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To Tester: The reason i said “think” is that I have to refer to the owner’s manual to review the procedure. I have had car 5 years. I know break-in is generally don;t go over 50 mph for first 100 miles or so. I will check and do not think that was a problem as I didn’t start to notice any oil loss until about 80,000 miles. It was not burning any between oil changes then.
TO ALL COMMUNITY BLOGGERS: YOUR CAR ADVICE AND WISDOM HAS BEEN HELPFUL. I WONDERED WHETHER OIL LOSS WAS ANY CAUSE FOR CONCERN AND NOW IT SEEMS TO BE WITHIN NORMAL RANGE. I WANT TO KEEP THE CAR AND STARTED TO WORRY THAT IT WAS A SIGN OF BIGGER PROBLEMS TO COME. THE CAR NOW PAID FOR AND IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A FACTOR IN DECIDING TO SELL RATHER THAN KEEP.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP. KEEP IT COMING IF ANYONE HAS NEW INFO TO ADD.
NEVADA 545 CLAIMS THE CAR IS AN “OIL BURNER”…BUT IS IT? IT HAS NEVER GOTTEN BELOW "L"
WHICH INDICATES AT LEAST 3 1/2 QTS. LEFT IN THE CRANKCASE.
“I WANT TO KEEP THE CAR AND STARTED TO WORRY THAT IT WAS A SIGN OF BIGGER PROBLEMS TO COME.”
I guess everyone has an opinion as to what “normal oil consumption” is. I have never owned a car, even cars with 250,00+ miles that use a quart of oil in 1,500 miles. So, to me, that is not normal. I would not enjoy an oil thirsty car.
Since I use Mobil-1 Extended Performance oil to satisfy the manufacturer’s specs. I don’t want to spend that much buying oil for a car that can’t seem to contain its lubricant.
Now, owners of these Sonatas, especially the ones not qualifying for new engines, will possibly suffer from a diminished value. Simply put, I research car purchases and I wouldn’t buy one of these, on purpose.
As I mentioned in the other thread on the recall for the 2.0L &2.4L Models, I am wondering if the oil contamination issue can/would contribute to an oil consumption problem (compromised oil rings), in addition to engine noise crated by damaged rod bearings.
I think at this point, a new short-block and extended warranty is in order, providing the vehicle falls within the recall VINs, model, model-year, engine parameters. Perhaps Hyundai would agree with this, too.
Also, remember that some recalls start small and then grow in scope over time.
CSA
I said your car is an oil burner? Your engine consumes oil. Your engine consumes the same amount of oil as my old Dodge and my rate of oil consumption has not changed in the last 120,000 miles. Has yours? I’m not telling you your engine will soon fail rather you should be observant of the increase of oil consumption.
Edit; on a positive note Hyundai claimed it will increase the engine warranty to 10 years/120,000 miles on the vehicles involved in the crankshaft recall so if your engine doesn’t get replaced in the recall and should your condition become worse there is a chance of getting it repaired under the warranty.
common sense answer
Agreed that I’d rather have a car that uses no oil in between services
But I don’t really see a problem here. It’s within the normal range
If OP’s vehicles does NOT qualify for a short block, I still see no reason to get rid of the car
With proper monitoring/correction of the engine oil level, this car will probably lead a long and happy life
Claims of oil consumption at a quart per whatever as being normal always boggles my mind; especially when that mileage figure is in the 600-1500 miles range.
My Lincoln just rolled over 250k miles and the daughter’s Mustang just hit 209K miles. I just did an oil change on both cars (Lincoln 6 quarts and Mustang 5) and the oil drained out of each vehicle completely filled the oil containers for recycling; which means no noticeable oil useage at all at roughly 3500 mile intervals.
It’s been my experience anyway that most oil consumption issues are due to oil control ring problems which can be caused by any one, or more, of a number of things including overheating, wrong oil, extended oil change intervals, etc.
That’s based on tearing into a lot of engines and, all depending, having to pry or tap those stuck oil control rings out of their ring lands.
The 4 piece oil control rings seem to be more prone to this problem than the single piece rings.
Ok4450, let me ask you this: would you tear down an engine solely for using a quart every 1500 miles?
My previous car was a Toyota corolla with the 7A-FE engine that was notorious for using oil
Its rate of oil consumption was FAR worse than 1qt/1500 miles, and I didn’t tear it down for inspection.
From what I read online, it’s very likely that the oil control rings were stuck
But I religiously checked and maintained the oil level. I never let it get more than 1 quart low
And it never failed the smog inspection, although the HC levels were always close to failing
I didn’t tear it down to diagnose and repair the problem, because it simply wasn’t worth it for me
@the same mountainbike, as to your question I would say that the answer is “depends” and that means whether or not warranty is involved* or whether the customer wants to have me dig in with a customer pay situation.
I’ve been involved in both and in most cases the cause was stuck oil rings and/or glazed cylinder walls.
(*Meaning whether warranty will pay or not…)
There’s also another scenario and that involves Subaru which has been prone to head gasket problems. With most cars removal of pistons, etc is more complicated due to having to drop the oil pan, remove connection rods, de-ridge the upper cylinder bores, etc.
When a Subaru engine is out and the heads are off for HG replacement removal of the pistons is not difficult due to the Boxer design. It’s simply a matter of removal of a few circlips, removal of the wrist pins, and nudging the pistons out the top while leaving the rods in place.
