Photo: Jorge Donoso (Shutterstock)
If you’ve tried to buy a car recently, you know that they are now apparently made out of a combination of pure gold and rare earth minerals, and shopping for even a modest pre-owned vehicle is a stressful financial transaction on par with house-hunting. But at least buying a new (or relatively new car) spares you the stress of worrying about costly repairs.
Or so you thought. The fact is, even brand-new cars require maintenance, and sometimes more than you might imagine. One aspect of your car’s operation that is often overlooked is the oil. If you’re a typical car owner, you get your oil changed according to the manufacturer’s recommended schedule; if you are a less responsible, you might wait until your oil light comes on. Otherwise, you might assume that as your car is less than 10 years old and/or has less than 100,000 miles on it, the oil is fine.
That might not be true. A surprising number of recent car models burn a lot more oil than they really should—and unless you’re extremely proactive, it can be difficult to notice until it becomes a serious problem. If you’re driving a new(ish) car, here’s what you need to know about oil burn.
Even new cars can burn oil
Almost every car engine burns through some oil during regular operation—many carmakers even offer guidelines around how much oil burn is normal. Car engines are complex and must operate under extreme conditions, so there are a lot of ways oil can get into the combustion and burn off. Worn valves and pistons, old piston rings, aging seals, or a dirty PCV valve can allow small amounts of oil into the engine, and it’s not unusual for a car to be down by a quart or so when you take it in for a scheduled change.
But some cars—including newer, expensive models from BMW or Audi—burn oil much faster than that, and may begin to run dangerously low on the stuff even before the next scheduled maintenance. Reasons vary; some new engines use a lower-viscosity oil instead of the old-school 10W30, and thinner oil slips through seals much more easily. Other engines simply age faster than others, meaning your 5-year old car might run far less efficiently than you’d expect.
Detecting oil burn
Oil is fairly essential to your engine’s health. If your engine is burning oil faster than expected, it can lead to a host of terrible, no good, extremely expensive problems. But unlike an oil leak, which provides obvious evidence every time you move your car from one place to another, oil burn isn’t always easy to detect. Older cars used to belch out blue-tinged, oily smoke when they burned oil, but modern-day catalytic converters do a great job of preventing that. The result? Your car could be burning oil at a record pace and you won’t know until your check oil light comes on—which only happens when things get dire. If you wait that long—and if your low oil level light comes on, you should stop driving the car and check the oil right away—it means you’ve been driving for a while with dangerously low oil levels, and wearing your engine down faster than necessary.
So how to defend yourself against an oil-hungry car? First, don’t assume that because your car is new or fancy that this can’t happen to you. Then, follow some straightforward advice:
Do some research. If your car seems to be burning oil faster than it should, you’re probably not the only person to experience the problem. Check to see if your make and model has an extended warranty option for oil consumption from the manufacturer, and check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to see if there have been any recalls issued for your car. Barring that, there’s probably someone complaining about it in a car forum online.Check your oil frequently. The best defense is a good offense. If you don’t know how to check your car’s oil, find out—it isn’t difficult and can be done in a few minutes. Check it oil often—at least every 1,000 miles driven. Take a photo of the dipstick, and when you check again, compare the current oil level to the photo. If it’s close to the same, you’re okay. If it’s obviously lower, you either have a leak or you’re burning oil. Top off your oil (don’t over-fill) and get your car checked out. Get maintenance. Often oil issues are due to worn gaskets and seals and nothing more. Get a tune-up, tell your mechanic about your oil issues, and see if a simple and relatively cheap bout of maintenance solves the problem.
