Car Burning Oil - Manufactuer Won't Fix

It certainly won't have lost a litre every 1,700 miles like the OP's will it?

The difference between the full and refill marks on average is usually around a litre, and is perhaps 20mm on the dipstick. Even with my old eyes, I can visually estimate if the level is on the line, or 1mm below it. This would give the ability to detect a loss of 50ml.

Now if you accept that "a drop" is not a scientifically accepted measure, then 50ml in a fill of perhaps 5 litres is certainly insignificant.

In the context of the OP's question, it's surely acceptable saying a car is using no oil between changes if the level remains within the manufacturer's specification.

Chris

Assuming you're not diluting it with fuel.

Chris Whelan gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Indeed. Which is why I didn't say that.

A smaller difference, I suspect, than the difference between checking it cold or hot and freshly switched off or having "drained down" for a while.

Indeed. The OP is massively over-reacting.

By carrying out weekly checks like you're supposed to?

Have the PCV system checked and the check valve changed, and go from there.

What sort of driving style, and annual mileage do you have??

Tim..

multitudes:

The magic Dipstick fairy does it

Fuel would boil off

God in 'evens. The pedants are out in force today. We all knew what he meant by not used any in 160,000, even if it was not worded precisely enough for pedant types to live with. Shame that most of the posts end up talking about minor semantics when we could be talking about interesting mechanical engineering stuff, that this NG is supposed to be about.

Mark

Only if you've run out of water as well. In which case oil won't really be the major issue.

Which doesn't means it hasn't used oil. It's possible to collect water and/or fuel in the oil at a rate that matches oil use. Level stays constant, oil is degraded.

Well it shouldn't have.

Rings. Valve stem seals. Turbo return hose. Turbo seals.

Same with my Combo van on the 1.6 engine (Z16SE - i think) recently oil consumption increased worrying me but then i found a concealed leak :-S.dripping onto a plastic tray which was neatly collecting it and preventing it dripping onto my drive - can't decide if it is the sump or the crack seal though.

Tom

EBay.

Of course I have regularly changed the oil. But the oil never disappeared.

Quite true. Also I change using fully synt max every 4k miles. I don't know if oil consumption would be visible for longer change intervals, but I don't care. It was a marked difference from when I had the Fiat Croma, that one needed top up all the time. At first I couldn't understand why my Saab 9000 didn't use oil between changes, I thought that there must be something wrong...

Well ehh.. yes, possibly. Hence an oil change is due. But no top up was needed between changes; the level stayed up fine. I don't understand how fuel could possibly enter the oil? And water in the oil would show up as foam.

Down the piston walls or blow back via crap PCV design.

But only if the air/fuel mixture hasn't ignited.

"Or before every long drive" too. :-)