 mile oil change interval (90% highway miles). Relative's Camry just started burning oil - always ran conventional oil in that car, now at almost 200K miles - at a rate of 1/2 quart every 5K miles.
Bikeman982
I don't have a CEL on and I don't think I have a bad catalytic converter.Sounds pretty low to me. I use a quart about every 1000 miles.As you can guess by the title, I have burned a quart of oil since the last change 2,950 miles ago. The car is a 1998 Chevy Prizm 1.8L the oil was changed at Wal-Mart (not by my choice) with bulk oil the car is driven pretty hard it has 85,000 miles. Does this sound normal?
Has this caused any problems for your catalytic converter?
I also burn a quart per 1000 miles but I have had a check engine light on for quite awhile (P0420 code) I suspect that the burning oil may have damaged the catalytic converter. So I keep trying different things to slow down the rate at which the oil is lost before I get it replaced. Right now I'm running Auto-rx. However, if you are losing oil just as quickly and are not getting a check engine lights then maybe a new converter won't also get damaged.
My car passed strict CA emission testing.
It doesn't sound like anything to worry about. Some manufacturers consider 1 quart per 1K miles to be normal consumption.......I wouldn't be happy with that.
Just as a comparison though, my 95 (7th gen) with 190K mostly highway driving uses 1.5 quarts over a 15k mile interval running Mobil1 synthetic. My daughter's 98 Camry with 155K running Mobil1 synthetic uses 1 quart over 10K miles.....same ratio. I change her oil at 10K as the 1998 Camry 4 cylinder is at risk of becoming a sludger.
You might try a different oil brand next change and monitor from there....I think most of us would like to hear about your results. Check the level after your oil change to be sure you have an accurate reference point.
Jay in MA
As you can guess by the title, I have burned a quart of oil since the last change 2,950 miles ago. The car is a 1998 Chevy Prizm 1.8L the oil was changed at Wal-Mart (not by my choice) with bulk oil the car is driven pretty hard it has 85,000 miles. Does this sound normal?
Not to worry, that is normal oil comsumption.My 2000 Corolla uses about a quart of oil every 3,000 miles or so and I only have 37,000 miles on it right now.
My factors to take into consideration; mileage, type of driving, (frequent starting of engine, high speed driving, etc.) They all seem to play a role in oil comsumption.
Plus, the fact that the recommended oil is 5W30, a very light weight of oil, it can get past the rings a little easier.
All in all, nothing to worry about......
A quart every 1,000? Well, that's another story for another post.........
Hope this helps!
Regards,
timkedz
That is a LOT of oil to be loosing in a Toyota with only 37K on the clock. Make sure you are not loosing oil by the drain plug. You might need to replace the crush washer. Also make sure your oil filter gasket is not leaking. If my Toyota actually burned that much oil, I would trade it in on a Honda or Subaru. That much oil usage on a young Toyota engine is unacceptable. My Mustang 5.0 with 86K miles doesn't even use that much oil and the Ford 302 is known for using a little bit of oil even when new.
My 14-year-old 'rolla burns almost no oil. I guess Toyota doesn't make 'em like it used to.
Do yall think 20W-50 would help reduce the oil consumption problem on people's Rollas? German car manufacturers seem to recommend thick oil.
uh oh, a 98 1zzfe. i'd bet on sticking rings! run a compression test, if its testing a little low then thats probably it. you can try oil addatives and prayer to help unstick them, but usually you need to open the engine up and replace the rings/rehone the cylinders. i hear toyota has new rings available to help with this problem.
same thing goes for that 2000 1zzfe, and at 37k miles.
My 98 burns 1 quart of 5w-30 Castrol synthetic blend in 15K. Car milage is 110K.
Bikeman982
I think 5W-30 is pretty thin and it would not take much for a car to use a quart every 1,000 miles or so.
I run 20W-50 in my 1973 Triumph TR6 as that what was recommended by Triumph in 1973.
I wouldn't recommend it in a car where the manufacturer states to use 5W-30 unless you are just trying to get a little more time out of it before sending it off to the junkyard.
Jay in MA
Do yall think 20W-50 would help reduce the oil consumption problem on people's Rollas? German car manufacturers seem to recommend thick oil.
Sounds pretty low to me. I use a quart about every 1000 miles.As you can guess by the title, I have burned a quart of oil since the last change 2,950 miles ago. The car is a 1998 Chevy Prizm 1.8L the oil was changed at Wal-Mart (not by my choice) with bulk oil the car is driven pretty hard it has 85,000 miles. Does this sound normal?
Has this caused any problems for your catalytic converter?
I also burn a quart per 1000 miles but I have had a check engine light on for quite awhile (P0420 code) I suspect that the burning oil may have damaged the catalytic converter. So I keep trying different things to slow down the rate at which the oil is lost before I get it replaced. Right now I'm running Auto-rx. However, if you are losing oil just as quickly and are not getting a check engine lights then maybe a new converter won't also get damaged.
this is a good question. i just had my cat replaced (luckily under warranty) and i'm burning at least 1 quart of oil per 3K miles. I should have asked at the dealer if they could tell me why the cat died with 70K miles on the clock, but i suspect all the burnt oil has something to do with it.
I run 20W-50 in my 1973 Triumph TR6 as that what was recommended by Triumph in 1973.I wouldn't recommend it in a car where the manufacturer states to use 5W-30 unless you are just trying to get a little more time out of it before sending it off to the junkyard.
Jay in MA
Do yall think 20W-50 would help reduce the oil consumption problem on people's Rollas? German car manufacturers seem to recommend thick oil.
What's wrong with using a thicker oil, besides using more gasoline?
Using an oil that has a viscosity much higher than recommended runs a good risk of starving key close tolerance bearing areas, oil pump, and valvetrain components for oil. Granted - a thicker oil will tend to have much better oxidation control and high temperature and high shear. That means it can take some serious amount of abuse and protect components. Flip side - you have to make sure that hte oil can actually fit in the spaces that you want to protect - can't protect the bearing surface if you don't have enough oil there to do the job. Couple that will an oil pump that is already working pretty hard - and you run into a good chance of breaking the pump. I've seen several Corollas that have broken oil pumps - some have stated that the pump was the weak part of the engine. Upon closer inspection - all the broken pumps also had the owners running 20w50 or similar heavyweight "racing" oils. Even the current crop of API category SM conventional motor oils in a 5W30 weight can handle just about anything you can throw at them with a stock car. Bearing clearances are getting tighter - better to use the oil recommended. As the miles start rolling on and the engine starts to show some wear or if you start to see heavy oil consumption - switching to a thicker oil will be OK, but remember that that is just a temporary fix - better to fix it right and run the recommended grades and be done.
Bikeman982
Heavier weight oil will leak less, but as fishexpo says, it may not lube the engine and components as effectively.
