[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by nn0wheremann

Wipe the inside of your tailpipe with your finger. Use a paper towel or kleenex if you have delicate fingers. If it comes out with a thick coat of black carbon, your car is burning oil. It should come out fairly clean. When checking oil, park the car on a level surface, remove the dipstick and wipe it clean. Reinsert it, then remove and read the level. Cars back in the old days routinely threw off the top quart in the first 500 miles, but that was then. No car in good running order should use a quart every thousand miles. As new cars age, with the extremely light viscosity oil we use nowadays there will be oil consumption, so ditch the 0-15 or 5-20 for 10-30 after 75,000 or 100,000 miles.
Also, check your oil immediately after an oil change. Some technicians are not careful. I have found oil under-filled by a quart, or over-filled the same amount. A tech at Walmart once lost the crush washer from the drain plug on my Subaru, and used a plastic garden hose washer. The bottom cover under the engine caught the leaking oil for a thousnd miles before it overflowed onto my driveway.

I agree with everything that you said, especially the idea of checking the tailpipe for excessive oil burning. My humble opinion is that in Florida, I am not sold on multiple weight oils. They are fine for up North, but in Florida I prefer a straight weight 30W oil.