Burning oil

monkeysnapper

Car serviced end of Feb . Had to put 1 litre of oil last month .

I've just done 1259 km over to UK and back and warning light came on ( oil Check) no oil at all on dip stick

Put in just over 1 litre to top up.

No smoke at back and feels like it's running ok.

Car is a Citroen c4 1.4 petrol 110 miles on clock

Any ideas

conor2469

If its not being burnt then its leaking out. Has it only started losing oil since its last service?

tossy

Extended run on uk motorways? sorching hot weather ? Wouldn't be that unusual to burn a bit. If you know it's burning a bit of oil then you will just have to dip it a bit more often.

Alanstrainor

That doesn't seem too horrendous to me. I'd say it's probably within spec to burn 1 litre in a thousand miles. Especially if you've been driving at a decent speed on the motorway, or backroads for the last month.

monkeysnapper

It's defo not leaking .

But yes this has only happened since last service , I don't use car much normally , I cycle to work most days and use a bit weekends.

It did have a lot of motorway driving this last week plus small low gear country roads once we got to destination .

conor2469

monkeysnapper wrote: »

But yes this has only happened since last service , I don't use car much normally , I cycle to work most days and use a bit weekends.
.

Did you change oil grade or brand?

monkeysnapper

conor2469 wrote: »

Did you change oil grade or brand?

I haven't asked garage what they put in but I put in 10w40

I'd feel a bit awkward going Into garage and asking . But I do a small bit of work for garage advertising cars on done deal so might mention it's using oil .

Alanstrainor

monkeysnapper wrote: »

It's defo not leaking .

But yes this has only happened since last service , I don't use car much normally , I cycle to work most days and use a bit weekends.

It did have a lot of motorway driving this last week plus small low gear country roads once we got to destination .

I'd put it down to blowing out the cobwebs honestly. I would keep track of it for now, but I wouldn't be overly concerned. If there's no other symptoms such as smoke, oil burning smells, or oil on the driveway I'd be happy enough to leave it.

Leonard Hofstadter

Most petrols burn a bit as they get older, as long as you're getting more than 1000 km to a litre of oil it's nothing to get too stressed about.

Switching to a thicker oil like 10W40 will help reduce the consumption (but check that you can go this thick in the owner's manual before doing so, as most petrol cars like their 5W30 these days, and 10W40 won't offer the engine the same protection as 5W30 does when the engine is cold).

monkeysnapper

captainspeed wrote: »

Most petrols burn a bit as they get older, as long as you're getting more than 1000 km to a litre of oil it's nothing to get too stressed about.

Switching to a thicker oil like 10W40 will help reduce the consumption (but check that you can go this thick in the owner's manual before doing so, as most petrol cars like their 5W30 these days, and 10W40 won't offer the engine the same protection as 5W30 does when the engine is cold).

90% of my driving is very very short distances ' that's why I opt to cycle to work most days ' car doesn't even hit a bar by time I get to work ' roughly 1km .

My manual recommends 10w40 so that's what I put in.

It was a month and bit ago I topped up oil and I do drive a bit more at weekends ( maybe 100/150km) so maybe 400km plus my 1250 km road trip ...i may also add that I dropped car into my mechanic last week for him to have a quick look over before journey as I was doing a job for him while there.

But as stated I was a bit shocked there was no oil at all on dip stick , I'm defo going to have to keep a close eye on situation .

Alanstrainor

monkeysnapper wrote: »

But as stated I was a bit shocked there was no oil at all on dip stick , I'm defo going to have to keep a close eye on situation .

How soon after turning off the engine did you check the oil? If it was immediately it could just be that the oil hadn't fully settled back into the sump and it gave a lower reading. 1 litre is generally the amount you need to put in to bring it from the min to the max on a dipstick. So again I don't think there's too much to be concerned about.

Leonard Hofstadter

Short distance driving will cause higher oil consumption, the oil is thinner when cold so more of it will get past the piston rings and valve stem seals.

barneygumble99

captainspeed wrote: »

Short distance driving will cause higher oil consumption, the oil is thinner when cold so more of it will get past the piston rings and valve stem seals.

?? Surely oil is thinner when hot

knipex

captainspeed wrote: »

Short distance driving will cause higher oil consumption, the oil is thinner when cold so more of it will get past the piston rings and valve stem seals.

Errrrr... no.. Oil is thinner when hot..

Leonard Hofstadter

Erm, 10W40 means the oil is thicker when it's warm than it is when cold.

10 refers to the viscosity when cold, 40 refers to the viscosity of the oil when it is at 100 degrees (which it would be in most cars once the engine has fully warmed up). The higher the viscosity, the less of a flow rate there is, meaning that when warm the engine will use less oil than when it is cold.

Henry Ford III

captainspeed wrote:

Erm, 10W40 means the oil is thicker when it's warm than it is when cold.

Not sure if serious.

zilog_jones

captainspeed wrote: »

Erm, 10W40 means the oil is thicker when it's warm than it is when cold.

It means it has a lower viscosity at cold than it would be if it was a single grade SAE 40 oil, it does not mean SAE 10 at cold is less viscous than SAE 40 at 100 degrees.

knipex

captainspeed wrote: »

Erm, 10W40 means the oil is thicker when it's warm than it is when cold.

10 refers to the viscosity when cold, 40 refers to the viscosity of the oil when it is at 100 degrees (which it would be in most cars once the engine has fully warmed up). The higher the viscosity, the less of a flow rate there is, meaning that when warm the engine will use less oil than when it is cold.

No it doesn't..

Not even close. Have you ever seen warm engine oil ????

zilog_jones

Yeah, just try draining cold multi-grade oil from an engine... good luck!

Leonard Hofstadter

Good to know, thanks. Every day's a school day:o!