2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport - Consumes oil

My wife has a 2013 santa fe sport its been a great car with no issues but does use a lot of oil. Mo smoke -no leaks but today I checked the oil and we are about halfway through the oil change cycle. Zero oil was on the dipstick. I added 3+ courts to bring it to full. Weird has about 90 k on it. I will call the dealership about the issue asap.

If you bought it new you have a 10yr./100k powertrain warranty but the fact that you let it get 3 quarts low doesn’t indicate it’s had particularly great maintenance. For reference, I just put half a quart in my Toyota and it has 118k. Cars do require care.

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Okay I’m going to ignore your condescending tone. Did you read my comment? I stated we are halfway between oil changes which we do regularly and its 3 quarts down that ain’t normal bud. We are at 90 k and have always maintained the car properly. Would you consider it good maintenance if we added a quart of oil?weekly or would you say hmm somthing could be wrong…

Between oil changes, it’s your responsibility to make sure the oil level does not drop too low. If the engine has started to use or lose more oil, it means more frequent monitoring and topping up.

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It would be a good idea to check the oil weekly and add a quart when needed.

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Good maintenance is making sure the oil level is at the full mark at all times. If that means checking every Saturday , or every fuel fill up and adding the amount of oil to do so is something every vehicle owner should do .
And if you think pointing out that you should never let it get so low that you have to add 3 quarts is condescending then you are mistaken.

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No condescension involved. Unless your vehicle is burning or leaking oil at an alarming rate, it took a while to lose 3 quarts, time when you apparently weren’t checking it. Others have pointed out the importance of keeping tabs on oil and other fluid levels. If you had added a quart when you needed to–and then another as necessary–it would have been better for your engine.

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Let me add: check it right after an oil change, too. And watch for a leaking oil filter.

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I think there is a generation gap between the OP and old Geezers like me on this Board. In the late 1940s through at least the 1970s, a quart of oil every 1000 miles wasn’t abnormal. We were used to checking the oil when we filled up with gas.
Oils and engines have improved. I was elated when new valve stem seals reduced the oil consumption on my 1971 Ford Maverick from a quart every 300.miles to a quart every 1250 miles.
Our two vehicles, a 2017 Toyota Sienna and a 2003 Toyota 4Runner have never needed a quart of oil between changes. However, I check the oil every gas fill-up. It’s habit. I even carry a quart in the vehicles in case I need to add a quart. I have never had to open that quart.
My suggestion to the OP: Practice Geezer habits!

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All three of my cars have over 100K miles on them, and we check the oil every week. Sometimes we have to add a little, but that’s part of the joy of older cars.

My oil change place isn’t going to buy me a new engine if I let it run out of oil between oil changes. That responsibility is on me, the owner.

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Almost all oil burning problems are caused by stuck oil control rings. Stuck oil rings are caused by…

  1. Oil change regimen too lengthy.
  2. Engine overheating.
  3. Running the engine low on oil which causes the remaining oil to coke (meaning burn) and in turn seize the oil control rings in their grooves.

The comments directed to you were not condescending. You simply did not want to hear that YOU may in some way be the cause of this problem. And you or your wife are the cause. Fight it out over whose job it is to check the fluids under the hood.

Maintained the car properly? No. If you were maintaining it properly the engine would never have
gotten 3 quarts low on oil.

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Be glad you bought a car woth a 10 year 100.000 mile powertrain warranty. Hope ypo have or can get all your oil change records.

I do not know how many miles is 1/2 way to oil change. Hopefully it is a simple fix. Many dealers consider a quart every 1000 miles acceptable.

Now that this problem came to your attention, I suggest that you check the oil every week to see how fast it is lost. When the car is a quart low, put In a quart of the oil recommended in your owners manual. It’s possible that not enough oil was put into the sump the last time the oil was changed. This will confirm if it is a leak of some sort or not.

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+1
That needs to be repeated for the folks who–somehow–don’t think that they ever need to add oil between oil changes.

…and this…

Exactly!

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Okay I got it I should check it more often but, let me rephrase my question. Do any of you think its normal to loose three quarts of oil in 2500 miles? With no leaks visible and no smoke visible.

That is getting to the level of excessive.
Go to Hyundai and request an oil consumption test.
In your Owners Manual it says you should check the oil level every tank of gas.
It may be more than many people like to do, but it’s the safe way to go until its established how much oil a vehicle consumes.
I’ve been blessed to never have a vehicle that needs oil between changes (currently a 2017 Tucson) but I still check oil every 1000 miles.

That’s a different question. A quart in 833 miles is out of the ordinary. Whether it’s “excessive” depends on who you ask. Bear in mind too that less oil creates more consumption. As for smoke, the catalytic converter often gets rid of blue smoke. You could be burning oil and not know it.

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That being said hopefully you have done all the oil changes at the Hyundai dealer on time so you have proof . If not then you will have to prove you have done all oil changes with receipts etc or Hyundai will do nothing and any fix will be on your dollar .

It depends how you got there. If it’s been a gradual climb over time, then yes it could be considered normal albeit higher usage than I would like. If it went from 1/2 quart to suddenly swilling down 3 quarts, it’s definitely not normal and should be looked into sooner rather than later. So history plays a role in it imo.

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