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Modern Oil Consumption and Warranties

GM's standard is a quart in 2,000. GM has a standing bulletin about it across all engine families. Proving that consumption is going to need to happen at a dealer. Starting out with them changing the oil and having the owner bring it back in 500 miles to recheck and record the level. Typically if the consumption exceeds the guideline we replace the pistons and rings only. No work to the block. In almost 12 years at the dealership, we've done one 5.3 and one 4-banger in an Equinox.

Direct injection may be a factor, but I think a good chunk of the problem comes down to the oil life monitor system. It's allowing the general public to go in my opinion way too far between oil changes. Look at it this way, if a quart in 2,000 miles is considered normal and you go 8,000 miles between an oil change, you have the potential of being 4 quarts down on oil. If the engine oil holds 5 quarts it is going to be low enough to starve for lubrication. Pretty easy for me to suggest changing oil a little more frequently than going by the oil life monitor.
While I did say I haven't written it down, we're five or six changes in on the Honda. So 5k miles or so, give or take.

My Nissan doesn't have an oil life meter. Manual just says every 5k.
 
Worst possible thing you can do is run according to the "oil life" meter.

There isn't one single vehicle that I am aware of that actually monitors the oil.

They only monitor the run cycle duration and frequency. Some may cross correlate that with other factors such as outside temps and TPS input with MAP/MAF data.

There isn't any actual oil condition sensor that I am aware of. If anyone knows something I don't, please speak up.

In the case of my wife's Kia, I believe the combination of GDI and low tension rings caused the failure. The fact that we kept up on oil changes and kept it full is the only reason it went 120K. It would have kept going (while consuming a quart every ~200 miles) for much, much longer if we would've had to do it that way. Because Kia had a Class Action suit that settled in federal court where they agreed to cover that particular engine for life is why we were able to get it replaced.
 
I think the oil monitor reminder is strictly mileage based. Sure doesn't come on any earlier in our running 24 7 security vehicles.
 
Last three vehicles of mine I’ve been watching the oil minder and it’s right about 5-6000 miles over a span of 50k miles so I’m fairly trusting of the ones I’ve got.
 
I have a 2008 Pilot with 240,000 miles on it and it doesn't seem to burn a drop. I never have to add between changes. Still using 5w20

Valvoline with Wix filters every 3000 miles like clockwork.

I plan to get another 100,000 out of it.
 
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I'm no longer a fan of the 3000 mile oil change rule... I used to be,,,but today's oil and engines can go 5-10K without a change.

My 2013 Toyota Venza V6 uses 0-20 oil and I reset the oil minder at the oil change, and when it comes on, I reset it. when it comes on for the second time, I do an oil change.

I use the best synthetic oil that's on sale that week at O'Rileys ( I do have some limitations )
use Wix filters exclusively and I don't see any oil useage between changes.

Thing runs like a top, and we probably have about 25+ high speed round trips from Dallas to Atlanta... other than regular maintenance, we have put in one battery, and one set of tires... it's going to need some brake pads soon, but it sure has been a great little SUV.
 
I'm no longer a fan of the 3000 mile oil change rule... I used to be,,,but today's oil and engines can go 5-10K without a change.

My 2013 Toyota Venza V6 uses 0-20 oil and I reset the oil minder at the oil change, and when it comes on, I reset it. when it comes on for the second time, I do an oil change.

I use the best synthetic oil that's on sale that week at O'Rileys ( I do have some limitations )
use Wix filters exclusively and I don't see any oil useage between changes.

Thing runs like a top, and we probably have about 25+ high speed round trips from Dallas to Atlanta... other than regular maintenance, we have put in one battery, and one set of tires... it's going to need some brake pads soon, but it sure has been a great little SUV.


3000 is just engrained in me I guess. It can't hurt, but I am probably wasting money. I just intend to keep this thing running for as long as I can...no car payments. That v-tec is a great 6 cylinder with lots of power. I've babied it and for the most part, it is only really in need of struts and catalytic converters and O2 sensors.

I can't justify car payments, and man are Hondas easy to work on for the most part.
Brakes are crazy simple, love their design.
 
