Engine Oil evaporates!

Oil doesn't "evaporate." It is either leaking out or being burned in the engine. Are you sure you put in the correct amount? If the engine is burning oil, you usually don't have a burning oil smell, as the fumes are going out the exhaust and dissipating behind the car. You may have grey or blue smoke. But sometimes that is hard to see from the driver's position.

Merritt

I can't believe that you would burn all the oil in 50 miles. There must be a nasty leak in that vehicle.

There's no smoke coming from the exhaust. How and why the engine burns oil? What can be done about it? Yes, I put in the correct amount. After about driving for 30-50 minutes or so, the oil dip stick won't have a reading.

Could your dipstick be shrinking as it warms up?

That's opposite of any other man.

Sounds pretty mysteriouus and nerly impossible to me. If an enengine were to burn that much it would be leaving a noticeable cloud and probably wouldn't run that long. Are you sure you're checking the engine oil dipstick? what kind of oil did you use and how many quarts? Are there any oily stains where the car is parked? Oil doesn't evaporate at engine tempertures! Is someone esle draining it?

Had a Ford once that burned 1 quart every 100 miles, and the smoke was everywhere. I believe if you are checking the oil level on level ground, and the engine oil and not the transmission fluid, you are pumping it out onto the ground. Put the right amount in the engine, and put newspaper under the car, and let it run for 15 minutes and see if any is leaking out. Check the output from the exhaust system. Look in the engine compartment for a lot of new oil.

Heh. That line took me immediately to Seinfeld when I read it.

You are waiting for the oil to drain back down into the crankcase after you stop the car, right? I have never heard of a car that burns a couple of quarts of oil after 30 miles or so. You must have a very bad leak. Do you have oil getting into the coolant?

Merritt

I thought of something else. The oil I use is very light colored and is hard to see on the dipstick when new. Look a bit closer and drag your finger along the dipstick. If you were as low as you claim then the oil warning light would be illuminated.

After a year, and being 14 years old, I'd guess several things have happened.

1. An oil seal somewhere, most likely the front or rear crank seal, or possibly the cam seal, has hardened, and its pumping the oil out on to the ground, but only when the engine is running. Put a piece of cardboard under the car and run it for a while.
2. The oil rings have stuck on the pistons. Its not uncommon, and results in high oil consumption, but not always enough to make visible smoke. Pull out the plugs and see if they are covered in oily carbon. There are products that disolve carbon that you pour into each cylinder and let sit for

Stewart DIBBS

The oil is not evaporating, it's being puked out the back. I can't imagine how you could be going through more than a teaspoon of oil in 50 miles, an not see where it is coming out.

My son has a 90 tercel that was going through alot of oil from a oil leak when he was driving down the road (defective rear main seal) and could loose a quart in 100 miles or less. Oil does not evaporate. It leaks out or burns. If you are positive that there are no leaks, you might try using 15w40 in it (not 10w40) and that should slow the rate on loss a good bit if it is not leaking. Given the age of vehcial, it is likely burning oil and 5w30 can go right through a worn engine.

You know there is also the possibilty too that the oil in being held up in head due to sludge blocking the return hole which would agravate the problem and increase oil comsumption as well.

If you have a main oil seal that leaks going down the road. It will leave a trail on the bottom of the car and the bottom of car will be coated for the air stream turbulance with the oil drips at speed.

On the stucks rings, general if the rings are stuck you will have two simptom, one is it will smoke a lot when starting and when you coast at speed and get back into the gas and it will get worse as engine warms up and alos you will have a lot of blow by the will leave a oil film trail in the aircleaner where the crankcase vent hooks up because it will overpower the PCV valve circuit.

I've started putting 20w-50 into the oil case and it seems to help some. Yesterday before I went on a trip, I checked my oil lever, it was almost full. After the trip about 130 miles, the oil lever had dropped about one and half quart. Still there was no smoke coming from the back or under the hood, and no oil spots on the groud after letting the car sit.

The oil is not evaporating.

The only way you can go through oil that quickly is for it to leak or burned in the engine.