Your New Car May Be Burning Oil Faster Than It Should.
If you’ve recently tried to buy a car, you know that now they are apparently made from a combination of pure gold and rare earth minerals, and buying even a modest used car is a stressful financial transaction on par with a house. -hunting. But at least buying a new (or relatively new) car saves you from worrying about costly repairs.
Or so you thought. The fact is that even brand new cars require maintenance, and sometimes more than you can imagine. One aspect of your car that is often overlooked is oil. If you are a typical car owner, you change your oil according to the manufacturer’s recommended schedule; if you are less responsible, you can wait until the oil light comes on. Otherwise, you can assume that because your car is less than 10 years old and/or has less than 100,000 miles on it, the oil is fine.
This may not be true. A surprising number of recent car models are burning way more oil than they should, and unless you’re extremely active, this can be hard to notice until it becomes a major problem. If you’re driving a new car, here’s what you need to know about oil consumption.
Even new cars can burn oil
Almost every car engine burns some oil during normal operation – many automakers even offer recommendations on how much oil is considered normal . Car engines are complex and must operate under extreme conditions, so there are many ways that oil can get into the combustion chamber and burn out. Worn valves and pistons, old piston rings, aging seals, or a dirty PCV valve can leak a small amount of oil into the engine, and it’s not unusual for a car to empty a liter or so when you pick it up for a scheduled trip. change.
But some cars, including newer and more expensive BMWs or Audis , burn oil much faster than this and can start to run out of oil dangerously before the next scheduled service. The reasons vary; some newer engines use a lower viscosity oil instead of the classic 10W30, and the thinner oil will penetrate the seals much more easily. Other engines simply age faster than others, which means your 5 year old car may run much less efficiently than you expect.
Oil burn detection
Oil is very important to the health of your engine. If your engine burns oil faster than expected, it can lead to a lot of terrible, useless, and extremely expensive problems. But unlike an oil leak , which provides obvious evidence every time you move your car from one place to another, oil burn-in isn’t always easy to spot. Cars used to belch bluish-tinted oily smoke when they burned oil, but modern catalytic converters do a great job. Result? Your car may be burning oil at a record rate and you won’t know it until the oil check light comes on, which only happens when things get dire. If you wait that long – and if the low oil light comes on, you should stop driving and check the oil immediately – it means you’ve been driving dangerously low oil levels for a while and are wearing out your engine. faster than necessary.
So how do you protect yourself from a voracious machine? First, don’t think that just because your car is new or fancy, it can’t happen to you. Then follow these simple tips:
- Conduct research. If your car seems to be burning oil faster than it should, you’re probably not the only person experiencing the problem. Check if your make and model has an extended manufacturer’s oil consumption warranty and check with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to see if any vehicles have been recalled for your vehicle. Short of that, it’s likely someone is complaining about this on a car forum on the internet.
- Check your oil often. Best defense is attack. If you don’t know how to check the oil in your car, find out – it’s easy and can be done in a few minutes. Check the oil frequently – at least every 1000 miles. Take a picture of the dipstick and when rechecking, compare the current oil level with the photo. If it’s close to the same, you’re good. If it is clearly lower, you either have a leak or you are burning oil. Add oil (do not overfill) and check the machine.
- Get maintenance. Often oil problems are due to worn gaskets and seals and nothing else. Do a tune up, tell your mechanic about your oil problems and see if a simple and relatively cheap maintenance fixes the problem.