cars drinking oil?

Question

i'm going through about 3 litres of oil a month. no leaks or blue smoke. where the hell is it all going, costing me a small fortune. 1998 seat arosa 1.4 8v mpi

Answer 1

Three litres a month over how many miles?

If your're driving 100KM/ week, you should see blue smoke out the exhaust, and your spark plugs will foul rather quickly.

If you're driving 400KM/week, you might not see anything, and the burn rate is so small that the plugs will last a long time.

there are three places that can suck oil through the engine; head gasket, piston rings and valve guides.

If it were a bad head/deck seal from either a bad gasket or warped head, you would likely see your coolant disappearing as well, and you would see blue smoke when the engine was cold.

If it were valve guides, you would see a big puff of blue smoke when you start the engine, and possibly when you you accelerate quickly then let off the gas ( the increased manifold vacuum when closing the throttle plate at high RPMs will suck oil in past the guides).

If it were rings, you would see it under hard acceleration - maybe.

I'm thinking it's rings. Take it to a garage and have them perform a compression test. This will tell how well your rings are sealing the combustion chamber. The bad news is, if it's rings, you need an engine overhaul. The good news is, at that burn rate over (what I'm suspecting) are alot of miles, it isn't much to worry about, just keep the oil topped off.

Answer 2

If the engine isn't leaking the oil on the ground, then it has to be burning it. With that much oil, you should be seeing some smoke out the tail pipe.

There is either a gasket or seal leaking, either with the pistons or the valves.

I would take it in and have it looked at. Just to be sure that it won't break down on you in the future. good luck.

Answer 3

Take your car to a garage and have a complete re-tune of your engine. Tell them about the oil useage.

Is your engine, after running, covered with an oil film? If this is so, the the oil is probably leaking because the engine gasket seal is broken.

How many miles? And, most important of all; what did the previous owner[s] of your car do with it? Could have been raced about in low gears which can lead to an engine blow.

Answer 4

If there are no sign of leaks then the engine must be burning the oil or losing it into the cooling water. Assuming the water level and colour is OK then the most likely causes are, a blown head gasket, a broken piston ring, a valve seal broken or very badly worn. I suggest you take it to the gagage and have them check out the problem.

Answer 5

Wow thats loads! You should only go through half of that during the first 10,000 miles!
Blimey! Take it to a garage it will cost them to have a look about the same in 3 months of oil!
Maybe a seal is gone and is not lubricating the engine.
All the best
Alex

Answer 6

3 liters a month is a small fortune??? here in usa u can get oil 4 abt 1.50 to 2 dollasr a quart...how many miles does the car have on it at 8 dollars a month for oil it doesnt pay to spend hundreds to fix anything...just use good heavy oil and change it every 3000 to 5000 miles/klicks

Answer 7

Blimey thats a lot of oil, i dont think i want to ride a motor bike behind you mate, if you are spraying it out it is going to go on the road, check your dipstick is secure, it may pay you to get your engine steam cleaned so you can get an idea where the leak is, also put cat litter down where you park up if it a communal parking area, just to be polite to neighbors.

Answer 8

when was the last time that you had an oil and filter change? also check the grade of oil that you have topped up with. would put a load of newspaper under engine bay and leave car over night see if any spots of oil appear. open the oil filler cap and have a look inside to see if any creamy oil there, also have a look in the water expansion tank and see if any oil floating in with water. if there is oil in expansion tank take it in too a garage, same with creamy oil under filler cap.

one other thing, is the dip stick secure?

hope thats a help

Answer 9

if you want to be civil about it then, just go and talk to them. tell them to either fix or give the car back the way it was before so you can take it some where else. or you going to proceed with legal measures. just because they work on VW don't mean you have to take it to them. any good mechanic can take a motor out and drop in a new motor, regardless of make and model.

Answer 10

engine needs stripping and at the very least new piston rings, the bores will require honing and the big end shells inspecting/replacing while stripped.
approx 600 quids worth to sort it, common on the seat/vw smaller engines, normally at around 60000 miles.