Consumer Reports Late Model Oil Burners

[Flyn]

Is your car on the "Thirsty 30" list?

What's an acceptable amount of oil burned between changes? According to BMW, it's "normal" to burn a quart every 600 miles. Here's the list followed by the Consumer Reports article.

 Cars under warranty shouldn’t burn oil. And most don’t.

But Consumer Reports’ 2014 Annual Auto Survey found that several auto manufacturers are building engines—available in a number of widely sold models—that require frequently topping off the oil reservoir between recommended oil changes. That’s a worry and cost that a new-car owner shouldn’t have.

Excessive Oil Consumption Isn't Normal - Consumer Reports

Click to read more...

 

[Stink Star]

How in the actual fuck is the 2.4l Equinox motor not on there? They constantly burn 2 or 3 quarts every 1000 miles. I literally pay for my house doing piston replacements on those things for oil consumption. They even extended the oil burning fix to 150k miles because it is such a known problem

 

[02BlueGT]

How in the actual fuck is the 2.4l Equinox motor not on there? They constantly burn 2 or 3 quarts every 1000 miles. I literally pay for my house doing piston replacements on those things for oil consumption. They even extended the oil burning fix to 150k miles because it is such a known problem

This makes me glad I got the 3.0 in our captiva....

 

[Stink Star]

Those are damn bulletproof compared to the 4cyl. We see timing chains on those, not nearly as much as the 3.6 in the r or v chassis though

 

[rz79]

How in the actual fuck is the 2.4l Equinox motor not on there? They constantly burn 2 or 3 quarts every 1000 miles. I literally pay for my house doing piston replacements on those things for oil consumption. They even extended the oil burning fix to 150k miles because it is such a known problem

@ "I literally pay for my house doing piston replacements on those things"

 

[rocket5979]

Why am I not surprised that the list is comprised of almost exclusively German vehicles? haha

 

[Sprayin]

No Ford on the list.

 

[Stink Star]

Honestly though, with those expensive German cars that likely hold 8 or 9 quarts of oil and have 10k mile oil change intervals. If the engineers say it's ok for them to use xxxx amount of oil between changes, I'd believe them over some consumer reports tester who just assumes any oil loss is bad

 

[rocket5979]

Honestly though, with those expensive German cars that likely hold 8 or 9 quarts of oil and have 10k mile oil change intervals. If the engineers say it's ok for them to use xxxx amount of oil between changes, I'd believe them over some consumer reports tester who just assumes any oil loss is bad

Though I too hold a mechanical engineer's professional opinion in higher regard than a consumer report article, that high a rate of oil consumption in a normal passenger vehicle still isn't indicative of a solid design.

 

[Stink Star]

The test only said "vehicles that need over a quart between oil changes". That's kind of a vague statement since oil change intervals vary widely. If this was a 1980s jiffy lube commercial it'd be 3000 miles across the board, but I know some of those expensive cars have 15000+ mile intervals. A better test would be a consumption rate per 1000 miles.

 

[Euro]

German cars

 

[Yaj Yak]

The test only said "vehicles that need over a quart between oil changes". That's kind of a vague statement since oil change intervals vary widely. If this was a 1980s jiffy lube commercial it'd be 3000 miles across the board, but I know some of those expensive cars have 15000+ mile intervals. A better test would be a consumption rate per 1000 miles.

great point.

 

[Mike K]

Dudeski-dudes, the oil change intervals on some of those German cars are really long. Up until this year it was 15,000 miles on the N63 BMW engine that leads the charts and the reason it went down for 2014 is because of updates to the engine as well as a drop in oil change interval from 15k to 10k which is still really long. I believe most of the leaders on that list are around 15k which is why lists like this are bullshit because it's factual but also out of context.

I'd get an "add a quart" warning on the 535 every here and there. My 3800 used to drink about a quart every couple thousand miles and my Q45 sucked one down every 1000 and that was considered normal. By comparison the 535 drank maybe a quart between every 10k oil change. Spread that out and you've got what? A tenth of a quart every 1000 miles?

Your average Ford recommendation is 7500 miles. Even on performance cars like the SS it's 7500 (but that floats around depending on driving habits). So the likelyhood of the Germans topping this list is pretty high because in many cases they have twice the mileage between oil changes.

Not saying, just saying.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Only ONE GM vehicle on there?

