today I left of my brother at work.
The oil lite came on intermittently
when i got to the city where he works we checked the oil. I needed 3 quarts of oil
I drove home thinking everything was ok
in the afternoon I went to pick him up
when I got to his town I needed to put 3 more quarts of oil
What happened?
First I would not drive it anywhere until I found out what is happening. You may need someone to check it. How often do you check your oil? When was the last time you checked it? Have you checked the oil filter? Is it on properly? Is there oil leaking somewhere? Have you overfilled the oil? Is your car leaving a cloud of smoke? Are you really really sure you are filling the correct place?
The only way IMHO you could lose that much oil that quickly is via a serious leak. I agree with every one of Joseph’s points, and would add that the fix is probably very affordable. It’s likely a loose drain plug, a loose filter, or something of that nature.
Agree; if it BURNED that much oil it would turn the neighborhood blue. Looks like a leak, either from the oil filter or drain plug. A few years back I accidentally left the old oil filter gasket on the engine and the car lost oil rapidly.
Find the leak and fix it!
Holy cow! Our '95 Civic only takes 3 1/2 on an oil change! You needed almost the full crankcase? TWO times in the same day? Gotta be either the filter or the drain plug . . . put a piece of cardboard under the engine and re-fill to “full” then start it up, run to temp, watch for leaks, shut off and keep looking for leaks. Did it get hot? Hope not. Rocketman
The engine has a 99%+ probability of damage now no matter where the oil went.
The thing to keep in mind is that you never continue motoring down the road with the oil light coming on and you should have checked the oil rather than waiting until after you get to your destination.