Depending upon the results of a dry/wet compression test with a head gasket complaint and/or if there has been some oil consumption issues I’ve often done the rings also with that word “depending” coming into play again.
In almost every case the oil control rings were stuck in their lands due to high miles, overheating, lack of regular oil changes, etc.
In some cases it took some serious tapping (close to whacking…) with a mallet and drift to remove those oil rings.
So given the track record of the problem, that’s why I have the opinion that I do. I hope that explains it.
I wouldn’t tear it down either, not on my tab, but since this car should still be under warranty, I will bring the issue to the dealers attention and have it checked. On my previous post I mentioned the class act lawsuit and now Hyundai issues the recall.
I have a 2013 with the same engine, bought with 20K miles on it and after 10K miles of driving (& 2 oil changes), it is not burning any oil/yet 
Thank you, Ok4450. Yup, that explains it.
I guess the bottom line is that we have different perceptions of what constitutes normal oil usage. My '89 Toyota pickup at its end (its demise came in an accident) used a quart of oil about every 12,000 miles. While I can say with confidence that its insides were no longer as-designed, the engine still ran great, reliable and dependable, doing everything I asked without a glitch. I consider that perfectly normal and would not have torn it down due to the oil consumption. Although I must admit, at one point I was considering pulling the cab and bed and replacing it with a T body/floor/seat, and if I’d proceeded with that I would have torn it down and rebuilt it.
Bottom line: in my opinion an engine does not have to be perfect to be good. If an engine does whatever I ask reliably and without a hiccup, it doesn’t have to go 5,000 miles without using oil to be a good engine.
mountainbike
one quart per 12000 miles . . . ?!
That’s excellent oil consumption . . . or lack thereof, to be more specific
Is it possible you actually meant one quart per 1200 miles . . . ?
Oops! I even put the comma in the wrong place! 
Nice catch.
Just an addendum here. I’m the type that has to know why something failed; not just the fact that it did.
On many engine replacements I’ve often spent a lunch hour or a little time after hours tearing a known bad engine apart on my own time and dime just to satisfy my curiosity. The majority of them have had stuck oil control rings.
One time I had to rebuild a VW engine under warranty and the oil control rings could not even be chiseled out of their lands so the engine got a new set of pistons.
There was a story behind this one (and I don’t even know all of it…) but that VW engine had less than 500 miles on it. The car was a near new dealer demonstrator and was the most fricasseed engine I’ve ever seen in my life.
It was bad enough that most of the exhaust valves did not even have a tulip shape anymore. They were just a stem and a nub on the end due to anti-freeze being inhaled into the cylinders and spit out the exhaust.
“new dealer demonstrator”
Makes me wonder just what they were demonstrating
Also makes me wonder just who was driving it
Probably a big shot who just happened to be a “gentle driver” . . .
Yes, that VW was an odd tale. An elderly black lady test drove the VW at the dealer where I worked and liked the car a lot. This same dealer had a Buick store a mile away and the lady wanted to test drive one of those before making a decision.
She decided to buy the VW and the Buick salesman saw a chance to make the sale and cut the throat of the VW salesman even though this really should not have been done at a Buick dealer. He came and got the VW and took it back to the Buick store where she waited to take delivery.
She left the Buick lot and returned a few minutes later asking why the temp gauge was on H and the temp light was flashing. The salesman told her this was “normal” and that “they all do that the first few minutes”. She left and headed home with the car losing power and starting to smoke.
Eventually the car was doing 15 MPH flat on the floor and smoking so badly that it was a traffic hazard. An OK City motorcycle cop stopped her and wanted to know what the deal was and the poor woman told the officer she just bought the car and was trying to get home with it. At that point the car would not restart and the cop assisted her in getting a tow truck to haul it in to us.
I found the cause was a heater hose underneath the battery which had a large gash that looked like something done by a big screwdriver or prybar. The story got very murky after that but it’s possible that the battery had been run down by someone leaving the lights on. The car was left in the hands of the washroom guys at the Buick store to diagnose and they decided it was a bad battery.
There was a lot of stonewalling about the dead battery, the replacement, and whodunnit. No one ever 'fessed up about what had gone on with that car but the Buick salesman should have been axed immediately.
What was so odd about this one is that it’s the only time in my life I’ve ever seen exhaust valves eaten away almost down to the stems and the engine had 2 cylinders with compression way, way under a 100. The other cylinders were all on 0.
My first thought with the engine cranking so easily was wondering why a timing belt broke on a new car.
OK4450, I too am the type that needs to know why something failed. In this case I think we diverge on the definition of “failed”. I see the OP’s performance as the engine not having failed. I see the oil consumption as perfectly normal and not indicative of a real problem. I don’t see a failure here.
I don’t think the word “failed” is applicable to an oil burning engine but I might apply the word “problematic” to it.
It just baffles me that some car makers will claim 600 miles per quart of oil is normal consumption when my 400k+ miles Mercury also used the same amount. Most of the Mercury useage was from a leaky rear main seal that I had no desire to fix.
I fail to see how fossil fuel conservation and clean air is applicable if millions of cars are running around burning through countless millions of gallons of motor oil each year.
The car makers claim oil consumption like the above is normal but unless I missed it I wonder what the EPA position would be on that?
I HAVE KEPT TRACK OF MILEAGE WHILE CHECKING OIL…Went down 3/4 qt. in 280 miles.
I know that does not negate my previous comments but I wanted to specify it.
Nevada 545: I hear you about being oil burner…but was not until 80,000 miles.