My last oil change in the truck, it ate about a quart after 5000mi. I guess I'm so used to my GTO where it would eat almost 2 quarts after 3000mi.

 

[b4black]

I guess some of you missed this:

“Oil consumption is normal on all engines,” BMW spokesman Hector Arellano-Belloc said in an e-mailed statement. “... BMW engines (excluding the BMW M) may consume up to one quart of engine oil per 750 miles under certain driving conditions.” He added that BMW’s M performance models may consume even more oil than that.

That can be 10+ quarts of oil between changes.

 

[Yaj Yak]

Dudeski-dudes, the oil change intervals on some of those German cars are really long. Up until this year it was 15,000 miles on the N63 BMW engine that leads the charts and the reason it went down for 2014 is because of updates to the engine as well as a drop in oil change interval from 15k to 10k which is still really long. I believe most of the leaders on that list are around 15k which is why lists like this are bullshit because it's factual but also out of context.

I'd get an "add a quart" warning on the 535 every here and there. My 3800 used to drink about a quart every couple thousand miles and my Q45 sucked one down every 1000 and that was considered normal. By comparison the 535 drank maybe a quart between every 10k oil change. Spread that out and you've got what? A tenth of a quart every 1000 miles?

Your average Ford recommendation is 7500 miles. Even on performance cars like the SS it's 7500 (but that floats around depending on driving habits). So the likelyhood of the Germans topping this list is pretty high because in many cases they have twice the mileage between oil changes.

Not saying, just saying.

I guess some of you missed this:


That can be 10+ quarts of oil between changes.

:iorun:

 

[Yaj Yak]

up to one quart per 750 miles

it's like a fucking two stroke

 

[Mike K]

Well that's fucked up. Just one more reason to skip any current BMW with a 50 in the model. That engine is apparently a wretched turd that BMW is in the process of shelling out a lot of money to fix but a quart per 750 miles? Chucktestafuckno.png

You can buy a 2010 550i and have higher cost of ownership than an V10 E60 M5. That's magical.

 

[Donnie]

up to one quart per 750 miles

it's like a fucking two stroke

:jayz:



BRAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPbimmer.

 

[Flyn]

"Hey Dude? Your new Bimmer is smoking! Is that normal, man? what did you pay for that thing?"

From the article:

Audi, BMW, and Subaru stick firmly to the statement that oil consumption is a normal part of a car’s operation. Subaru considers a quart burned every 1,000 to 1,200 miles to be acceptable. Certain Audi and BMW cars’ standards state that a quart burned every 600 to 700 miles is reasonable.

 

[EmersonHart13]

Only ONE GM vehicle on there?

My last oil change in the truck, it ate about a quart after 5000mi. I guess I'm so used to my GTO where it would eat almost 2 quarts after 3000mi.

That is one problem I don't have.

 

[Formula_LS1]

A friend of mine had a newer A5 and his low oil light was constantly coming on (every 2-3 weeks). Recently traded it for an S5

 

[Flyn]

This comment after the article seems to be right on.

Michael Sotirake · Top Commenter · Sr. Network Support Engineer at Omnyx

Part of the issue is that modern direct injected engines have increased vacuum levels in the upper intake which causes oil suspended in the air to be siphoned through the EGR system back into the combustion chamber and get burned on the valves. Manufacturers are just now starting to notice this issue. The issue is also dependent on the level of vacuum created. As mashing the petal to the floor creates much higher levels of vacuum than driving gently, most of the vehicles that see systemic high levels of oil consumption are sportier or driven more aggressively. Typical oil consumption levels due to this specific phenomenon are 1/8 -1 cup of oil per 3000 miles. The unintended outcome is buildup on the intake valves, decreased fuel economy and increased wear. From the manufacturers point of view this is ONLY a problem if there are reported issues before the warranty expires. Significant issues can be easily seen by the time 100k miles have accumulated. The aftermarket solution is installing a good catch can, but this device needs to be maintained and cleaned out every oil change.

Outside of the above example, any other oil use is unexpected and should be covered and re-mediated during the warranty period by the manufacturer.

 

[EmersonHart13]

Catch Can FTW, according to Carter I probably need to install one.

 

[Mike K]

Yup that was a popular mod on the 335/ 535 because of oil build-up in the intake. Either that or you'd need to walnut blast your intake every 40k miles.