oil consumption

[KevO78]

Hi peoples, is it normal to loose / consume oil? i have the 3.2td 08 with just over 23k on the clock, we've just done a trip from cobar to townsville towing a campervan (1900km) and before leaving home the oil was full and now it is just above the low mark. I took it to the dealers here and had it topped up and they say it's normal i'm thinking otherwise. love some opinions and thoughts as i'm a little concerned
regards KevO

[sam]

I'd say definitely NOT normal we've towed our camper 8000Km in one trip with some very hard Km's in that and only used a very small amount and most of this I suspect went into the motor via the crankcase breather.

If it keeps using oil I'd be telling them politely to fix the prob

[Sportero]

Here in Trinidad our average speed on the hi-way is 120-160 km/hr

I dont see any drop in oil level. Dealer uses Shell RimulaX Synthetic 15-40W and Chevron synthetic blend 15-40W

Our service intervals are 10,000kms.

Our island is small so the most i ever drove was about 500kms in one trip.

[snowman]

mate it can only be leaking it or burning it.

leaking is usually pretty obvious and i suggest you have a good look underneath (i.e get your old clothes on and slide under) mine was leaking at 5k from the turbo drain pipe. however if it is gone during a trip it sounds like it is being consumed.......

i would be very sure that in all cases the car is dead flat when checking levels and give it a consistent drain time after turning off so you are dipping for consistent results.

if the results are consistent and you have lost that much it is DEFINATELY not normal on a car of that age!!! for gods sake dont let it run out of oil!!!!!! check it daily (or more often) during trips and keep it topped until it can be rectified.

[sierra]

I bought a new Corolla in 07 and it used about 2L over the first 10,000km which I queried and was checked out.
Toyota said 0.2L oil consumption per 1000km was acceptable since their limit for warranty was 1L per 1000km.
At 25,000km it had dropped to 1L per 10,000km.

If Toyota think 1L every 1000km is alright what limit do Mitsubishi have???

These days oil consumption between oil changes is usually negligible.

Any sudden change in oil consumption is cause for concern and they should have checked it out instead of the usual dismissal, hoping it craps itself so they can blame you.

[NowForThe5th]

It all depends on what you'd done before the trip to Townsville.

It's true that oil can (generally) only leak out or be burnt off and a degree of burnoff is normal, otherwise the pistons/rings wouldn't be lubricated against the cylinder wall and some is lost through the valves as well. What most people forget about is that the crankcase oil can become quite diluted with fuel which is also quite normal but is particularly so in short runs/city traffic. Thus, if your oil was diluted with fuel, the long run, working hard towing and constantly hot would burn off the diluted fuel that was in your oil and the apparent level would drop as you noticed.

If you continue to use oil you may have grounds for concern but it's more likely that this was a one off. Monitor usage and if it evens off to about a litre between changes then there should be no problem. If you don't appear to use any oil at all between changes then dilution is the cause because some is always burnt off. Take it for good long run again just after an oil change and you're less likely to see usage. If you really want to, you can have your oil laboratory tested to see how it is performing but this ain't cheap.

[johnnie5]

If you really want to, you can have your oil laboratory tested to see how it is performing but this ain't cheap.

depends on your idea of cheap

$30 or so for oil testing

mate in the states had it done a while after having a motor rebuilt

report came back that things werent all that great , the engine was rebuilt again for him at no charge

[KevO78]

I've had a good look underneath the car and can't see any signs of a leak or oil, on the tail gate and number plate however are spots of oil, not to mention the draw bar is pretty dirty to not a good sign! Thought i payed good money to have a reliable go anywhere car! will keep my eye closely on it, wer'e on the move again next monday and will see how it goes. Just out of curiosity would this oil consumption be caused from running a power chip??

[sierra]

Just out of curiosity would this oil consumption be caused from running a power chip??

I would remove the power chip, at least until you get it sorted out.
If it's the cause you need to get rid of it and if it's not the cause the warranty wont be worth a cracker once it's spotted.
Could be wrong but those chips just seem to increase the time of the injection and therefore increase the amount of throttle across the range? So half throttle would be increased to say 75% throttle and full throttle might get another 50% on top? The engine computer is more likely to compensate for the added fuel[throttle] than anything that's just connected to the fuel supply. If it was the chip it's strange that it didn't throw a light if the engine was stressed enough to start gobbling oil?

[Bigs77]

mmm kev. I agree with NowForThe5th about oil dilution. I change engine oil every 7500kms ,because we mostly do short runs around cobar, this could be a factor, Then taking it for a big run, loaded up??? It might pay to get a oil change done, then drive home. About the engine cut-out, I know subi can only run his chip on maxium of 5 or he will get engine cut-out at random times. Might pay to clean the MAF sensor in the top of the air box?? Might be fouled up from the filter oil??
Let us know what the dealer has to say??
Have fun in QLD.

[shotgun283]

oil spots on the number plate towbar etc sounds like a rear main seal, is the gearbox etc showing the same??
im a holden fan from way back and rear main seals leaking was the norm. Just a thought, i could be barking up the wrong tree