Never any black smoke from the tailpipe, no leakage from crankcase (was checked), compression test revealed the compression was close to that of a new car. Oil seems to be going down 1/2-1 qt. every 1500 miles.
IS THIS TOO MUCH OIL USAGE? The whole engine would have to be taken apart to see leakage in valves. Does the compression test prove anything?
Compression was one point off that of a new Sonata.
ANY IDEAS OR SHOULD I JUST KEEP ADDING HIGH MILEAGE OIL WHEN IT'S DOWN? Tried that Lucas oil treatment but hard to get into crankcase as it is
almost solid petroleum. Adding oil for engines over 75,000.
Thanks, i stopped using Lucas as it was not feasible. It has been losing that much oil for about the last 10,000 miles. I will look for the blue smoke when starting cold.
Is that too much oil use for 1500 miles? I used to have Corolla that always was at full at oil changes at 3000 miles.
No smoke of any color coming out of tailpipe.
What kind of maintenance has the car had? What type of driving do you typically do? For me a quart every 1500 miles is too much, but many folks would just live with it. Any smoke at all? (blue or black) . . . any drips after parking overnight? Are you using the proper weight at oil change? Rocketman
I used to do long distance driving , highway 100 miles per day. For last three years has been
about 45 mph usually and not much city driving…not much stop and start.
Yes using always 5W30 recommended by manufacturer. There has never been any oil on pavement or garage as Sonata has a full length cover on bottom of engine. I had mechanic look for any signs of oil leakage on bottom of crankcase as well as on this cover…NO OIL.
I suppose there could be just a tiny amt. of smoke that is almost invisible. I have to have someone look when I am starting cold.
If you used 0W20, as in many cars now you would have a very thin and very slippery oil which can easily result in oil consumption. Many new cars using this oil have a warning in the manual that “oil consumption of 1 quart very 100 miles is considerate acceptable”.
P.S. That is 1 quart per 1000 miles. Sorry about the error.
Um, I assume Docnick meant to type 1000 miles (which is still laughably unacceptable in my opinion).
I would stick a finger in the tailpipe and see if it’s damp.
Put finger in tailpipe…dry as a bone…but black oil soot but isn’t that normal exhaust residue?
The reason i am concerned is that I like the car and wanted to keep it a while but wonder if this oil thing is an indicator of future problems. Then i would try to sell it sooner…looks new in the body and interior.
A compression test is not 100% definitive. It’s possible to have compression numbers that are equal to any new car on the lot and still have an oil burner.
The reason for this is that the compression rings on the pistons may be good but the oil control (or wiper) rings may be stuck in their ring lands. This is not rare and is generally caused by an overheating engine, wrong oil type, or failure to change the oil often enough based on miles, time, driving habits, and environmental conditions.
Just curious, but what kind of compression numbers does the engine have?
Black soot in the tailpipe can be caused by oil burning.
I’ve seen many modern cars with no residue in the pipe, just shiny metal.
Many manufacturers say a qt every 600-1200 miles is acceptable (Toyota says 600).
Try another brand of oil (in spec of course), some do better than others.
There are 90 complaints of a seized engine on carcomplaints.com for the 2011 Sonata. This is generally caused by the vehicle operator allowing the engine to run out of oil (due to oil consumption). I believe this is the first year for direct injection for that car, this may have something to do with the oil consumption problems.
The amount of oil a healthy engine will use varies widely, but in all cases a quart every 1500 miles for and engine with 95,000 miles is perfectly acceptable. The only thing you need to do is continue to monitor the level and add oil when necessary. Kudos for doing so.
NOT maintaining the oil level is what gets people in trouble, not normal oil usage. Run an engine until the oil drops below the pickup tube and you WILL have serious engine problems. But you’re clearly not doing that. You need not be worried.
As mentioned above, this car engine, if it is the 2.4, is known to be prone to issues. There is a class action lawsuit. Just check the blogs on the homepage of cartalk. As you are the original owner, I will take it to the dealer and have them test the engine. You should still be covered under the 100K mile warranty. I am not sure that would get you any where, but worth a shot.
Most owners have reported catastrophic failure, not sure if they were monitoring the oil level. The suits are for 2011 & 2012 models, I have recently bought a 2013 and not sure if anything is different there. Also, apparently, the Kia Optima’s with the same engine are not having much trouble.