# OIL BURNING - High Mileage car **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** oil\ **Created:** [October 21, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013 "2008-10-21T15:59:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Picayuneman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85e7bf/32.png) [@Picayuneman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Picayuneman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/1 "2008-10-21T15:59:35Z")
I have a 2001 Mazda Protege (1.6) with 150,000 miles on it - I drive 1400 miles a week and use 1 quart a week (no smoke). Normal or not ---
**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/2 "2008-10-21T16:17:15Z")
“Normal” depends on how much the car used to burn, and you didn’t tell us that. 1400 miles per quart of oil is not horribly excessive. Many cars with fewer miles consume this much. Does the engine leak oil, or is all of it being burned? I’d continue to drive and not worry about it too much unless the oil consumption goes way up. ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/3 "2008-10-21T16:27:09Z")
Normal. You should be happy. Try 10/40 oil. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/4 "2008-10-21T16:36:10Z")
Perfectly normal. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/5 "2008-10-21T16:49:11Z")
The manufacturer may say it’s normal…but I sure don’t. Especially if it never used oil like that before. I’ve yet to own a vehicle that burns more then 1/2 quart every 3k miles…even when these vehicles had over 300k miles on them…I take it back I did own one…73 Vega. But that no matter what you did that car was going to burn oil. ---
**Author:** ![Picayuneman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85e7bf/32.png) [@Picayuneman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Picayuneman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/6 "2008-10-21T16:56:28Z")
These are highway miles - it runs great - just after a week I put a quart in and i’ts fine ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@andrew\_j](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andrew_j)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/7 "2008-10-21T16:57:53Z")
Buy a case of the cheapest on sale oil and keep motoring on. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/8 "2008-10-21T17:07:54Z")
The key is-has it changed recently? If consumption has jumped, then something is wrong. If it’s been like this for a long time, it’s OK. ---
**Author:** ![Docnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Docnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Docnick)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/9 "2008-10-21T17:11:04Z")
Agree that if this gradually developed, just add 1 quart of the cheapest 10W40 oil every time it needs it. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/10 "2008-10-21T17:25:34Z")
I never count my Vega when describing anything as normal…but despite everything I still think that was a cool little car. Too bad the quality wasn’t there. Personally I’d consider a quart every 1400 miles to be comfortably within the normal range for anything with 150K on it. There’s no way I’d tear into an engine, or even be concerned about its health, with that level of usage at that mileage assuming it was running well otherwise. I guess on this one we’ll have to agree to disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/11 "2008-10-21T17:35:52Z")
I’ve owned some cars where I would have been happy if the car used only a quart every 1400 miles. For some reason that I don’t understand, some brands of oil seem to give more miles per quart. I once had a Ford Maverick that was using a quart of 10W-40 Sunoco oil every 1000 miles. I was going through the grocery store and Valvoline was on sale at 39 cents a quart (this was a long time ago). I decided to use the Valvoline 10W-40 and even if it took more oil, I would still save money. To my amazement, the car would go 1300 miles per quart with the Valvoline. Oils may be more alike today than in that time period. ---
**Author:** ![circuitsmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/circuitsmith/32/40376_2.png) [@circuitsmith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/circuitsmith)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/12 "2008-10-21T17:50:40Z")
How long have you been driving this car 1400 miles a week? You should be changing the oil and filter once a month at that rate. If you haven’t been changing oil that frequently then it’s no surprise it’s burning some oil at 150k. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-burning-high-mileage-car/21013/13 "2008-10-21T20:16:08Z")
It could be normal based on the car’s history and driving habits. Many vehicles don’t burn any oil even if 2800 miles in a week is accumulated. You can probably expect a problem with O2 sensors and catalytic converter in the future when oil deposits start caking up on them. (And the reason you see no smoke is because of the converter)