'98 Mercedes M-Class. It actually checks conductivity of the oil. I argued with my mechanic that no one does that, it just ranges from a mileage meter, to a computer system that monitors engine hours, warm ups, and idle time, things like that.
He was a factory trained mech. He used to run the shop at the local dealer, but the dealership screwed around and Mercedes took his franchise away.
So, my guy opened his own shop specializing on Mercedes and other foreign models.
I was bothered by the fact that the oil change default setting was 10,000 miles. In other words, when the mileage was reset, it came up as 10,000 before the next change.
He pointed out that the 6 cylinder in that car used 8 quarts. In other words, it had a built in oil change.
That makes sense I suppose. Modern oil does not "wear out" as much any more, although there is some loss of additives. The biggest reason for an oil change is due to contaminant.
And 8 quarts is going to take longer to build up bad stuff than 4 quarts would.
I guess if you built an engine that had a 100 quart oil pan, you would only need to change the oil every 100K or so......

But, then I noticed that the service mileage seemed to change. In other words, I went a lot longer than 10K sometimes. He told me that the oil level sensor in the pan was also a probe that measured the oil life its self.
He had heard that it measured the conductivity of the oil, and as carbon and other things built up, it adjusted the change interval accordingly.
I expressed doubt loudly.
We checked the time left before service. I want to say it was about 2K. I watched while he pumped about two quarts of oil out of the dipstick hole.
Refilled it with the regular synthetic he usually put in my car.
I drove it off, and within about 30 minutes, the oil life had jumped to around 4K.
Convinced me.
It would not go back to 10K after an oil change though. You had to reset it. Not sure how many miles it would add when fresh oil was added.

No idea if newer ones do that, of if anyone else does it. I do know that they had some problems with that probe. It would occasionally start showing low oil when it was not low. And was not an easy replacement. Not sure how it worked, but it would not just report low oil, it would actually tell you how low it was withing a half liter. Or quart, don't remember right now.
Mine started showing low oil, but cleared up after an oil change and I did not have to have the pan pulled to replace it.
Edit:
Just went on Rockauto. That sensor is $172, and is very strange looking. No telling what the heck it does.

5S3017__ra_p.jpg
 
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GM does not use any oil quality sensor. GM's oil life monitor is a calculation based on how oil degrades over time. Outside influences like ambient temp, drive cycles (run time), days since last oil life reset, and probably a couple of other factors I'm forgetting right now. I can say that my older customers that don't drive much more than 1000 miles a year will usually have the change oil soon message come up at the year mark. Folks that have a longer commute like my 80 miles a day will stretch it out over somebody that drives many short trips where the engine may not reach full operating temp.

I know of one bulletin for the 4 cylinder Equinox/Terrain engine that the oil life monitor calculation could let the interval span 8-10k miles. They had us reprogram the ECM with a new calibration that altered the oil life calculation so that it lowered the interval.
 
My parents both have nearly new Japanese cars and both consume 1-3 quarts of synth oil between 5K intervals.

I prefer dinosaur oil
 
Synthetic is tits for cold weather starting...it's all I run in my '17 GMC. It doesn't use a drop between changes.
 
Well, you folks got me to wondering. I'm driving a 2019 Honda Passport with the V6 engine. Bought it last June or close to that. I'd have to look it up.
Just ran out of mileage warranty. The factory warranty is only 36K. I considered an extended warranty, but decided against it. The dealership give me a lifetime powertrain warranty. Not sure how good it is, but have heard no complaints. It even covers timing belt replacement.
So far, I have been letting them do the service because they seem to do a good job, and the rates are reasonable. I did pay extra for some nonscheduled service.
I had them change the engine oil, transmission fluid, transfer case and rear end fluid at about 2K.
I have done that to every new vehicle, to get the initial wear particles out.

Using the service monitor it calls for oil changes about every 5K. Varies from time to time.
When the car was new, I checked under the hood several times. But, after everything checked out OK, I let it slide. After all, it was a brand new car and in warranty.
Its due for a service now, and will go in the shop Wed. Its a B1 service, but they have an additional procedure at 40K, and I have about 37, so I'm going to go ahead with that one.
In addition to changing the oil and filter, which is the B service, and rotating the tires, which is the 1 part. They will change the transmission fluid and transfer case fluid.
I'm going to ask about the rear end, since it has two multidisk clutch packs in there which are constantly slipping and locking up as you drive along under 50, and if you are going off road.
Basically the rear end is a spool with a computer controlled clutch pack between the spool and each axle. The computer controls the amount of lockup for each pack, which acts as a differential.
With all that slipping of the wetted clutch plates, an oil change might be a good idea.

