How much oil are you burning between changes?

[Stangski83]

I use conventional oil and consistently burn about 1 quart in between each change (every 3000 miles, usually about 7 weeks between oil changes). The car now has 168,000 on it ('97, SOHC). How much are you burning? (high mileage folks especially!!!)

[OnDaGround]

Not much anymore. I put Bg Rs-7 in. Its a ring sealer... I doesn't ever clog the lines but it does wear out after an oil change so I wen from a quart a week to maybe every 3 weeks. The stuff works good and I never have an issue with it. 175 K on it too.

[saturncrzy]

Originally Posted by Stangski83

I use conventional oil and consistently burn about 1 quart in between each change (every 3000 miles, usually about 7 weeks between oil changes). The car now has 168,000 on it ('97, SOHC). How much are you burning? (high mileage folks especially!!!)

my 92sl1 only got 103k on her but i also dont use conventional oil though i use a sythetic blend... she really dont eat much oil at all... maybe a lil less then a 1/4 of a quart.

Now my 97sc2 has 184k on her and she is pretty much the same as my 92 but it really all depends on how your drive as well....

You might notice a less of oil burning if you went to a better oil either syntech blend or full synthetic.... do a search fro previous threads on the oil usage

[Stangski83]

is that BG stuff similar to a product like "Restore" ? On a happy note, I knocked down 34 mpg's on the beast last tank in mixed city/highway driving on the new short belt/K&N drop-in filter upgrade. Excited to see what it does with all highway driving tomorrow.....and if it burns oil at an accelerated rate...lol

I don't mind burning the stuff, I buy oil on the mail-in-rebate deals and usually don't end up paying more than 99 cents for Castrol GTX or Valvoline...just wondering how much consumption to expect in the near future. I'm pretty pleased with only a quart between changes. I had a '90 Jeep Cherokee back in the day that burned a quart in between fill-ups with 190,000 miles! So this is much improved...

[Stangski83]

Keep in mind that both the Jeep and Saturn are second hand cars for me - I didn't start my regular 3,000 mile maintenance on the Saturn until it had 92,000 on it and the Jeep at 180,000 - so I really have no clue how these cars were cared for prior to my ownership. I'm guessing my Saturn was mildly cared for and not exactly pampered.

[scottyboost]

My SL2 burns about 1 quart every 2000 miles.

[Kal]

I switched to Castrol High Mileage Oil, and Hardly burn any. I still burn a small amount, but not anything bad. I actually don't think it burns any, there is just this tiny area where ever since I changed my valve cover gasket, leaks, but just a tiny area.

[ChrisL]

I average about 3 ounces every 2 weeks.

[TXSaturn02]

Mine is different every time - I guess it depends on where I got my last oil change. I would say on average 8 ounces per 4K miles which is my current interval. I go through that in less than three months however. I don't always know what they put in either since I just take it to whatever shop is convenient at the time. (I've NEVER done my own oil change in my twenty years of car ownership) I try to take it to Firestone because they'll rotate my tires for free, but I hate waiting for them sometimes cause they're VERY slow. I've noticed that this other place I took it to last week (just a regular Phillips gas station) that the oil was a nice light color after having it done - hard to read the level when it is that clean.

I plan to start making note if the oil level holds better at some places than others. Firestone oil ate about 12 ounces on my last 4k interval.

[scottyboost]

Originally Posted by TXSaturn02

Mine is different every time - I guess it depends on where I got my last oil change. I would say on average 8 ounces per 4K miles which is my current interval. I go through that in less than three months however. I don't always know what they put in either since I just take it to whatever shop is convenient at the time. (I've NEVER done my own oil change in my twenty years of car ownership) I try to take it to Firestone because they'll rotate my tires for free, but I hate waiting for them sometimes cause they're VERY slow. I've noticed that this other place I took it to last week (just a regular Phillips gas station) that the oil was a nice light color after having it done - hard to read the level when it is that clean.

I plan to start making note if the oil level holds better at some places than others. Firestone oil ate about 12 ounces on my last 4k interval.

More importantly, make note of the oil brand and weight......and hope that they're using the type they state/advertise.

[TXSaturn02]

Originally Posted by scottyboost

More importantly, make note of the oil brand and weight......and hope that they're using the type they state/advertise.

Well, I hear ya, but you can ask and then what? How ya gonna confirm that it is true? I don't bother. While I do what I can to take care of my car, I'm not that paranoid about it. I'm thinking that other parts of the car will be falling apart is what will "drive" me to replace her well before the power train does.

Only time will tell...

[anomalous]

i'm burning 2 quarts per fill up... a bit over 300 miles per tank. the car has 180k miles but it's new to me. i'm assuming it still has rings but there's not much evidence to support me.

[westwind999]

My SW1 was burning a bit before, especially on a longer trip, maybe a qt every other tank of gas. I'm most of the way through a auto-rx treatment. I went to Boston a couple weeks ago, about 7 tanks all together and it only needed 1qt. Pretty happy so far. Check out auto-rx.com.

[01SL1SATURN]

My car doesn't burn a drop, although once in a while on long highway trips with the AC, on with passengers and luggage it will use a little. Seems to mainly do it with heavy engine loads.

Otherwise, the oil level stays perfect. I have 4,600 miles on my current fill and it still is at the full line (Mobil 1 5w30). I plan on going back to conventional next change. I got the Mobil 1 for real cheap from a friend. I follow the oil life monitor. Seems I'm an anomaly. My brother's 93 SL2 burned a quart every 200 miles.

[Asterixx]

I was burning a quart every 120 miles (200 km). It was so bad the #3 spark plug was fouling every thousand miles or so. The car had ~180k miles (290,000 km) on it.

Then I re-ringed, bearing'd and valve seal'd it. Now I burn absolutely none. The car is up to 310,000 km now (holy crap, 20k since April). I've done four oil changes since the rebuild and have added none between changes. Sometimes I have to look at the logo on the airbag to make sure I'm still driving a Saturn

[metgol]

213000 miles now. I was doing 5000 mile oil changes with 1-1.5 qts between changes. I don't drive it as much now to even think about it.

[RobsSL2]

I drive about 300 miles per week for work. I add just under a half quart every Friday morning before leaving for work. So I add about 1.5 quarts per 1000 miles. I figure the great gas mileage (400+ miles per tank) makes up for having to top off the oil.

Rob

[shane]

I have 180,000 miles on mine and I burn about a half quart per 1000 miles. It is worse if I do a lot of interstate driving at high speeds, but manageable at highway speeds. It has burned oil since I bought it with about 30k miles on the clock, so I always assumed the previous owner was not that diligent about oil changes.

I can't complain too much. I just have to put a quart in between oil changes and I consistently get about 33 mpg.

[MiSaturn]

125,000 - not a drop between changes. But, since I don't go over 2000 miles between changes, it's pretty hard to tell what my true oil comsumption might be.

[Spazie]

93 SC2, 204k miles - right about when it's time for an oil change, I'll finally notice a little drop in the level on the dipstick, so I never actually have to add any, just take that as a sign that it's time for an oil change! I found a leak in my cam cover gasket (into cylinder #1) the other day, so that may resolve the tiny loss, which started not all that long ago. I'd say maybe a few ounces per 3k miles.

99 SL2, 82k miles - None. Last change was after 5k miles on conventional (oops), was still right at the full line. Just switched over to full synthetic last weekend.