3200 Oil Consumption

[v12v8]

Help! My 2001 AC has started gulping down oil. Roughly 2 litres every 500 miles! I had a little ding at the Ring in April last year and got the car back 5 weeks ago. An intercooler was replaced as part of the repairs. The car is definitely not leaking oil and all other vital signs are fine.

Any suggestions (apart from take it back to the dealer pronto)? Does the intercooler have anything to do with it (I can't think why)? Or is it the car settling down again after having not been driven for 9 months?

[craigw]

how is the pressure? mine has used half to three quarters of a litre in 3000miles. I'd keep it topped up & get it to dealer asap.

[v12v8]

Pressure seems OK - sticks around 5 bar all the time. Approx. 200 miles after its been topped up the pressure does drop when idling to about 3.5 bar.

The garage were warned of it within 2 days of me getting the car back and could find no problem.

I know earlier cars suffered from a problem with the crank caused by the "pull mechanism" on the clutch and this first manifests itself as a problem with the oil pressure - but it generally happens more dramatically than what I'm experiencing with my car and mostly affected cars earlier than mine.

Back to the garage me thinks...

[danhay]

The oil has to be going somewhere. It should be visible as leakage, or smoke if it's being burnt, or contamination in the coolant if that's where it's going?

How much oil in total has been lost?

[mr_tony]

Ouch, sounds like bad luck Nick, hope its nothing serious.

Let us know what the issue is when you find out though.

Probably you've already done this, but it might be worth having a chat to a few Maserati mechanics - maybe phone a few service departments and see if anyone knows of anything similar? Good luck.

[v12v8]

Thanks guys. I have a mate who is a Maser mechanic. I'll let you know what the outcome is...gulp!