Oil consumption

I have found some 5.0 fords will **** oil between the heads and intake. something about the factory gaskets not sealing. check your sparkplugs for oil use. if some are dark could be the problem.

to that one guy saying its never normal for a motor to burn or use oil and its killing your pistons me and the fine gent chiquititas do not have to worry about the state of our pistons because we do not have any the Mazda Rx series of vehicles use the Wankel or "rotatory" engine which by its very design burns motor oil if you went and got an rx-8 strait from the factory you would notice it burns oil its what they do they use oil.
moron

You can see from all these comments, there are as many different views about oil consumption as there are models of cars discussed. And not everyone here is concerned about oil consumption on 95 Jeep Grand Cherokees. This is not and never has been a low maintenance vehicle. And it has inherent issues just like any other make and model. I have been dealing with Chrysler products in dealership environment since 83.
Both the in-line six and V8 engine have had numerous TSBs (Technical Service Bulletin) revolving around oil pan and valve cover sealing. They have had several changes to the gaskets. (other manufacturers have had revised gaskets also) So use the latest gaskets and sealing techniques when dealing with these.
The 6 cyl has in my opinion a strange crankcase ventilation system and it seems it needs to be replaced (Totally) at every tune-up interval to keep it in effective working condition.
The V8 magnum engine has a problem with the intake manifold. The bottom plate gasket distorts and leaks. This not only sucks air from the crankcase but oil. It also creates numerous drivibility issues like "pinging", hesitations, Idle quality and speed, to name a few. To see if yours is affected, open up the throttle plates and look to the bottom of the intake with a flashlight. I can pretty much guarantee you will find oil. Only use the latest gaskets. The new bottom plate gasket is coated shim type gasket. The older one are asbestos fiber.
Other seals and the rings are like other vehicles. Work ok if they are treated properly. But can be a cause of oil consumption.
Here is part a document sent to Dealers about acceptable oil consumption. Which in my opinion is ridicules.
To avoid defective Engine warranty claims, Chrysler sends internal memo to dealers stating that acceptable Oil consumption for Chrysler Engines below 50,000 miles is one quart per 1,000 miles driven! Acceptable Oil consumption for Chrysler Engines with over 50,000 miles is one quart per 750 miles!

I own a 2001 Toyota corolla, I am burning about a quart of oil every 300 miles. I drive about 300-350 miles a day, most of it is highway driving.
Right now, I am trying out the 20W50 Exon oil with Lucas at every oil change.

Subaru boxer engines do, unfortunately, use oil. I've used Mobil 1 for over twenty years and I was a bit upset when I got my Forester to find that it was using oil.

Having checked this out with mechanics who work on these engines, it's true, they do use a bit of oil. Something to do with the pistons working horizontally?

I've now changed to a cheaper (but still good quality) semi-synthetic oil and use Wynns Supercharge at every oil fill, to reduce oil consumption.

Andy.

I'm sorry, but that is horrible and wrong. It isn't normal to use a quart every 2,000 miles. Then you "fixed" the problem by using the wrong grade oil!? If your exhaust is getting coated with oil, you have got serious issues. I don't burn anything but maybe even 1/8 qt. every 3,000 miles between oil changes (always at the full mark at 3,000). What probably helped, not fixed, your problem is using an oil twice as thick as what is recommended. Have you checked your rings and compression?

Good lord...

I have an 1988 Honda CRX with 288'000 miles on the original engine with no work done on the head or anything else. It uses about a quart of oil every 3000 miles. I live in SoCal, so I use 10W-40 in the winter and 20W-50 in the hot summer months. But it doesn't matter that much which weight oil you use. The main factor in getting a lot of miles out of an engine without it burning oil, is how you treat the motor before it has reached its operating temperature.
A few points: 1) DO NOT turn on the engine and let it idle for prolonged periods (in the morning) to warm it up. It wastes gas and does more harm than anything else.
2) Keep the RPM as low as possible until the water temperature has reached its normal range. Even if you live next to the freeway as I do, drive slow for the first couple miles if the engine isn't warmed up all the way.
If you follow these points, I'll guarantee you you'll delay and minimize your engines oil use.
I also have an 98 Civic with 179'000 miles and it uses less than half a quart every 3000 miles and in this one I use the recommended 5W-30 oil.

I switched to the 15w40 diesel oil and my oil consumption dropped considerability. I have a 2000 trooper , auto, 4x4. when I use the recommended grade, I lose a quart about every 1000 miles. with the higher grade diesel oil its about 1 Quart every 3500 miles. the diesel has a higher "cleaning" factor, the oil goes jet black by 5000 miles, which is when I change my oil anyway. as long as I watch the oil level I have had no other major problems. I have put 127K+ miles since I bought it new.

My 2001 uses a quart every 3-4 k miles with Mobil one. All of my cars since the 80s have burned a bit more using Mobil one even if the viscosity rating is the same. All the cars were under 100k. I'm not sure why. I just top it off and only change the oil every 10K (with synthetic only) IMO 5 K is fine for regular brand name conventional oils and 3k that Jiffy Lube recommends is absurd.

Using is burning. It always has been. That said, one quart every 2k is personally acceptable by me, although I may have the only lebaron in history that doesn't burn any oil. I use 10w30, like they recommend, and at 105k this car has never had a problem with anything about it.

Besides that, its always a question of valve guide seal integrity. Using a heavier oil, as you have, is a stopgap solution, which can reduce oil burning, but also raise the internal engine temperatures, cause extra wear and tear, due to larger molecules of the oil, and in effect make the problem worse over time.

As cars age, I have found using thinner oil has had the paradoxical effect of LESS oil consumption.

Hi, we have found that differant makes & grades of oil used in engines can make them either drink the oil or not us any at all.
We have noticed that on certain engines that muliti grade oils made the engines rather thirsty for engine oil & when we put them on 15w/40 diesel engine oil the use of oil stopped.
The same goes for engines that run on synthetic oils as they just drink ordinary oil or part synthetic.
So it pays to us the correct make & grade used by the manufacture, although sometimes they get it wrong as well or they get a handshake from the oil company supplier.

Really, yours used a quart every 2000 miles and now 3500-4000? I wonder about the "use" ,not "burn" statement. If the tailpipes have a good coating inside and you're going through a quart every 2000 miles or so, seems to me like you might have other issues than high compression and operating temps. We're not talking about diesel engines here after all.

Any help with these wonderful/terribe cars is appreciated.
Thanks!
jp