How much oil burning is too much? And how much do you burn?

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carguy82j@reddit

This is bad but manufacturers will say 1 quart every 650- 1200 miles is ok. they just don't want to fix them.

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amontpetit@reddit

A litre of oil on every tank? That’s… a massive problem. Normal “consumption” is zero.

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Normal consumption by the last few decades standards is not zero. there are loses in all systems but with shorter change intervals you didn't really need to worry about it. now we go 6k+ between changes it becomes more of an issue. to me something around 200-500ml every 5-6k miles is about "normal" and preferable. I go through about 1qt every 6k in my 15 impreza at 300k miles, my s10 with a reman motor and only 10k miles on it is about half a qt every 5k. Getting to OPs numbers though is insane and OP should have taken this in a long time ago imo.

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amontpetit@reddit

A qt every 5-6000 is one thing… a qt every 5-600 is another entirely.

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lique_madique@reddit

Tell that to anyone with a big V-8. A quart every 500 miles is within acceptable levels for most any muscle/sport car.

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_urban_achiever@reddit

I had a v10 that was known for its oil burning prowess and it wasn't as much as OP. This is not normal for any car.

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lique_madique@reddit

I didn’t say OP’s oil burning was normal. Just replying to the guy saying a quart every 500 is not normal even though it’s within manufacturers acceptable limits for many cars including my Ariel atom, Raptor, gt350R, R8 etc.

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_urban_achiever@reddit

Well it was definitely not the norm for my v10 m6 and it is certainly not normal for my raptor, so I'm not sure where you are coming up with that. Within manufacturer accepted limits is not the same thing as normal.

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lique_madique@reddit

It was within the manual for all of my cars. I never said normal at any point, just within acceptable levels.

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_urban_achiever@reddit

Ah, my bad. I didn't realize you were answering a question no one asked and ignoring the actual question, which was "is this normal"?

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lique_madique@reddit

My bad. Didn’t know reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit. Guy comments that 500 miles to a quart is ridiculous. I respond that it’s within acceptable levels depending on the motor to many manufacturers.

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_urban_achiever@reddit

Reading class comprehension must not be yours either, because it is a quart per 3k miles according to my raptor manual. Why does yours have a limit that is 6x different? Or are you just making shit up?

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Dangerous_Echidna229@reddit

I thought you said normal consumption is zero?

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amontpetit@reddit

Normal consumption is zero, but there’s a massive difference between a qt every oil change and a qt every fill up. They’re both not ideal, but the latter is a sign of something seriously seriously wrong.

Some cars, notably those with forced induction or running a very aggressive tune, may burn oil as a result modifications made. Race cars burn oil all the time. But they’re not an old Toyota Corolla.

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ZannX@reddit

Just Subaru things.

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david0990@reddit

It's actually an industry as a whole thing right now. I haven't seen a manufacturer yet that doesn't currently have some allowable amount of oil loss (X qts of oil per Y miles).

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showtheledgercoward@reddit

Akshully

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Dangerous_Echidna229@reddit

Normal consumption is not zero, engines use oil, some more than others.

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Cautious-Concept457@reddit

This

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rawrrrrrrrrrr1@reddit

According to toyota 1L per 600 miles is when they'll rebuild the engine under warranty.

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POSVETT@reddit

That's the consumption level of "Exxon Valdez". The industry standard is 1 qt per 1000 miles. Higher consumption means there's something wrong with it.

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7w4773r@reddit

BMW says 1 liter per 1000 km is acceptable. It might be acceptable to them but that’s definitely not acceptable to me. I rebuilt it and it puts away about a pint/0.5 liters every 5,000 miles. Much more better.

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POSVETT@reddit

That's even worse than Toyota and GM standards when converted to metric is 0.95l per 1.6k km

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7w4773r@reddit

To be fair, I don’t think the Toyotas or the GMs expect to be driven on the autobahn at 150+ mph continuously. This does significantly increase oil consumption.

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asking--questions@reddit

The industry standard is 1 qt per 1000 miles.

Is that right? Intervals for (non-synthetic) oil changes used to be 3,000-4,000 miles. If you're adding 3-4 quarts to a car that takes 4-4.5 quarts during that interval, there's hardly a need to change the oil.

Back in the day, normal consumption was 1 quart between oil changes, for the combination of factors I mentioned.

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POSVETT@reddit

That rule of thumb is for GM and, in the last decade or so, Toyota. The low-tension oil ring (to boost CAFE, I assume) makes for a higher oil consumption.

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Vino1980@reddit

We had a 2011 Lexus CT burning about 1quart every 500 miles. We just kept adding oil and ran fine. Finally got rid of it though. Your car is burning a lot of oil, I would get rid of it asap.

