I Learned Something Today about Cars
 

I am definitely not a car guy. But I thought I knew how to check the oil level in my car. The last oil change, I used synthetic oil because the mechanic said it would last 7,500 miles. Yesterday, after about 6,800 miles, the "check engine" light and the oil light came on in my car. I checked the oil level and it looked fine. There has never been any oil on my garage floor, but my car was almost totally out of oil. I took the car to Firestone, the guy changed the oil, and he said I only had about one quart of oil in the car. There was no indication of a leak. It is interesting that the low oil light never came on before yesterday. Apparently, when checking the oil, you need to look at both sides of the dipstick. I was only looking at one side. I was also surprised that a car with only 65,000 miles could burn off that much oil with no indication that the car was using any oil. In the future, I will be changing my oil much more often.

I have seen some articles recently that automotive manufacturers consider 1 quart every 1000 miles to be acceptable. Now I would ask the dealer or look at the owners manual to see when the oil light is supposed to come on. Since you do not have any indication of a leak, you are probably burning the oil, you could have someone follow you and see if they see any smoke from the tail pipe.

Changing the oil at 5k miles will always work in your favor.

Btw what brand of car do you own?

Thanks. If one quart every 1000 miles is acceptable, then my car is acceptable because I had gone 6,800 miles and the car only holds 6.5 quarts. It seems like a lot of oil to burn. I had no idea that cars burned that much oil. I will need to check the oil more often.

Hard to explain? My truck (Nissan Frontier) is approaching a couple hundred thousand miles. I have changed the oil since it was brand new. I only use Amsoil Signature Series oil and a Wix XP oil filter. The oil and filter are rated for 12K miles, but I change it every 9K. When I change the oil it is typically only down less than 1/4 quart. I do the same with my wife’s Honda HRV, which has about 102K miles, and it doesn’t seem to burn more than a couple ounces. I guess every car is different?

Do not think you should be burning so much oil thinking something is going on with your engine.

2017 Ford Escape. I have been changing the oil every 5K miles, until I used a synthetic oil, which is not required for my vehicle. But, honestly, I didn't expect it to burn oil, so I haven't checked the level very often. I tend to be lax about maintenance because I consider vehicles to be disposable items. I would never keep a vehicle for more than about 80K miles. I know that many people don't like Fords, but they seem to be the best value today as compared to Toyotas and Hondas, especially if you are not keeping the vehicle very long.

I recently tried to buy a Toyota using the Costco free buying service, but the price the dealer wanted was outrageous. The RAV4 was about 10K higher than the Ford Escape.

The Firestone mechanic said the same thing that VT said. It is acceptable to burn one quart every 1000 miles. Apparently, newer cars burn more oil than older cars.

I agree that a Ford (or Jeep) is a good value if you’re not planning on keeping it over 80K. If you want a car that will last a very long time you’re better off buying a Japanese rice burner (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, or Subaru). And if it’s a golf cart, a Yamaha.

Buy an electric vehicle and you will have 0 worries about the oil level or changes

Burning that much oil is totally unacceptable.
The language about "1 quart every 1000 miles" being acceptable is there to limit warranty claims. What it really means is "we won't fix anything until it burns more than 1 qt every 1000 miles".

There's a retired mechanic guy on YouTube that has a Dodge Caravan with over 400k miles on it which is extremely rare for a Dodge almost unheard of. (not unusual at all for a Toyota or Honda)

He claimed that to make up for the poorly made Chrysler engine he has changed the oil every 2000 miles and that is the main reason for reaching that level. Seems plausible. 200 oil changes seems a bit extreme though.

Just sold my 2012 Escape. Never burned oil. Always use synthetic, especially with the water-thin oil 5-20 they use nowadays.
Bought a Rav4 that was 4k less than a new Escape.
Look at Toyota of Clermont. Family run, no pressure sales. Not loaded up with dealer add-ons you don't want.

Highly unusual. Any possibility the previous fill was short?

