How much oil does your engine use

[m60ddy]

Morning all,

Well as the title suggests. I have read on a few occasions about people going for a drive then topping up the oil reserves. So what is an acceptable amount of oil usage before you think there is a bigger issue?

I'm getting my Cerbera soon and after talking to the previouse owner I have been informed to expect my car to use about 1 liter to 1000 miles. Is this the norm or should I be concerned?

As a minor point what do you use and does anyone know how much is required to top up between full and low on the dip.

Cheers
Matt

[scotty_d]

Mine goes though a liter every 1500-2000 miles but I think 50% of that ends up on the ground one of my reasons to pull the engine out to fix a leak on the front of the engine. I use fuches pro s 15-50 iirc (need to double check) I never use my car at this time of year so it works fine for me.

Edited by scotty_d on Monday 10th December 08:06

[Gazzab]

Post APM rebuilds I have had practically no oil useage.
I would recommend not allowing oil to reach minimum. Keep it at max. Check once a week or every couple of drives.

[ukkid35]

Oil consumption is no more than 0.5Ltr every 1,500 miles (where that includes one or two track days). I reckon most of that is lost through the crankcase breather/airbox, where a lot ends up on the F1 panel. I was expecting consumption to be much higher.

[RUSSELLM]

I think I've had both ends of the spectrum.

Pre rebuild, I was using a litre every 1K, but it got steadily worse. A bit of hot weather in Italy combined with a bit of speed, dropped it down to a litre every 300 miles I reckon, so it was time to get a freshen up.

Post rebuild , I think it did 4-5K between services & didn't need topping up at all.

I reckon it's a litre every 3K now, that said, I was doing lots of small journeys.

[C3BER]

Uses nothing at all

[ukkid35]

C3BER said:

Uses nothing at all

Mine doesn't either if I never take it over 4k, how do you drive yours?

[C3BER]

That's a personal question

From 0 - 174mph

[TimJM]

Oil usage will vary greatly car to car base don the oil you use and how you drive the car. My 4.5 cerb was on 0w50 fully synthetic and driven hard - it used about a litre per 1000 miles roughly. This didn't change over many 1000's miles.

I think the TVR leather owners manual states a healthy AJP should be using roughly a litre per 1000 miles so I wouldn't be worried.

If it starts using 2 litres per 1000 miles maybe have a little investigate done but until then just enjoy driving...and buy the oil in bulk.

Tim.

[robsco]

Hi Matt,

Although we have touched upon this in email conversation, a litre per 1000 miles was an ever so slight overestimate. I covered 7000 miles in the Cerb over my ownership and was just finishing the 5 litre bottle of Miller's I bought with the car. The engine is a peach, has strong oil pressure and doesn't smoke, oh and the oil usage never increased over my tenure with the car. Just drive the bloody thing and enjoy!

[steviejasp]

Mine needs about 100ml a year (3000 miles). On the dipstick, it always looks like brand new oil. Are they all like that?

[RUSSELLM]

Reading the replies above, I'd suggest not.

[m60ddy]

Thankyou all for the replies, and variation looks to be the norm. As said its in leather service book so I will just use and keep an eye on it. The car arrives next week then I have the torture of just looking at it for a few months till it goes on the road March / April or when I see the thread on here titled "I'm back on the road"
Cheers, Matt

[steviejasp]

I meant the colour

[Mr Cerbera]

Usually (Hah !!) Cerbs lose most of their oil when running at low temperatures (i.e. during warm-up). Once they're hot-tight they lose very little.

If I do short runs into town then I check it every two weeks and usually have to top-up every 4 - 6 weeks 200-300 ml every 700-1200 miles.

If I'm on a run I can do 3000kms and lose nothing perceivable.

Bottom to top marks are 800ml IIRC so if you run with a 1 ltr bottle in the boot then you can't be caught out.

HTH



Oh, and manufacturer's recommendation Mobil 1 Fully Synth 0W-40.

---

ETA
2001 4.5 83K

[RUSSELLM]

steviejasp said:

I meant the colour

Ooops

My old 4.5 never used a drop & stayed clean.

My 4.2's oil used to get dark, the post rebuild stayed clean for a couple of years. Think it gets dark again now.

[C3BER]

Perhaps it's the type of engine and oil that effects what you use.

Engine oil is nice and clean but then again it's just been service but it was clean prior.