R500D Oil usage ?

R500D Oil usage ?

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Discussion

Tim75

Original Poster:

21 posts

124 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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Interested in the level of oil consumption other R500 owners (or indeed R300/R400D owners) are typically seeing, along with associated driving style (mild/med road, fast road, track..etc.). I bought mine at around 4000km, done about 4000km since then. Used ~4L of oil already. This has caught me by surprise..not expecting such a high oil usage. Any advice, please? Thanks!

R300XXX

241 posts

227 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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With fast road use mine has used just under half a litre in 1200 miles in an R300D hope this helps, caterham did warn me the duratecs tend to use s fair bit

Edited by R300XXX on Tuesday 14th October 14:39

DCL

1,215 posts

178 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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It sounds like you are on the high side, but IMHO not excessive. I wouldn't be too concerned about consumption unless there's visible smoke with power on, or off. Sound obvious but check it is being burnt and not lost from over filling the dry sump - also, if it is not a factory car, that the sump venting has been correctly blocked off on the inlet side of the engine.

It is still a low mileage engine so it is unlikely to be excessively worn, and may even get better. But it is also possible that it has a valve stem seal problem, or a ring problem. It all comes down to the history and builder. Is it a Caterham factory car?

If you are really worried, then best option is to have it stripped and rebuilt.

Edited by DCL on Tuesday 14th October 17:40

Far Cough

2,192 posts

167 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I`d not panic and that seems fairly normal given my limited experience. I was warned that driven properly and keeping it high in the revs that the Duratecs will use oil. It was mentioned to me that Half a litre at lunchtime on a trackday is not uncommon either.

I`m a bit OCD about the oil level in mine after the previous owner drove it dry of oil ( and on a couple of trackdays pretty easy to do ). I can be a pain to check as with mine it is nose cone off (dry sump)but its worth it. I like to keep mine ever so slightly over full so that I get about an inch in the overflow tank. That way I know there is plenty in it when on track and cornering hard.

Might just add that my mileage is similar to yours with zero sign of smoke on start up , driving or overrun etc. I think what I`m trying to say is ... its normal !

The Wookie

13,909 posts

227 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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I have a C400 (Duratec) race car which has always blown a fair amount of oil into the breather when on track. It's had 2 or 3 engine rebuilds by different people and it's always done it for some reason. Makes a bloody mess too unless the catch tanks are sealed properly!

It has a dry sump tank situated to the left of the bellhousing at the end of the passenger footwell, so I'm not sure if that bears any relationship to the R500 setup.

mike150

493 posts

199 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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My R400d uses roughly half a litre every 1000 miles, I check it all the time. It seems to eat it during a trackday but for road use its easy on it. Its just the high revs as a previous poster said.

Tim75

Original Poster:

21 posts

124 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
quotequote all
thanks Guys. really appreciate the fast response and detail. So sounds like mine is using maybe more than normal, but very dependent on driving style. I have done a lot of km on the autobahns here in Germany and with the 6 speed Caterham box, this means high revs eek
And a long black forest tour with no speed cameras and not much traffic cool
DCL, my car is a factory build (no. 91) 2010 and all bog-standard. Cheers.

V7SLR

456 posts

185 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Tim75 said:
my car is a factory build (no. 91) 2010 and all bog-standard
If you'd like to send me a picture I'll add it to The Caterham Registerthumbup

Far Cough

2,192 posts

167 months

Wednesday 15th October 2014
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Tim75 said:
thanks Guys. really appreciate the fast response and detail. So sounds like mine is using maybe more than normal, but very dependent on driving style. I have done a lot of km on the autobahns here in Germany and with the 6 speed Caterham box, this means high revs eek
And a long black forest tour with no speed cameras and not much traffic cool
DCL, my car is a factory build (no. 91) 2010 and all bog-standard. Cheers.
Thats sounds like alot of fun and oil burning high revs alright !!

subirg

717 posts

275 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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My R400d has about 14k miles on the clock. Usage is mostly track. Uses hardly any oil. Probably 1/4 litre per 1000 hard driven miles.

SLR400

215 posts

171 months

Saturday 18th October 2014
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Ditto, mine hardly uses a drop!

culminator

576 posts

208 months

Saturday 18th October 2014
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R500 spec built by Minister and very low oil consumption here too.

curley

432 posts

218 months

Saturday 18th October 2014
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Not quite the same car but in 2500 miles ( inc a few track days) my Duratec ( 620R ) has hardly used any . A friends 260 CSR uses 5L every track day !

tomwoodis

570 posts

183 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
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Could just be symptomatic of the way it was run in when new. If it was run in very gently then it might be that the piston rings aren't seating fully and thus a bit of oil is being allowed to blow by.

Alternatively, and has been said already, could be the valve stem seals.

If you leave it for a week or so and then start it up do you get any smoke?

Far Cough

2,192 posts

167 months

Monday 20th October 2014
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Nope biggrin