My '05 Limited roadster was filled with Mobil 1 when I bought it, at 103,000 just over two months ago. I checked the level, and it's a quart low. Is this 'normal' consumption, or do I have a leak, possibly? Haven't seen any evidence of a leak under the car, but the pan would catch that, so I may have to take it off...

 

Did you dipstick it the day the oil was changed or did YOU change it?

If the answer to both questions is "no", then you don't REALLY know that it was full in the first place.


If you leaked a quart into the pan/shield, you'd have known it by now, unless you park in a different spot EVERY time you park the car.

 

I dipsticked it the day I bought the car home...so I am positive it was full.

 

Well, 3,400 miles on the car before I had to put oil in...haven't been able to find if that's normal or not...yes, the car has more than 100,000 on it...

 

No, that is not normal for ANY engine. PERIOD.

You should be seeing smoke and/or a lot of oil on the ground!

 

That is not true in the least. A number of owners of BMW's, Audi's, and other makes report oil consumption. I know my BMW consumed at least a quart of oil between oil changes. This is not viewed as abnormal consumption by the manufacturer.

 

What does Chrysler/Mercedes say about that, I wonder?

 

If it is BURNING that much oil, can you pass an emissions inspection with it?

 

Have no clue about passing an emissions test burning that much oil...it's possible I didn't get an accurate dipstick reading when I did it most recently...

 

I was asking our friend in post 6!

 

Are you 100% SURE it had Mobil 1 when you bought it? Or is that what the salesman told you? That much oil loss with synthetic Mobil 1 is not normal unless you have a leak.

 

I have no real clue...I just assumed (bad!)...I did buy it from a Chrysler dealer, though...I would not have suspected that they would not use what was recommended. Too late to tell now, I would think!

 

My two cents worth, change the oil again and be sure it is full "again". Check it every 1000 miles or so and see what happens. Be sure the full 8.5 quarts of Mobil One 0W-40 are put in. If it uses excessive oil again, go to 5W-40. Someone may have run it with incorrect oil or low oil, in the past, and caused excessive engine wear. A second go round should let you know where you stand. You might also drop the pan under the engine, just for piece of mind.

 

Had no issues passing emissions for the 4+ years I owned the BMW.

Don't get me wrong I don't think this is a good thing just that it should not necessarily be considered abnormal (at least not by manufacturers).

 

Ye,a but if a manufacturer even THINKS you are looking for warranty dollars, their line turns into, "Oh, that's normal...."

Gotta tell ya, I am surprised you got past the emissions checks. And I question, again, if it is BURNING that much oil, how long it'll be before O2 sensors or the CATs in the exhaust start having trouble.

Maybe oil burns cleaner than I think.

 

I wish I knew it was burning it or not...It could be that it wasn't full to begin with...

 

In my experience the Dealer is very happy to have warranty work - the manufacturer not so much. On my MB the dealer replaced the airbag twice (without question) because the emblem was starting to fade/chip. When I was not happy with the color of one of the airbags (was darker than the steering wheel) they ordered another and let me choose which I liked best. The were very easy to work with.

Of course I think it is stupid to have to replace an airbag due to the emblem and I can order a hell of a lot of airbags before I hit the cost of an engine.

I also paid the price when I thought that windshield wipers were covered and ended up paying $80 to change 2 wipers. Never made that mistake again.

I think that oil burns cleaner than you think. On modern engines there are enough of them that burn oil that we would be hearing about it if they were eating cats, O2's, etc.

 

What about crank case ventilation? If that isn't working well excessive pressures may be forcing oil around the valve seals...Maybe??

 

Since no one has said this yet I will. My SRT-6 doesn't use a drop that I can tell and I run it for long periods at high rpm's and long durations. Come to think of it, I change the oil at around 2000 mile intervals though.

Les

 

Good point...something to check, since this car was purchased used, and there's no guarantee that was taken care of or even looked at...now, to find where it is...