Thanks for the update. The DI engines are known for more gasoline mixing with oil as you know. I can tell by smelling. Seems like you might have had some issues with driving short distances/etc when you had the QS oil in it, or maybe your car doesn’t like QS.
"What manufacturer has the audacity to claim that anything close to 500 miles per quart is normal? "
Audi, for one.
Over the past few years, we have had several posts from owners of new Audis who complained of excessive oil consumption. I recall that at least two of these posters stated that when they phoned Audi at the corporate level, they were told that it was “normal” for Audi engines to use as much as 1 qt every 600 miles.
Good to hear no oil consumption so far. I bet what you saw was water and gasoline being boiled out after the cold winter.
One Can Consider Taking A Sample Of Oil While Changing It And Sending Off To Blackstone Labs For Analysis. I Did That With My Wife’s Car To See If The OLM Knew What It Was Talking About. When You Phone Or E-Mail, They’ll Send A Kit Including A Collection Bottle. Be Sure To Read The Blurb About Mailing Hazardous Materials (On Their Website) And Print The Letter. I Had A Little Trouble At The P.O. At First. Honesty Got Me In Trouble.
CSA
@VDCDriver Several years ago I rented a Toyota Matrix on a holiday. The owner’s manual said that 1 quart per 750 miles should be considered “normal”. This car used 0W20 synthetic or 5W20 mineral oil.
With these thin oils and high operating temperatures manufacturers want to get off the hook if their cars consume oil.
My 2007 Corolla, on the other hand, has NEVER had oil added, neither 0W20, 5W20 or 5W30, which I use mostly.
My 2006 Matrix (same engine as 2005-2008 Corolla) OM says 1qt per 600 miles is normal.
It doesn’t use any noticeable oil between 5000 mile changes of 5W30.
Another update, the dipstick has 5 intervals between full and add. If the oil level is above the full mark, it’s hard to tell because the dipstick is a cable except for the plug on the end with the markings. I put in 5 qts at each oil change and the reading may be a little above full due to residual oil in the engine.
At 2k miles the oil level was at the full mark, now at 3.5k miles the oil level is at 2/5 between full and add. It looks like the oil level is dropping 1 interval/500 miles. Assuming it is one quart between full and add, worse case oil consumption is 1 qt/2500 miles. When the oil level gets near the add mark I will add enough oil to get back to the full mark to get a better sense of the oil usage.
I will try a full synthetic for the next oil change and add just enough oil to get to the full mark (4.5 qts or so).
Ed b.
One thing I’ve noticed is that as the oil accumulates more miles, the more oil an engine seems to use. In other words, you might go 2500 miles and there doesn’t seem to be any change on the dipstick. Then, at 3500 miles, it may be down a pint.
My o6 honda CRV never uses any oil & I use just ordinary 5-30 oil .Of course I only have about 70,000 KM,s on it . Honda Bill
@auto-owner asks “what is the evidence that changing oil brands can cause problems?”
Here’s where I got that suggestion
“Once we find an oil that meets the proper specifications, we must select a manufacturer’s brand. This is important as changing oil brands can cause problems. Most major brand oils are good, if they meet the specifications of your engine. Different brands often use different additive packages and these may not be compatible. For instance if you use Mobil do not switch to Valvoline or vice versa.”
This happened near the end of an oil change cycle after a long trip ? Not unusual as the contamination by gasoline increases specially with lots of short trips .
After your oil change your car may well go back to its previous oil habits .
CSA, what happened to Florida? You mentioned a few months ago,that you were considering a move.
I searched GM ecotech oil consumption to find this site. Apparently they have the 2.2 liter engine fixed. Ours doesn’t burn any oil at 75K miles. Our 2.5 is doing fine at 23k miles so far; no oil burning.
Wha who, with the amount of design capability that GM has and the amount of qualification (including accelerated life) testing that GM does, I find engines having been released with this much of a problem to be unacceptable. These problems should have been found and these design changes should have been made well before the design was signed off for mass production. As their history suggests, it sounds like they’re still using the consumers to weed out their design problems. IMHO nothing seems to have changed at GM. It appears to be business as usual.
TSM, stuff happens. If you make things, things will go wrong. Insert your favorite brand in place of GM such as Toyota. They should have fully tested their accelerator pedal mechanism before turning it loose on the public. Honda front fenders should have not rusted through prematurely when the Accord first came on the market. Takata should have fully tested their air bags and so on. Recalls for all brands should not happen as well.
Wha Who, keep a close eye on your 2.5. The Equinox did use any oil until after the 25k oil change. My non-DI 2.2 Ecotec in my 2010 Cobalt does not use any oil at 42k. I’m going to try Pennzoil Ultra (low volatility) next and return to a 4k change interval.
@ thesamemountainbike perhaps GM is stealing designs from Honda and Toyota.
@genex Yes, the sump level can rise because of both raw gasoline and condensation caused by those short trips. In the days of carburetors it was very common.
When the owner then takes the car on a long trip and checks the oil afterwards, it will have gone down quite a bit. After topping up there will be little or no oil consumption.
This situation was in the past referred to a the “magic oil disappearance”.
Anyone living in Minnesota will have heard of this.
Changed the oil at 34k (4.5k interval). Using a full synthetic this time (Pennzoil Platinum). On the last change the oil level did not drop below the full mark for the first 2000 miles. Based on estimated oil consumption I was assuming the oil was a ~1/2 qt past the full mark. This time I added 4.5 quarts and checked the level, it was between 1/2 and 2/3 full. It took another 12 oz (3/8 qt.) of oil to bring it to the full mark. At worst the oil was only 4 oz overfilled. It looks like there is no measurable oil consumption for the first 2k miles after an oil change.
Ed B.
Just an update. Oil consumption from 34 to 38.5k miles was 2 to 2 1/4 quarts. The previous 2 oil changes used ~3/8 and ~3/4 quarts respectively for the same interval (4.5k miles).
The dealer suggested I bring it in for an oil consumption test. They changed the oil and it’s up to me to monitor the level and bring it to the dealer to add oil as necessary. The threshold for repair is 1 quart/2000 miles. The Equinox is right at the threshold for the repair which consists of new rings and pistons.
Ed B.