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Oil Consumption

4K views 20 replies 8 participants last post by  kennysmith 
#1 ·
I estimate that my engine consumes about a quart of oil every 5000 miles or so. In the recent past I had a slight leak at the front crank seal and replaced that, and once or twice I tried the Mobil One 'High Mileage' oil that's supposed to have conditioners that soften seals and make them seal better. But, I never really noticed much change, maybe a slight decrease. I might have a slight leak somewhere, still. When I change my oil I see a little oil-wetness on the pan, from the passenger side (might still be leakage around the crank seal area). But, I think that'd be a very small amount of oil...

Other than that, in the distant past I did a compression test and one cylinder was a little low on a dry test (180-85 vs. 225 psi) but normal on a wet test. I've had like two Blackstone oil analyses in the distant past and both showed no abnormal wear, on the contrary they showed excellent wear...

So, I'm wondering if this amount of consumption is something to bother with? Whether there's any additives that actually might do some good, say, if it's worn piston rings on a single cylinder? I used 'Restore' a long long time ago on my old Chevy van, and as I recall that raised compression considerably and maybe actually made the engine feel stronger. But that's a 6 cylinder, old engine, that I never would have cared much about. I'm kind of leery about adding anything to the Insight...

Any suggestions, experience that might shed some light on the issue?
 
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#2 ·
It would be interesting to know the mileage on the car. Otherwise, it seems to me that a quart every 5000 miles is perfectly acceptable for these 20 year old cars. Personally, I would not fiddle around with additives but I admit to having a general prejudice toward them.
 
#3 ·
It has about 255,000 miles... I feel about the same way you do - not that big a deal, stay away from additives. But I could be persuaded otherwise. Seems like there could be an additive that could help the rings and/or cylinder walls without much risk of gunking stuff up. Of course, using such an additive would assume that my piston ring idea is likely to be the cause of the consumption, when maybe it's not so likely...
 
#4 ·
I changed my oil last at ~210k miles, i'm at 218k now now and about a quart low. I don't leave oil on the ground, just some sweaty seals.

The best test to run for oil consumption IMO is a leak down. That should narrow down if it's piston rings. If it's the rings you could maybe go with a catch can to pick up the oil getting blown through the pcv system.
 
#5 ·
Most manufacturers say you have to be using more than a quart in 1,000 miles before they even consider it a warranty problem. You're using a fifth as much in a 250K mile car no less. Why risk using and wasting money on additives when you don't have a problem?
 
#7 ·
^ I think 'Click and Clack' used to recommend it...



I think that's part of the question: Do I even have a problem?. If this 1,000 mile idea is true, sounds like I don't. On the other hand, seems like most people at IC say they don't lose/burn ANY oil, and I recall not losing/burning any oil when I first got my Insight at about 168k miles...

So, I don't know, if there's some reputable magic elixir that Willie recommends, it'd be tempting to try it, to try to turn back the clock, stop the rolling tide, etc etc...
 
#6 ·
I remember the "Restore" additive. I used it a lot in my old Corvair engine. Kept it running for over 80K miles back then. Seems eons ago.
 
#9 ·
^ That does help. How many miles between changes, though?

If others know their oil consumption and want to post here, I think that'd be helpful - it'd help me get a sense of what's normal. Post car mileage, amount of consumption and mileage interval. For example, my car is:

~250k miles, about 1 quart per 5000 miles.

Maybe add some details regarding whether you have any visible leaks or not. I don't seem to have any major leaks, though there's a little oil-wetness visible on the passenger side of the oil pan. I'll wipe it off when I change the oil, clean it up, and then when I change the oil again, about 7000 miles later, I see a little oily-ness in the same area. Hard to say how much it is though, such as in ounces. Doesn't seem like it could be more than a few ounces. I don't see any drips on the under engine tray, for instance...
 
#13 ·
^ Funny you ask - I had my air box open yesterday and noticed some blow-by, a little oily wetness. But I don't think it was enough to account for a quart per 5000 miles. I had my PCV valve out/off some months ago and it seemed fine...
 
#15 · (Edited)
I don't see how it could be failing - there's not much to those things. It's just a little ball check valve - if the ball moves it should be fine, no?

[later...] I was just thinking, I remember seeing a post about an 'oil catch-can', I recall someone around here installed one and if I'm remembering correctly, they caught a lot of oily blow-by, I think in the line between PCV and intake manifold(?), or valve cover air inlet ('breather'?) and airbox(?)...

Anyone remember such a thing? I searched but couldn't find the post/thread... Makes me think that maybe there's more oil consumption via that route than I realize... That maybe I should try installing one of those oil catch cans, or fab something similar...
 
#17 ·
^ Yeah, they do. As I recall I cleaned it out and made sure the little ball was working freely. I guess I'm more interested in understanding how this all works, perhaps finding out definitively from whence the extra oil consumption comes, than 'fixing' it -- otherwise I would just 'go out and buy one'... Your suggestion is perfectly reasonable... I actually have an extra PCV valve...
 
#18 ·
I would say putting that in would be part of finding out where it comes from. Right now you're assuming the part is fine, if a new one still shows oil deposits after an oil change cycle or sooner then it's not the pcv so you can look at other things. Right now it's the most common thing that causes oil on air filter and hasn't been ruled out.
 
#20 ·
That's above my pay grade. Scott works on enough to give you a pretty definitive answer though. From my limited experience when I first got the car it had a clearly old air filter (some pleats were eaten) I don't remember it having anything that indicated it had ever got even the smallest amount of oil on it but a case study of one isn't really meaningful.
 
#21 ·
Not on an Insight, but I've seen other sections of a PCV system plugged up and even though the valve and the hose to the air filter seemed ok the system was actually plugged up and causing seals to leak. So check how air gets out of the crankcase and how it gets into the crankcase. Make sure the entire system is sealed and working correctly
 
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