Technical Using a lot of oil

[Brianmerc]

Our 2008 Grande Punto 1.2, 37,000 miles, is using a lot of oil. Maybe a litre every 2000 miles. No oil leaks. Just passed it's MOT without a problem i.e emissions are ok. Is this useage OK or is it indicating there is a problem in the engine. Worn piston rings?

Any help/advice appreciated.

Thanks

 

[tazjet]

Since when has this problem appeared?Of course that is not normal. Go to your local garage to get an opinion. It could be worn valve seals, but you need to have a look at the garage.

 

[iancookie]

have you got much carbon deposit in and around your exhaust?

 

[SJB1985]

After reading this post last night I checked my oil. I found that no oil was being left in the hatched area of the dipstick. Took the car to Fiat this morning on my way to work and they had to put 2L of oil in the car for the reading to show as max on the dipstick. Apparently, the car was serviced in March 2011 and again in September (a low mileage service) when I bought it. Would it be safe to say that no oil was put in the car in September and that would account for my oil level being below min (but no warning light showing) or do GP's use alot of oil.

Sorry to hijack the thread but the OP's orginal post got me thinking and my findings have worried me somewhat.

Regards

Stephen

 

[iancookie]

After reading this post last night I checked my oil. I found that no oil was being left in the hatched area of the dipstick. Took the car to Fiat this morning on my way to work and they had to put 2L of oil in the car for the reading to show as max on the dipstick. Apparently, the car was serviced in March 2011 and again in September (a low mileage service) when I bought it. Would it be safe to say that no oil was put in the car in September and that would account for my oil level being below min (but no warning light showing) or do GP's use alot of oil.

Sorry to hijack the thread but the OP's orginal post got me thinking and my findings have worried me somewhat.

Regards

Stephen

depends how many miles you do and what sort of driving you do

 

[tazjet]

plus you should check the oil level at least monthly thus you can't really blame anyone 100%

 

[D4nny8oy]

After reading this post last night I checked my oil. I found that no oil was being left in the hatched area of the dipstick. Took the car to Fiat this morning on my way to work and they had to put 2L of oil in the car for the reading to show as max on the dipstick. Apparently, the car was serviced in March 2011 and again in September (a low mileage service) when I bought it. Would it be safe to say that no oil was put in the car in September and that would account for my oil level being below min (but no warning light showing) or do GP's use alot of oil.

Sorry to hijack the thread but the OP's orginal post got me thinking and my findings have worried me somewhat.

Regards

Stephen

The one thing I would expect to be changed during a low mileage service is the oil- without it, you're just doing a lights and levels check. Do you have a stamp in the book and/or invoice for what was done?

To make this clear- the oil pressure warning lamp illuminates when there is too little pressure, and metal to metal contact is likely to be occuring. It should never be relied upon as a "check oil level" lamp as it's usually too late. The 1.2/1.4 8v only hold 3 litres in total, so to need two litres to bring yours upto max highlights just how close to permanent damage you were.

Fiat's limit for oil consumption is 1 litre every 1,000 miles before it's considered serious. A litre every 2000 isn't that bad.

 

[Brianmerc]

The one thing I would expect to be changed during a low mileage service is the oil- without it, you're just doing a lights and levels check. Do you have a stamp in the book and/or invoice for what was done?

To make this clear- the oil pressure warning lamp illuminates when there is too little pressure, and metal to metal contact is likely to be occuring. It should never be relied upon as a "check oil level" lamp as it's usually too late. The 1.2/1.4 8v only hold 3 litres in total, so to need two litres to bring yours upto max highlights just how close to permanent damage you were.

Fiat's limit for oil consumption is 1 litre every 1,000 miles before it's considered serious. A litre every 2000 isn't that bad.

Thanks for all your your prompt replies.

I hadn't realised that the total oil quantity was only 3 litres. That's not a lot. I'm re-assured that it's only considered 'serious' if it's using a litre per 1000 miles but I would have thought that modern cars would hardly use any oil. The oil warning light has never come on so that's good.
I've just had the car in for a service and MOT at a local garage and they couldn't find any oil leak or reasons for using oil. My son is out in the car at the minute but I'll check the exhaust for carbon deposits in the morning.

What next? Well the car was serviced on Monday and the oil is showing at the correct level on the dipstick now. What I'm going to do is to check it weekly and see how quickly it goes down, then top it up taking note of how much oil it takes. That way I can work out exactly how much oil it's using and decide if thats normal or if I have a problem. I think it's 1 litre per 2000 miles but that may not be so accurate. I'm thinking there may be a problem, perhaps worn valve seats as tazjet suggested, but if I can get an accurate measure on how much oil it's using I can take if from there.

P.S I drive a Mercedes with 105,000 miles on the clock and it never uses any oil between services!

 

[speedbumps]

check your spark plugs for carbon build up, give them a clean (or replace) & see how they look after a few hundred miles.

valve stem seals will show up as blue smoke on startup (usually overnight, as it takes a little while for oil to come thru them)

lastly a compression test will let you know whats going on, but i will bet there is nothing wrong - its just the oil level measurement process that might be lacking

 

[Andy Monty]

also check the breather hose is clear (pipe from top of engine to air box)

 

[zed]

That's par for the course. We have a 1.2 with 56K from new that uses that and a 1.4 16V that hardly uses any oil.

 

[peter7889]

I don't know how fiat get away with saying 1L every 1k miles is acceptable ithink for a modern car that is terrible and show's poor build quality andtolerances during production.
I have owned 3 cars so far in the driving career and none of them have usedany oil in between yearly services at all. I check the oil level on my mjet gpmonthly and although the oil is mucky it is always in the same place. PersonallyI would sell the car if it is using 1L every 2k miles as this consumption willonly get worst over time.

 

[zed]

the 1.2 is notorious for drinking oil