Is excessive oil consumption always a warranty nightmare?

[SeeNoWeevil]

It's not something I've had to deal with yet but it seems like the response to this from a lot of manufacturers is to just claim that it's within some ludicrous spec they've pulled out of their butt "Yes sir, 5 litres per 100 yards is within manufacturer tolerance". Anyone been through this situation with a positive outcome? Are 3rd party warranties much the same?

[NMNeil]

Because for a new car within warranty, often the only cure for heavy oil consumption is a replacement engine, which is the last thing the manufacturers want, and so will give you BS answers.
It's all about the profits.

[blue_haddock]

actually no, certain VAG cars suffer heavy oil usage and its actually pretty straight forward to do a warranty claim for a new engine

[so called]

Can't comment on the warranty side but I remember my father once telling me that the different manufacturers built to different tolerances and so some burn more oile than others.
He pointed out Vauxhall as an example of a brand that was an oil burner compared to others.
At the same time saying it didn't mean they were bad engines.

I used to have an old Vauxhaul Senator with a lovely 3lt straight six.
For several years I used to do a 1500 miles round trip drive to Germany every two weeks.
It would use 1.5lt of oil but it was l cracking engine and the oil consumption never changed.

[NMNeil]

But that was before emissions regulations, and much of the tailpipe emissions are caused by burning the engine oil which get worse as the engine ages.
Piston ring blow by, valve guide wear, crankcase ventilation etc. all put oil in the engine to be burned.

[swisstoni]

blue_haddock said:

actually no, certain VAG cars suffer heavy oil usage and its actually pretty straight forward to do a warranty claim for a new engine

I would imagine that a very helpful dealer would be needed for this to be straightforward.

[SeeNoWeevil]

blue_haddock said:

actually no, certain VAG cars suffer heavy oil usage and its actually pretty straight forward to do a warranty claim for a new engine

When you say 'heavy' though, isn't that at the point where consumption has reached pretty absurd levels and the manufacturer has actually admitted there is a fault? Plenty of people probably have 'absurd minus a teaspoon' and just need to suck it up. I guess it's the huge variance customers are expected to tolerate that bothers me. You paid the same price (including a warranty) and you have to just suck it up that by most definitions, you got a lemon.

Edited by SeeNoWeevil on Monday 5th September 15:58

[randlemarcus]

SeeNoWeevil said:

When you say 'heavy' though, isn't that at the point where consumption has reach pretty absurd levels and the manufacturer has actually admitted there is a fault? Plenty of people probably have 'absurd minus a teaspoon' and just need to suck it up. I guess it's the huge variance customers are expected to tolerate that bothers me. You paid the same price (including a warranty) and you have to just suck it up that by most definitions, you got a lemon.

I'd say that most manufacturers will design engines to burn as little oil as possible, as its an easy route to emissions passes. Most will have a good idea of consumption per 1000 miles for example, and if yours sits in the acceptable range, it's not anywhere near a lemon. I suspect if you give make.model, year, you'll get the range of acceptable quite quickly.

[Panamax]

It's many years since I've needed to "top up" the oil in any of my cars between services. That doesn't mean cars which do do need topping up are faulty.

Cars which burn a bit of oil benefit from the top-ups because they get a rolling oil change while other cars might be going 2 years/20,000 miles on the same few litres of oil.

[SeeNoWeevil]

randlemarcus said:

the acceptable range

Acceptable to who though? Would you be happy with a car that's 'in-spec' burning, for example, nearly a litre of oil per 1500miles while most other owners see next to nothing? Would you feel comfortable keeping that car for 6+ years?

[JakeT]

Some manufactures drain the sump, take the level, re-add that oil and request the customer drive it for x miles to determine a level of consumption. As others have said, it’s often a new engine job.

For the 1,500 miles to a litre, I wouldn’t be best pleased, but as long as it goes through the MOT emissions tests and maker the power it should I wouldn’t be too upset.

For reference, most of mine have liked a drop of the black. Some not enough to need to add any between services, at worst 4,000 miles to a litre.

[randlemarcus]

SeeNoWeevil said:

randlemarcus said:

the acceptable range

Acceptable to who though? Would you be happy with a car that's 'in-spec' burning, for example, nearly a litre of oil per 1500miles while most other owners see next to nothing? Would you feel comfortable keeping that car for 6+ years?

To the manufacturer, obviously. If their in spec range is very wide, it would fall into high usage in my head, and I would absolutely expect to have found that when researching a car to buy (unless its a brand new job). And noaning about high consumption afterwards seems a little narrow minded, especially if its not a change in the engine's behaviour.

If you are right at the top of the range, and it's got worse, I might be tempted to register concerns with the dealer, so next time, when it's gone outside th range, its an evidenced problem that they can see is getting worse.

If its not changed, and its inside the range, think of it as a really expensive two stroke

[paulmakin]

cant remember the exact numbers but the TT handbook suggests that somewhere around 1L per 1200km is OK (BAM engined Mk1). Only seemed to bother me though.

and yes, it was changing its own oil between services

[nullogik]

SeeNoWeevil said:

Would you feel comfortable keeping that car for 6+ years?

You also have to wonder what the long terms effects are on the catalytic converter and other emissions related systems etc having all that oil pass through it even if it is "within spec" compared to another example of the same vehicle that doesn't burn a drop of oil.

[AlexRoberts95]

6 months into a 3.0litre diesel VW Touareg lease.
At the moment I have had to put 3 litres of oil in it over the last 4000 miles (6000 covered in total from new). Considering wether to take it into the dealer - mainly as it’s costing me c.£10 a litre each top up. On talking to the service team they ofc say no reported issues noted with this engine re oil consumption, and they would want it in for diagnosis.
Hassle factor not reached a level for me to take it into VW just yet…….

[jeremyh1]

AlexRoberts95 said:

6 months into a 3.0litre diesel VW Touareg lease.
At the moment I have had to put 3 litres of oil in it over the last 4000 miles (6000 covered in total from new). Considering wether to take it into the dealer - mainly as it’s costing me c.£10 a litre each top up. On talking to the service team they ofc say no reported issues noted with this engine re oil consumption, and they would want it in for diagnosis.
Hassle factor not reached a level for me to take it into VW just yet…….

This sounds mad but true

If it has an adblue system it could be faulty and this can lead to oil burning I have had this twice on new vans now

[Whataguy]

I believe VW allow 1 litre per 600 miles as ‘normal’

They top up the oil and seal the oil cap, you then come back in 600 miles and they measure the level.

It seems to depend on luck, I have a 1.5tsi that barely uses any oil at the moment. It only starts to drop as the 9k service is approaching. But others with the same engine are burning much more oil.

So far, I’ve owned very few cars that required top ups between services. Usually when I sell the car I still have the unopened bottle of top up oil I bought with the car.

But I understand quite a few cars now burn oil due to the construction trying to save fuel and lower emissions. It’s a bit strange when you count the oil wasted, they aren’t.