Excessive Oil Consumption ??

[ABN]

Recently brought a Hyundai Getz CDX CRTD, less than a year old with only 700 miles on the clock. Unfortunately it is a repaired Cat D so is not covered by the Hyundai warrantee.

Driven it very sedately for about 300miles, yet only getting 45mpg Checked the oil level today and noticed that it had gone from the full mark to the low level mark. Not sure how much that equates to but assuming about 1ltr. So it would seem that it's used 1ltr in just 300miles

The car doesn’t smoke but that does seem to be an awful lot of oil to use in just 300miles.

Going to give it an oil change.

Any suggestions as to why it should be using so much oil and anything I can do at the oil change to hopefully reduce the consumption.

 

[Stivino]

If it's used 1Lt in 300 miles I'm surprised you didn't see any smoke. I'd be inclined to keep a close eye on it just to check how much it actually is using.

 

[JohnD]

leak?

Have a look underneath. If it is dripping out while you drive it will be very dirty underneath.

 

[ABN]

Thanks for the replies

nah not leaking did check that first.

It's a turbo diesel so not sure if it would smoke as the oil may be burning as fuel.

Read somewhere that with turbo cars oil can leak past the turbo but it didn't explain what the symptoms of that would be.

One other thing, as the car was a Cat D, it was left without being run for some months. Could that have caused a stuck oil ring or something else perhaps??

 

[Stivino]

But then it would be burning fuel plus the oil so it would still smoke.

 

[ABN]

So it would smoke then.

Used to have a Nissan Micra that used a similar amount of oil and that DID smoke.

So since this does not seem to where could the oil be going?

:Confused:

 

[Stivino]

If the oil's not on the inside then it must be ouside. There's only two ways it can get out. It's either leaking or being burnt. If it's leaked a litre you'd see it. As you say there's no sign of leakage then it must have burnt it unless the initial check wasn't an accurate one and it was short to begin with?
You should top it up to the full mark, record your milage and monitor the situation for a couple of weeks or over say 1000 miles.

 

[ABN]

Sort of found the problem I think.

Did an oil change. Filled it up and checked the oil level. It was about half way between the marks. Ran the engine for a min. Checked oil again and was well below the low level. Waited checked, waited checked did that for about 30mins and still too low.

Seems that when the engine is cold the oil takes an age to return to the sump.

Put some more in and left it over night. In the morning pushed it into the road (it's parked on a slope), checked the oil and was just below full.

Took it for a 10 mile run, left it for a while and checked again. This time it was about 1/4 inch above full.

Seems that the oil level changes when it gets hot.

So seems that I will have to try to drain a bit out tomorrow. Last time I did that, on a different car, dropped the sump plug and so ALL the oil came out and had to replace it

Still at least it's not burning oil which cheers me up

 

[djheath]

I think you are checking the oil at the wrong time and getting confused.

You should check the oil with the car on a flat level surface when the engine has not been run for at least 30 minutes. So check the oil before the engine has been running for the best reading.

ANY running of the engine, no matter how long will show an incorrect oil level immediately after because the oil will have been pushed around the engine and will still be in the oil galleries etc.