What model and make?

Royalty Auto puts out some interesting, real world videos.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3MXfuHS52H4

I learned long ago that all new cars should be driven gently for the first 1000 miles, then change the oil at that point. Then 4 thousand miles later at 5000 miles change the oil again, then every 5000 thereafter. I’ve purchased many new cars over the years and followed this procedure and none of my cars have ever burned more than a few ounces of oil before my next 5000 mile oil change. Years ago I used 500/3000 miles as oil change rule, but 1000/5000 is appropriate these days. BTW driving a 2017 Mazda CX5 with 85000 miles on it. Just changed the oil, was down about 3oz.

Your car should never burn that much oil with the number of miles on it. My wife put on 35-40k mikes per year selling real estate and I drove 30k miles per year commuting for each of the 30 years working. I changed oil on all of our cars and never had any burn off. If you are losing a quart every 1k, you would notice.

This whole issue of burning oil has me wondering if it is being "burned"? It sounds more like a leak than anything, or perhaps it needs a ring job. Whenever my car's closed in on the 5,000 mile change period, the oil measured pretty close to full, but was very dirty. Burning a quart of oil every 1,000 miles seems excessive. I'd be concerned that there was another problem consuming the oil.

A properly functioning engine with the correct weight of oil will not burn one quart per 1000 miles. That is an absurdly high bar set by the manufacturers to reduce warranty claims. Some oil consumption is typical in "newer" cars because of attempts to improve gas mileage. For example, the piston rings are under less tension than previously to reduce internal friction and this can increase oil consumption. You haven't said which engine you have in your Ford. Some of the Ford engines have developed a reputation for increased oil consumption because of some internal failures.

Did the mechanic put in the correct weight of oil during the previous oil change? Did he put in the correct amount of oil? Assuming these are both correct and without an obvious sign of external leakage (which can typically be fixed), I suspect you have something going on internally. Since you stated you have 64K miles and don't typically like to keep cars more than 80K miles, I would be looking at replacing the car now.

As a point on the curve, I had a 2011 Honda that received only the Honda recommended 0W-20 oil (a synthetic) that I changed religiously every 5000 miles (about twice the recommended rate from the maintenance minder) and it consumed about 8 ounces of oil every 5000 miles. I sold it at 125K miles.

I doubt that my car needs a ring job, there is no smoke streaming out of the exhaust, and there is no evidence of a leak. The car runs fine. The mechanic who changed my oil was not at all surprised that a car would using that much oil. I thought that I didn't need to pay much attention to the oil level as long as I had regular oil changes and the oil light didn't come on. Apparently, this is no longer true. In the past, I have rarely added much oil to my vehicles, maybe one quart between oil changes.

That's excessive oil consumption, check your car's PCV valve for failure. Always check your cars oil after a quick start up due to all the oil from the top of the engine drains back to the oil pan overnight and will give you a false overfull reading.

Do you have a Volkswagen ?

That Ford may seem like a better value at the time of purchase but at 80K miles and you want to sell or trade it; you will see that it was not that great of a deal. You have to consider that Toyota holds its value MUCH better than the Fords.

That’s problem, most people don’t know where dips stick is till too late. My car has never used any oil between oil changes, but it’s rarely left unchanged over year with less than 5K miles. but I still check oil at least once month even though I don’t drive it that much any more. Any time I go for extended trip I check all the fluid levels and tire air pressure. No modern engine now days should be using quart of oil I 1000 miles.

If dealer told me that I would never buy that brand or take car there for service. Ford engines burn pretty clean. If car has used most oil up in 6K miles it should be evidence in tail pipe, spark plugs, and course catholic converter. When have your oil changed (NO MATTER Where you take it} should be following up on maintenance performed. When I had my oil changed at dealer they almost every time over filled it. Some times up to quart over filled cause they are too lazy to see how much oil the car actually holds and too lazy to pull the dipstick after completing oil change. Trust but verify is my motto. Another thing oil light come on when oil pressure affected that means it’s almost out of oil when pump starts pumping air.

