Car starting to consume oil at a faster rate

genetic

genetic

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Brawler said:
Hi all.
I still have a 2010 Kia Cerato. It's still good as new and has never missed a beat. Not a single failure besides for a battery in 11 years of ownership. It seems like the good run may be coming to an end. Up until now, the car has never needed oil between annual services.
In the last 6 months (+/- 6000 KM), I have had to top up the oil twice. It's not due for a service until June.
Any reason for concern or take it in asap for some preventative work or just a symptom of age?
It's got 150 000 KM on the clock. Car feels fine, no smokey exhaust or anything.
Thanks.
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If it just started to consume oil, then there is something wrong. Could be a leak, PCV valve at best, or valve stem seals / piston rings / head gasket at worst, but those usually wear over time and are usually identified by smoke from the exhaust - but you don't have those issues as you say.

Having said that my BMW 1 Series had worn out valve stem seals at only 135K km. To fix that requires an engine overhaul. I just got rid of the car. The BMW N42 and N46 engines used in the early 1 and 3 Series were notorious for valve stem seal wear.
 
genetic

genetic

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Brawler said:
Thanks all. I'm going to monitor it myself more closely and if need be, take it in for its service a few months early and see what they say.
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I'm sure it's a leak - 150K km is pretty low mileage for the life of an engine... unless you own a BMW or Audi. :p
 
Rocket-Boy

Rocket-Boy

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genetic said:
If it just started to consume oil, then there is something wrong. Could be a leak, PCV valve at best, or valve stem seals / piston rings / head gasket at worst, but those usually wear over time and are usually identified by smoke from the exhaust - but you don't have those issues as you say.

Having said that my BMW 1 Series had worn out valve stem seals at only 135K km. To fix that requires an engine overhaul. I just got rid of the car. The BMW N42 and N46 engines used in the early 1 and 3 Series were notorious for valve stem seal wear.
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I had to have mine done at 60k km! it also doesnt last forever and they will go again, the BMW mechanics told me that most people just live with it and put in a 1L oil every few months depending on how far they drive.
 
A

Adenoid Hynkel

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genetic said:
Audi's petrol TFSI engines (most notably 2009-2013) are notorious for burning oil, and that's just down sub-par tolerances due to poor engineering. It's not normal and should never be. A properly designed petrol engine does not "consume" oil.

topclassactions.com

Audi Oil Consumption Class Action Lawsuit Settlement

Audi class action settlement provides free service adjustment, warranty extension and reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses for excessive oil consumption problems.
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casestudies.atlanticmotorcar.com

Audi 2.0 TFSI Engine Oil Consumption - Correction - Atlantic Motorcar

What is the problem? The early version of the TFSI gasoline engines found in the A5, A4 and Q5 have an inherent design fault which leads to high consumption of oil. The base problem seems to relate to the piston rings, which allow small amounts of oil to leak round the pistons into the...
casestudies.atlanticmotorcar.com casestudies.atlanticmotorcar.com
www.news24.com

Readers reply to oil top-up controversy | Life

'I top-up every month...' One of many readers' replies to 'Do you think your car uses too much oil?' Is your car one of the 'Thirsty 30'?
www.news24.com www.news24.com

I never have top up oil on my 2013 Alfa Romeo 159 with 65K km on the clock. I do yearly services, and in the span of a year (or around 10,000km) the oil level is still full by the time it needs a service.
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I'm aware of those models being more problematic. My wife had a 2011 A3 1.8t which had the issue.

A good friend of mine is a workshop manager in Germany for Audi and he has told me that Audi has always ran a lower ring piston tension. The higher the tension the better it scrapes oil from the cylinder walls. With a lower ring piston tension you get better fuel consumption though.

And sure yes, a proper designed engine shouldn't consume oil, however, this is very much driving style dependent. If you floor your car plenty it will consume oil as you are putting extra pressure on the seals and oil will find it's way around it and burn away.
 
airborne

airborne

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But what about Honda's, which are typically very high revving engines, you can drive the hell out of them and they don't use oil. And they'll go to 500,000km without opening the engine.

The TSI VAG engines that chow oil are just poorly designed.
 
A

Adenoid Hynkel

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airborne said:
But what about Honda's, which are typically very high revving engines, you can drive the hell out of them and they don't use oil. And they'll go to 500,000km without opening the engine.

The TSI VAG engines that chow oil are just poorly designed.
Click to expand...

Honda Accord, CR-V Warranties Extended for Excess Oil Consumption - Consumer Reports

Honda has found that certain versions of the 2008 to 2011 Accord coupe and sedan and the 2010 to 2011 CR-V SUV may begin to experience higher than normal oil consumption.
www.consumerreports.org
 
Tector

Tector

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Brawler said:
Hi all.
I still have a 2010 Kia Cerato. It's still good as new and has never missed a beat. Not a single failure besides for a battery in 11 years of ownership. It seems like the good run may be coming to an end. Up until now, the car has never needed oil between annual services.
In the last 6 months (+/- 6000 KM), I have had to top up the oil twice. It's not due for a service until June.
Any reason for concern or take it in asap for some preventative work or just a symptom of age?
It's got 150 000 KM on the clock. Car feels fine, no smokey exhaust or anything.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Ask the service station what grade of oil they used? The specs workshops and dealers use list the european grades which is not really ideal for our climate. We are also quite deep into summer where a too thin oil will definitely show its symptoms.

Also, as a side note, most cars built after 2006ish have catylic converters fitted in the exhaust system and the usual signs like blue smoke might not happen to indicate oil usage as it is captured by the catylic converter.

If they used something like 5w30 or 5w40 on that mileage (high mileage these days) try a thicker oil like 15w40 or even 20w50 and monitor the usage after that.

Firstly make sure that there is no oil leaks (keep in mind the protection plate under the engine could collect it) by taking it to have checked out properly before barking up the wrong tree with oil usage
 
Gnome

Gnome

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genetic said:
If it just started to consume oil, then there is something wrong.
Click to expand...
What he said.
This isn't an Audi where the car has a badly designed engine from the get-go.
It started suddenly so there is no way it is normal.

Check oil cap for mayonnaise and water for oil.
 
Mekon

Mekon

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I used to own a Audi A6 Avant 2.8 V6. Used a pint every 3000km or so. Audi said this was normal. I had a Opel Corsa Gamma 1.4 that up until I had an accident with it on 422000km, it never needed topping up between services. Currently have an old 98 Kadett 200iS with 260000km. Does not smoke or leak oil but uses a pint every 3000km. I checked the crank breather pipe to try see if there was excessive blow through and it seems normal.
 
6spdmanual

6spdmanual

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Currently the BMW 520i with the N20 isn’t an oil burner. Haven’t refilled between services. The N13 on the 118i is a massive contrast. I think about 1 quart per 3000/4000km.
 
6spdmanual

6spdmanual

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I wonder if the N55 or B58 are oil burners. If not, you can definitely burn rubber though :p
 
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