The reason for this post, is that I checked my oil today, and it was full after about 5K. No oil use at the 37K mark.
However, except for one time for about 10 minutes of driving, the "economy" button has never been pushed.
Pushing that button does several things.
It cycles the AC compressor, leaving it off longer. The owner's manual states that cabin temps might run a little higher than otherwise.
I live in Fl. When I call for cold, I want cold.
Plus, I understand that it uses the variable cylinder trick. Disabling cylinders according to engine load.
I have heard that in some cases, that can increase oil use, as the lower pressure in the non-firing cylinders can let oil get past the rings.
I just don't like the idea of disabling cylinders, even though the system has improved since the old Cadillac days.

I told my girl in Ca., when she asked why I did not want to get the best gas mileage I could, that I paid for 6 cylinders, and by God I wanted the use of 6 cylinders.
She is convinced I'm nuts........
 
We've got a 2012 Honda CRV with 215,000 miles on it and it uses its 1st quart somewhere between 1400-1800 miles so we top it off and the next quart comes at about 3000 then again at about 4500-5000 if I don't change it. its a 0-20 synthetic motor. It doesn't leak it or smoke. My buddy at the Honda dealer says just keep oil in it and it will run for ever they all do it from that vintage. Its been using that much since about 85,000 miles. Doesn't seem to get any worse. Kind of annoying though. At this point it doesn't owe us much and it should last our daughter for awhile as long as she remembers to check the oil like I showed her.

My wife had an Isuzu Rodeo when we first met that used a quart in a 1000 miles at about 65,000 miles and they replaced the short block. I asked the service manager when we took it in if it was common and he laughed and just said common enough that we keep 2 short blocks in stock.
 
You know, I never thought about this until now, but the cost of that oil negates the good fuel economy. If a car gets 40 MPG, but uses a quart every 1000 miles and you buy it @ $5/quart and gas @$2.40, that's the equivalent cost of 37MPG. In addition to the time cost of checking it often, the risk of damage/wear is also increased. So 0W oils seem kind of dumb.

If you make it to the next scheduled change less than a quart low, the added cost is basically 0.
 
So if you're burning a quart every 1k miles... Do you still need to change the oil, it's 'self refreshing' at that point isn't it... lol
 
Well you still need a filter and to some extent to drain the bottom of the pan. You could drain, run through some filter media, put it back in and continue to add new. Contrary to my previous point, if you can run the filter 6,000 miles instead of 3,000, that does offset some of the oil cost. I'm just not seeing how tons of oil-burners on the road is "green".
 
My passport has alternating A and B service intervals.
The A gets an oil change with the old filter left in place. The B changes both oil and filter.
Needless to say, they have never changed the oil without changing the filter on my car even if I have to pay extra. There is no system out there that has an indicator of when an oil filter gets filled up enough to go on bypass.
If you leave the old filter in place, you do keep a certain amount of old oil in the system, but you have no way of knowing how much "life" the filter has.
I have seen studies where they seem to find that a filter removes smaller particles as it gets stopped up. The stuff in the filter partially closes the holes and makes it filter better.
But, at some point, the back pressure gets to the point that the built in bypass opens to keep from starving the engine of oil.
After that, you have no filter in the system, and you are back to 60s Volkswagen beetle tech.

Those engines did do well though. I always figured it was because they mostly called for non-detergent oil.
All the dirt and wear particles got stuck in the sludge in the bottom of the pan and did not circulate in the engine to do damage........
 
I think the 0 weight oil is more for the variable valve timing mechanism. Put 5w20 in a 0w20 engine and you will get VVT codes, you might even notice performance lose. This has happened at work we have 5w20 on the overhead real and 0w20 in 55 barrels that have to be pushed to the vehicle to use, on a barrel dolly. 2 or our GM use 0 and 2 use 5, if the tech is lazy or doesn't look at the cap the 0 end up with 5w20, and come back with codes, these engines are all below 50k atm.
 

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