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whosthatcarguy@reddit

Pretty common on that platform. I had a Prius, same year, that took a quart per 2,500 miles. Because it’s such a low performance engine it really didn’t have any huge negatives besides being annoying. The biggest problem would be ruining the catalytic converter, which is super expensive on the Prius.

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Vino1980@reddit

Yup, didn't do my research and then found that year was a bad piston ring year.

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Skobiak@reddit

That is pretty serious oil consumption issue. I'm guessing its an older car and you dont plan to invest in a rebuild, so I'd say keep a jug of the cheapest oil you can find in your trunk and start passively car shopping. Your engine's days are numbered.

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thefizzlee@reddit

Manufacturers normally state up to a liter every 1000 km is acceptable, what you have is absolutely not and way to much. That being said 1l/1000km is also quite alot, I'd say normal is anywhere between 1 liter every 5000 to 15000km.

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amontpetit@reddit

Do you have a source for this 1L/1000km figure?

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4x4play@reddit

i've been driving saturn sl for the last decade as a daily. they always take about a quart or two between oil changes. i've heard the same about old 2000 era corollas. it smells bad but they run like lawnmowers and don't stop. 35mpg for a $1000 car is worth it to me. it allows me to spend money on my better trucks without the abuse daily driving is.

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crayon_consoomer@reddit (OP)

Where are you finding 1000 dollar 7/8 gen corollas????

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4x4play@reddit

i'm talking saturn sl or sc. they are super cheap gas cars. pay attention to your pizza drivers for reliable 35mpg cars that are dirt cheap.

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crayon_consoomer@reddit (OP)

Oh shit my bad. That makes wayyy more sense now reading

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bigmarty3301@reddit

Looks like it’s time to switch to the golden 30w70

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archer1212@reddit

Normal, 0. 1 quart/Liter or so per oil change, probably nothing to worry about.

I do burn about 1qt every 300-400 miles, but thats because Toyota fucked up the piston rings on my engine and it wasnt a problem until way after they stopped covering the repair.

Depending on the engine you have in your corolla, this issue could be expected. Either way its not great, and not a cheap/easy fix.

Its why I am still driving my Scion and just adding more oil to it with every fill up. I just need it to last a little longer so I can be ready to get a new car.

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braydenv@reddit

Fyi, it may be a simple part that needs to be replaced to fix this. My Prius burned about a quart every 500 miles. Changed the pcv valve and no more burning oil.

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showtheledgercoward@reddit

Most cars are sent to heaven because nobody checks the oil anymore

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Quake_Guy@reddit

Maybe a decade or 15 years ago, VW was telling owners of 2 year old cars that a quart every 1k miles was in spec.

If you get under 500 miles a quart, start adding thicker oil.

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Dangerous_Echidna229@reddit

Be useful and tell us how many miles to the quart.

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Serious-Steak-5626@reddit

Which viscosity do you use? What is the age/mileage of your vehicle? Is your transmission manual, I.e. do you use it to slow down often? What weather conditions do you typically drive in?

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Bingo1dog@reddit

For years my 01 ram has lost about 1qt between oil changes (about 3k-4k miles).

1 liter every (im guessing) 300-350 miles seems like a fuck ton.

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lol_camis@reddit

That's a subjective question because the answer has to do with your tolerance in topping it up.

I used to be a tech and allll the time card would come in for their schedule oil change 2 liters low. In my opinion, if you're the kind of person not paying attention to your car (which is totally fine. That's why you're paying a professional), then that is too much oil loss. If nothing is done about it then one day you're going to be driving along and your engine will brick.

On the other hand, I've had cars that lost 1l of oil for every tank of gas. But it was fine because I kept on top of it so it never got too low.

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Plz_DM_Me_Small_Tits@reddit

Mine burns about a quart between oil changes. It was worse before I switched to high milage oil. A liter between fuel ups is terrible

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HLef@reddit

Zero. Zero is normal.

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WMMoorby@reddit

Your fuel to oil ratio is literally that of a two stroke.

Adding a litre to an older car between traditional oil change intervals is normal. If it's a litre or two per tank of fuel, it's either all leaking out, or you're leaving a massive smoke trail.

Everyone's definition of "older" is different, but I'm picturing an early 2000s Corolla that has served its purpose and can be retired.

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VelociTopher@reddit

OPs history says it's a '96. Idk that fixing is worth the price of the car 😂

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uchigaytana@reddit

Unless you have a rotary, zero oil consumption is normal. However, I'd say around a liter every 5k miles is right around where I'd start to worry about it as anything more than typical age-related issues.

An entire liter per gas tank is concerningly high, though. You should definitely get that looked at, especially because it's a Corolla.