IMO High pressure direct fuel injection washing cylinder walls. IMO HPF engines will be the new junk of the 80s. When engines was loaded down the smog junk that injected air into exhaust cheating tailpipe emissions pumping more air in exhaust.

One quart per 1000 mi in today's automobiles is unacceptable to me. Growing up in the 50's and 60's cars USED oil. By used I mean burned a little, seeped a little, leaked a little and blew some out the non existent and early PCV systems. So a quart / 100 mi might very well have been acceptable for that era. I have a '17 Lexus and a '15 F-350 diesel. I change my oil myself using the factory recommended oil weights in a synthetic oil. My car has 70k+ miles and my truck 130k+. Neither uses any oil between changes. In fact I've gotten so careless in checking that I almost never do check it. I know that might come back to bite me in the BUTT one day but that's the way it is.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Friendlyvillager noted it could be PVC system, iF valve bad it can suck oil into intake and it will be burned. It should throw code

The oil light is not an indication of oil level. It is an oil PRESSURE indicator. You can have a full oil pan but without oil pressure your engine will die.

Looks like you own a hybrid. Burns gas and oil. ;)

Exactly correct. Burning 1 quart every 1000 miles is for 25 year old cars with visible smoke coming out of the tail pipe.

If the OP lost 5 quarts of oil, he has a serious problem to investigate.

Don't you ever check your oil ? Tire pressure ? Whoa.

Sounds like the mechanic got distracted. Cell call? Text?
1000 miles/quart? You'd have an oily bumper or under-bumper.

Just heard AAA no longer fixes flats. No spare? Sorry, have it towed to tire store or dealer.
Wow.
I will never buy a car with no spare. Went to a dealer recently. I said no spare, no way.
Somehow they figured-out how to put a spare and tools in car. No extra charge. Might seem that way, but
No, I'll pass on the principle of it. I might be keeping my car longer than ever; maybe forever for me.
fyi: I've had 4 flats in the past three years. One in TV, one in Bellevue, one in TN, one in VA fairly recently. None was a show-stopper; put the spare on in less than 5 minutes (TN had the flat repaired before returning home), VA filled the flat in the trunk about twice a day to make sure I got back home without a wrecker - didn't want to spend hours in a tire shop.).


btw: My ~80k car uses about 1/5 of a quart per oil change (every 5000 to 6000 miles). Never need to add oil between changes. I check the oil every few months, and tires, and before every trip of more than 100 miles.

Very few if any cars have a “low oil light”. They have a “low oil pressure” light

I was a Ford dealership technician. For warranty purposes 1qt/1000 miles was acceptable

In a modern car 1 qt/1000 miles is too high. You will get a plugged cat converter.

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.

Burning oil ?
 

If the PCV (positive crankshaft ventilation) valve is clogged then pressure can build in the crankshaft forcing oil past the rings and into the cylinder. It’s an easy check but unusual problem.

Change out the PVC valve. They are relatively cheap, and are known to fail. What is a PCV valve and how does it work?

I completely restored a 66 Corvette, including pulling the engine and everything else. I don't think I could find a dipstick on my car today!🙄

Perhaps, and I hate to say it, but maybe the mechanic who changed the oil before you big loss, didn’t fill it

I could still be driving my 56 Chevy I brought at 16, most anything can be fixed or repaired it person motivated enough. Not so much with newer electronic controlled vehicles, once rhe miles of wiring get corroded then headed for smasher. In rust belt that’s about 6 years. We see how electric vehicles fair in the rust belt?

See I would have known that cause I follow up on anything done to my vehicle other than me.

If you’re taking about transmission dipstick you could be right, some models don’t have transmission dipsticks.

My new GLS 450 does not have a dipstick and has a plastic drain plug. Can check the oil level from the computer. S Series has a dipstick. 95k on the 2019 and is the same level when I check.