amanonfire

My car is down 1L of oil after only 5K kms of driving.

Now I have switched from mostly hwy driving to mostly city driving after moving. I've only put 5K kms on in 7 months of driving, so I would expect to burn a little bit of oil, yet 1L is a lot. I have about 80K kms on this engine.

Checked:
- the cam sensors, not a drop of oil.
- the coolant, no oil residue floating on top.
- the vacuum pump on the back of the head, doesn't appear to be leaking.
- the oil filter cap, no leak.

Going to check:
- the oil drain plug.
- the spark plugs for signs of burnt oil.
- the block/headgasket

What else should I check?

mleskovar

If you leaked a quart of oil it would show up somewhere and be dripping beneath the engine. If there's nothing on the undercarriage covers or the garage floor or street then you are probably burning it. I have also switched from doing 20K miles/yr. to 5k miles per year and am curious about oil consumption change as well. I plan on doing an oil analysis at the end of the first year mainly to check for water.

amanonfire

I definitely need to get under the car and check, next weekend.

I haven't had to add oil on the last 2 oil changes (15K and 10K) so I suspect its a leak

LILBENZ230

I had this happen to my car about 10,000 miles ago and it was from them putting .5L less than they were supposed to at the oil change. Are you sure it had enough to start with?

Just a guess.

amanonfire

Yes, I did the oil change myself.

Regardless, if it displays the message it means oil is going somewhere. A certain amount of burnt oil is expected, yet 1L in 5K kms is not a good sign.

If I cannot find the leak I'm going to top it up and monitor it over the next 6 months till I hit 10K.

I doubt its burning oil cause I also passed emissions with a near perfect score, burning oil would have shown up.

LILBENZ230

Yeah that's a significant amount. All cars burn some oil, but I keep an eye on my level via the dyno mode menu and it starts as 5.5L after an oil change and 10k miles later it's usually at 5.1-5.2.

amanonfire

Mine showed 5.7L after the oil change and is now showing 4.4L.

jkowtko

My M271 has burned a quart about every 5k miles since I drove it off the showroom floor ... I thought it was common knowledge that these engines do burn oil.